Doing and Displaying Gendered Boundary Work among Blended Families in Israel

Abstract

This article seeks to introduce a more complex understanding of family change in Israel, through the case study of Israeli blended families. Going beyond the research on blended families in Israel and elsewhere, we wish to focus our analysis on how blended families are displayed in contemporary Israeli society. The analytical stress on displaying enables us to discern the fluidity and creativity in contemporary family life in Israel, as well as the boundary work through which family members present their family, to themselves and to other audiences. By analyzing data from over 40 in-depth interviews with parents who formed a blended family unit, we argue that family members embody a fuzzy mindset, which does not confine to a state of either/or, and at the same time negotiates traditional nuclear models of the “natural” family inherent in Israeli society.

When Same-Sex Couples Say ‘I Do’: Display Work and the (Re)Production of the Wedding Rite

“…Our research extends work that suggests less-than-conventional families are capable of reflexively investing in convention (Heaphy, 2017; Lahad et al, 2018), by demonstrating how display work can inform and indeed transform wedding rituals. Specifically, we show how through their display work, partners (re)produce and broaden the wedding rite to reflect each couple’s unique relationship and perspective on same-sex union.…”

“…While all families display to some extent, those that challenge normative conceptions of what makes a ‘proper’ family, such as lesbian parent couples (Almack, 2008) and blended families (Lahad et al, 2018), are forced to negotiate and indeed interrogate ritual symbols and meanings more intensively (Almack, 2008). Display then, becomes a form of work (Almack, 2008), which serves social goals by communicating that the ritual commitment and solemnity signified by the traditional marriage ceremony is the same in terms of its symbolic and socio-cultural power, but framed, inscribed and performed differently in order to emphasise distinctiveness from the heterosexual norm.…”

‘Ordinary’ and ‘diverse’ families. A case study of family discourses by Finnish early childhood education and care administrators

“…A wide array of social science research has pointed to marked changes and trends in families and personal relationships over recent decades (see e.g. Lahad et al, 2018). First, the diversification of family lives and family forms is generally regarded as a major global trend (Beck & Beck-Gernsheim, 1995;Chambers, 2012;Forsberg & Nätkin, 2016;Giddens, 1992;OECD, 2011).…”

“…It has been shown, for example, that low fertility, the entry of women into the labour force, voluntary childlessness and postponed parenthood have reformulated families globally since the 1970s (Forsberg & Nätkin, 2016;OECD, 2011). Second, and more recently, attention has been paid to divorce, remarriage, post-divorce families, blended families, single parenthood and joint custody, the increasing number of non-heteronormative families and growing global migration as key diversifiers of family relations in the 'global north' (Chambers, 2012;Gahan, 2018;Lahad et al, 2018). In sociological terms, Chambers (2001) basing her work on theoretical claims about the individualization and democratization of intimate and personal relationships (Beck & Beck-Gernsheim, 1995;Giddens, 1991Giddens, , 1992 has described this phenomenon as 'rising postmodern family diversity'.…”

“…While recent research on families and personal relationships has highlighted the increased diversity of family lives and the transformation of cultural ideals and concepts of family, it has also been argued that some families continue to be perceived as more culturally valued, accepted and legitimate than others (Heaphy, 2011;Lahad et al, 2018;Ribbens McCarthy et al, 2013;Walsh, 2018). That is to say, the socalled nuclear family, comprising a male and female parent and their children, continues to flourish as the cultural ideal of a 'proper' family (Chambers, 2001).…”