Summary
Contents
Subject index
Relevant, focused and accessible this book will provide students with an indispensible guide to the central concepts of family studies.
Intimacy
Intimacy
Definition
Intimacy refers to the meaning and expression of close family and personal relationships, as these are understood in contemporary European and New World societies, and to the qualities that they may be supposed to provide.
Discussion
In a broad sense, all family and domestic life can be said to be intimate in that it involves familiarity arising from close association. A particular concept of intimacy has become important in Western social science debates, however, prompted by ideas about family change and diversity in the late twentieth century. The interest in the interior emotional quality of relationships has been referred to as the ‘intimate turn’ in family studies. It is said to have replaced a concern with more functional and structural analyses of relational bonds that emphasized ...
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