Revisiting the social construction of family in the context of work

Abstract

Purpose -The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate how traditional definitions of family, in the context of employment, have not kept pace with actual family formation in the USA and much of the rest of the world, and how this disadvantages individuals from atypical (i.e. non-nuclear), but increasingly common, families. Design/methodology/approach -A wide range of literature from disciplines spanning industrial relations, gerontology, management, and family studies is invoked to illustrate how employers' definitions of "family" are often incompatible with actual contemporary family structures, and how this poses difficulties for employed individuals in non-traditional families. Findings -Many family structures are not accounted for by employment legislation and thus organizational work-family policies. These include same-sex couples, multi-generational and extended families (e.g. including parents or other elders; members from outside the bloodline or with grandparents providing primary care for grandchildren) and virtual families. Practical implications -The authors discuss a number of problems associated with current provision of work-family policy and practice among organizations, and recommend that governments and organizations expand upon the traditional definition of "family" to better enable employees in a variety of familial configurations to successfully balance their work and family demands. Originality/value -This paper identifies current failings in employment legislation and suggests improvements so that both governments and organizations can better facilitate employees' work-life balance. As such, it will be of use researchers, practitioners, and policy makers interested in the interface between work and family.

Defining the Concept of Family through the Lens of Fertile-Aged Women in Bucharest, Romania—between Traditionalism and Inclusion

“…The continuously evolving family paradigm is a complex issue challenging the social planning policies in the post-industrialized societies whose definition is also changing accordingly. Preoccupations to define family structure and its social construction are found both in the industrialization and the post-industrialization times, as the functional family and the gender roles were important terms to further shape labor force policies and to conceptualize family in the context of work [2].…”

“…Bucharest registered an above-average value, with marriage presently happening around the age of 30 years, in accordance with countries such as the Netherlands (30.3 years), Finland (30.04 years), Germany (30.5 years), Austria (30.06 years), France (30.8 years) and Italy (31.1 years) [37]. This indicator remains a crucial variable as "academic research on the work-family interface in both Western and non-Western contexts continues to tacitly accept marriage as the main measure for family membership" [2].…”

“…Family in terms of dimension and structure still excludes, in the light of employment legislation, including that in Romania, many family structures such as same-sex couples, multi-generational and extended families (e.g., including parents or other elders; members from outside the bloodline or with grandparents providing primary care for grandchildren), and virtual families [2]. Family structure is recognized by several research studies a result of intergenerational transmission of family behavior, at least when teenage parenthood is concerned, and might be considered a result of both a social learning process and the individual repetitive reproduction of learnt relationship behavior while growing up [56].…”

“…However often there are context complexities to be discussed, such as in the case of extended, patchwork, and virtual families or long-distance migrant families [2], and economic variables would not stand alone as a precondition for union and parenthood being associated with other factors. Legalizing same-sex marriage in the 21st century marked a significant change in the legal and conceptual understanding of family and parenthood [60,61], a change that started in the late 1960s with step-parent families and families formed through assisted reproductive technologies.…”

“…The concept of family itself has largely evolved from its definitions influenced by the industrialized and then by the post-industrialized societies in relation to the work sphere to conceptions aligned with "narrow legal, economic, or social classifications". As such there is a need for a better conceptualization of 2 of 19 family in the context of work, and obviously a need to include recognition of additional, non-traditional, family structures and of the cultural variability in the meaning of family [2]. Studies that underlined significant differences in family support policies according to different political and cultural patterns even at the level of the European Union suggest the need for a wider definition of family addressing various family configurations (idem).…”