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Which is the other bank ? The following ideas have been presented at the tenth anniversary of the meetings of the "Laboratoire de Sociologie de la Culture Européenne de Strasbourg" and the "Ludwig-Uhland Institut" in Tübingen. From a question of Claudio Magris : "The other bank of the river ? Who is on the other bank ?" emerges a dialectic of identity and otherness. Theoretically, three constellations are possible : -I live on one bank and know the other bank. -I am situated between the two banks. -I am on my way to the other bank and no return is possible. Living on one bank of the river, one can consider the other bank with indifference, ignorance, hatred, tolerance, sympathy and even empathy. Living in the middle, is putting oneself between two cultures, no longer knowing who one is, and where one stands. Young immigrants try to solve the problem by choosing either to keep their former culture, or to assimilate to the new one. Often, they build up their own culture, between two worlds. The third constellation is the passage from one bank to the other, with no return, illustrated by the image of death.

The change in conjugal and family life. For two decades now there has been a change in family life. This change in conjugal and family life was the root of the revival of the sociology of the family as well as of its development. A comparison of the major features of the modem and postmodern family reveals indeed a radical change in family and conjugal practices. The question why such an evolution did take place is vast and complex. Interpretations as well as point of views are numerous. The point of view of individualization brings to light one of the main aspects of the postmodern family, that is to say its fragility.

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