Variations in Kinship Networks Across Geographic and Social Space

FAMILIES FORM ONE of the most important domains in people’s lives. At the individual level, having good social networks, of which relatives are a major component, is highly beneficial for well-being. At the macro-level, levels of contact with kin is a key component of family systems and frequently used as an indicator of wider social variables such as degree of modernization. Kin contact can involve a range of interactions, ranging from “just keeping in touch” to regular family events and provision of care. Such contact with people outside one’s household reflects choices about whether to meet or telephone, whereas other indicators of family systems such as levels of coresidence with kin do not necessarily reflect preferences, but may be due to lack of suitable housing or the ability to maintain a separate household. Recent changes in family life have increased the value of kin networks and contacts outside the household. For example, in Britain around 2005, there were over 4 million divorced people, the great majority with living former spouses and children; 4.5 million children under age 17, over one-third of the total, were not living with both natural parents; and a similar number of people aged 65 and over were living alone, and many of them relied on living kin for social contact and support (Murphy 2007, p. 65). Individuals move through a variety of life course states, and many of the relationships made remain critical long after they were formed. Views about the importance and future direction of kinship roles and trends in contemporary societies are highly divergent. A longstanding tradition in the sociological literature, from Le Play and Durkheim through Parsons to Giddens (2005, p. 212), interprets modern societies as having replaced or reduced many of the family’s former roles in such areas as employment, education, child socialization, and welfare activities and views these trends as accelerating with globalization. Sociological functionalist theorists argued that as the economy became increasingly removed from family activities, isolated nuclear family organi-