Families, Relationships and Intimate Life

Contents
Preface
Acknowledgments
Chapter 1: Introduction
	Defining families and relationships
	Thinking sociologically
	Why study families and relationships?
	Structure of the book
	Key concepts
	Discussion questions
	Recommended further reading
Chapter 2: Relationships and families over time
	Introduction
	Pre-modern families (circa pre-eighteenth century)
	Modern families (eighteenth–mid twentieth century)
	Families and relationships in late modernity
	Indigenous Australian families
	History of East Asian and South-East Asian families
	Conclusion
	Key concepts
	Discussion questions
	Recommended further reading
Chapter 3: Diversity in families and relationships
	Introduction
	Diversity beyond the nuclear family
	Contemporary Indigenous Australian families
	Culturally and linguistically diverse immigrant families
	Social class
	Conclusion
	Key concepts
	Discussion questions
	Recommended further reading
Chapter 4: Sociological perspectives on relationships and families
	Introduction
	Structural functionalism
	Political economy perspective
	Feminism
	Individualisation
	Micro-sociological perspectives
	Queer theory
	Conclusion
	Key concepts
	Discussion questions
	Recommended further reading
Chapter 5: Young people, relationships and sexuality
	Introduction
	Leaving home
	Young people and partnering
	Changing concepts of young adulthood
	Intimate relationships
	Sexuality
	Conclusion
	Key concepts
	Discussion questions
	Recommended further reading
Chapter 6: Love, Commitment and marriage
	Introduction
	Love and romance
	Changing relationship patterns
	Marriage patterns in Australia
	Unmarried cohabitation
	The pure relationship and ‘the transformation of intimacy’
	Gay marriage and commitment ceremonies
	Conclusion
	Key concepts
	Discussion questions
	Recommended further reading
Chapter 7: Relating beyond the cohabiting couple
	Introduction
	Beyond heterorelationality
	Friendship
	The single life
	The emotional and social significance of group households
	Living apart together (LAT)
	Conclusion
	Key concepts
	Discussion questions
	Recommended further reading
Chapter 8: Fertility, technology and family change
	Introduction
	Fertility trends
	Social consequences of low fertility rates
	Explanations for fertility behaviour
	Cultural beliefs about parenting
	Assisted reproductive technologies and family change
	Conclusion
	Key concepts
	Discussion questions
	Recommended further reading
Chapter 9: Parenting, children and childcare
	Introduction
	Childhood and historical change in western countries
	Cultural differences in childhood
	Changing research perspectives on childhood
	Families and new media technologies
	Parenting
	Diverse parenting contexts
	Conclusion
	Key concepts
	Discussion questions
	Recommended further reading
Chapter 10: Families and labour
	Introduction
	A brief history of gendered work
	Families and the paid labour market
	Domestic labour
	Explaining inequality
	Domestic labour, fairness and change
	Domestic labour arrangements in lesbian and gay relationships
	Conclusion
	Key concepts
	Discussion questions
	Recommended further reading
Chapter 11: Separation, divorce and reconstituted families
	Introduction
	Divorce rates: change and continuity
	Changes in the institutional basis of marriage
	Causes of divorce
	The impact of divorce
	Step-families/blended-families/reconfigured families/post-divorce families
	Conclusion
	Key concepts
	Discussion questions
	Recommended further reading
Chapter 12: Violence in intimate relationships
	Introduction
	Defining and naming violence in intimate relationships
	A continuum of violent behaviours
	Australian patterns and trends
	Explanations for domestic and family violence
	Conclusion
	Key concepts
	Discussion questions
	Recommended further reading
Chapter 13: Ageing, care and intergenerational relationships
	Introduction
	An ageing Australian population: demographic characteristics and implications
	Sociological perspectives on ageing
	Grandparenting
	Conclusion
	Key concepts
	Discussion questions
	Recommended further reading
Chapter 14: Conclusion: new families, new relationships?
	Intimate life and the wider society
	Love and panic
	The future of families
Glossary
References
Index