How to Define Situated and Ever‐Transforming Family Configurations? A New Materialist Approach

Abstract

In recent decades, the concept of family has been subjected to redefinition as family scholars have debated the question of who and

Rethinking Socialization Research through the Lens of New Materialism

“…By considering the multiple entanglements of people, all the activities they are part of, and all the participants that are temporarily linked to them, new materialist-inspired socialization research can advance the understanding of socialization processes, how they in fact develop and become durable. New materialist theories base themselves on non-reductionism and take into account the complex relations of everyday life, e.g., the connection between technologies and family structures (Schadler, 2016). Further processes that can become visible through the lens of new materialism could enrich the research field of socialization and aging, for instance by studying the relationships between spaces, architectures, commodity items, and "becoming old. "…”

“…The following example clarifies this argument. Schadler (2013Schadler ( , 2016 has impressively shown that socialization research distinguishes between "a presocial biological body and an immaterial social personality, " and thus "between a biological and a social birth" (Schadler, 2016: p. 506). In her research on the formation of the nuclear family during the transition to parenthood, she demonstrates that socialization processes in families are instead both cultural procedures that start even before the physical pregnancy and material processes that include human bodies and include things and technologies during the whole transition process (Schadler, 2013).…”

“…Thus, they attempt to rethink especially the dualisms of nature vs. culture and human vs. non-human (Haraway, 1991;Barad, 2003;Coole, 2013;Schadler, 2016)-both of which inform socialization theories because socialization theories have not yet fully discussed the functions and consequences of these dualisms. The following example clarifies this argument.…”

“…However, they perceive networks as being both stable enough to allow repetitions of practices in particular contexts and fluid enough to allow for constant transformations. Thus, they do not assume networks as being determined to socialization but rather show empirically what a system such as the family actually comprises in a particular context (Schadler, 2013(Schadler, , 2016.…”

“…Agency has multiple locations and thus influences a shared existence in different ways. A posthuman understanding of agency redefines humans and structures that are produced by humans in defining configurations such as the family (Schadler, 2016).…”