The (Un)Making of the Modern Family

The modern meanings of kinship, marriage, parenthood, gender, and sexuality are being questioned, and debates on same-sex marriages and parenthood or on divorce and blended families are reflective of these challenges. This book covers family sociology to provide an interpretive model for understanding contemporary changes in the family.

The family institution is undergoing a radical transformation. The modern meanings of kinship, marriage, parenthood, gender, and sexuality are now being questioned, and debates on same-sex marriages and parenthood or on divorce and blended families are reflective of these challenges. This book is neither an indictment of the new family nor a rallying cry. It is a classical exercise of family sociology that draws upon a range of disciplines - history, anthropology, psychology, and demography - to provide an interpretive model for understanding contemporary changes in the family. Published originally by Les Presses de l'Universite Laval as La fin de la famille moderne, this book was awarded the 2000-1 Prix Jean-Charles Falardeau for the best book published in French in Canada in the field of social sciences.