Kinship Practices Among Alternative Family Forms in Western Industrialized Societies

Abstract

This article discusses how kinship is construed and enacted in diverse forms of the family that are now part of the culturally pluralistic family system of Western societies. Background: This study is the second in a pair documenting changes over the past century in the meaning and practice of kinship in the family system of Western societies with industrialized economies. While the first paper reviewed the history of kinship studies, this companion piece shifts the focus to research explorations of kinship in alternative family forms, those that depart from the standard nuclear family structure.

Intentional Kinship through Caring Relationships, Heritage, and Identity: Adoptive Parents’ Inclusion of Non-Biological and Non-Affinal Relationships on Family Maps

“…Nonetheless, our conclusions are tentative, and we suggest that future research replicate our findings with a larger sample. The extent to which kinship is expanded for adopted children is still an underexplored topic (Furstenberg et al 2020). We suggest that future research should examine adopted children's conceptualization of family and kinship, and whether children's definition of kinship correspond to their parents' expanded definitions.…”

“…Thus, partnerships and non-biological parentage may go unrecognized by family of origin members. Nevertheless, in many western industrialized societies, including the UK where the present study was conducted, same-gender marriage and parenting, including through adoption, are now legally available, thus allowing LGBT+ individuals to have partnerships and parentage legally and socially sanctioned (Costa 2021), and "in general, kinship construction in the family arrangements takes a more flexible, inclusive, and open forms where legal recognition exists" (Furstenberg et al 2020(Furstenberg et al , p. 1413.…”

Mother’s Partnership Status and Allomothering Networks in the United Kingdom and United States

“…Although the nuclear family is regarded as the traditional family type in HILF countries, divorce and remarriage have become increasingly common over the last 50 years (Murphy 2008;Furstenberg et al 2020, but see also Sussman 1959). This has driven research on how absentee fathers and stepfathers vary in their investments in children relative to biological fathers living with their children.…”

“…In this study, we analyze newly collected survey data from the United Kingdom and the United States to understand the structure of mothers' support networks and how these affect her fertility outcomes. Given the known importance of partners in childrearing in HILF contexts and the increasing prevalence of reconstituted and alternative families in HILF countries (Furstenberg et al 2020), we specifically consider how women's partnership statuses (either marriage or cohabitation) are associated with patterns of support and fertility preferences. We investigate patterns in both the UK and the US to illustrate that HILF societies are not monolithic (Stulp et al 2016).…”

Stretched Kinship: Parental Rejection and Acceptance of Queer Youth in Chinese Families

“…That said, there is one noticeable exception: gay and lesbian kinship studies. In the 1990s, Kath Weston showed how gay and lesbian people had moved out from the natal home to build their own chosen families and peer groups ([1991] 1997), pushing the boundary of kinship studies from conjugal and consanguine families to voluntary social organizations of kinship-like bonding beyond legal and biological kin formed through marriage and reproduction (see Furstenberg et al, 2020). This development echoed a surge of interest on gay and lesbian kinships in health, psychology, social work, youth studies, and family studies.…”