Families by Choice and the Management of Low Income Through Social Supports

Abstract

Processes of individualization have transformed families in late modernity. Although families may be more opportunistically created, they still face challenges of economic insecurity. In this article, we explore through indepth qualitative interviews how families by choice manage low income through the instrumental and expressive supports that they give and receive. Two central themes organize our analysis: "defining/doing family" and "generationing." Coupling the individualization thesis with a life course perspective, we find that families by choice, which can include both kin and nonkin relations, are created as a result of shared life events and daily needs. Families by choice are then sustained through intergenerational practices and relations. Importantly, we add to the growing body of literature that illustrates that both innovation and convention characterize contemporary family life for low-income people.

Being Homeless and Becoming Housed: The Interplay of Fateful Moments and Social Support in Neo-liberal Context

“…5 Some of the experiences of these 15 participants were shared with the entire sample (e.g., the creation of families by choice because of distinct life course events, such as immigration and family conflict) (see, e.g., Gazso & McDaniel, 2015). Their transitions into and out of absolute homelessness, however, further set these 15 participants apart from the larger sample.…”

Living with HIV in regional Queensland: social ties, care and support in managing a long-term complex chronic illness

“…In other words, many participants were forming inclusive, more or less mutual intimacies with a range of people. On a similar note, Gazso and McDaniel (2015) in their qualitative research with Canadian low-income mothers and Desmond (2012) in his study of single, African-American mothers living in Milwaukee, the USA, found that their participants managed low income through giving and receiving care…”

“…These forms of relationships of care and support have originated in gay and lesbian communities [212]. Many positive people form family of choice to supplement or substitute the support from biological family and in search of acceptance for their lifestyles [128,[213][214][215].…”

“…Positive people may build families of choice due to lack of supportive biological family ties and in search of acceptance for their lifestyle (which was the case for many gay men participants) 96 . They may however also build family of choice on the basis of sharing life transitions, to gain socio-economic support, and through exchanging the instrumental and emotional support which have traditionally been exchanged among the kin [205,212,222]. There has been a growing interest in examining family of choice as a platform of mutual care in socially and economically vulnerable populations.…”

“…There has been a growing interest in examining family of choice as a platform of mutual care in socially and economically vulnerable populations. Studies in the USA and Canada document that lowincome families have been increasingly relying on broadly understood family of choice to supplement the shrinking formal supports [185,212,222]. Protective features of such friendships have been documented in the lives of marginalized people [229].…”