Family Systems, Kinship

The Nature of Family Systems

The family system consists of a system of interrelated individuals. The family system maintains its equilibrium because each member serves a particular role, determined by institutional and cultural constraints (e.g., gender roles), negotiation within the family (e.g., division of paid and unpaid work), and other constraints (e.g., economic, biological). A family system may strive to be balanced but may also enter into a disequilibrium, causing other members to fill a particular role or engage in alternative behavior to maintain stability. For example, a male partner or husband within a family unit may migrate for employment, which may in turn influence the migration or labor market patterns of other interdependent family members, such as his partner or children. Members of families are therefore often referred to as having “linked lives.” The construct of family systems is often examined within disciplines in the social sciences such as sociology, demography, and psychology, as well as within genetics. A similar construct often applied in anthropology and biology refers to kinship systems, which refers to the relationship between individuals who share a common genealogical [Page 554]basis. Origins may have a biological basis, such as family lineages, but also a similar cultural, geographical, or historical descent.

Globalization and Its Impact on Family Systems

Globalization represents a set of economic, political, and cultural processes that operate simultaneously. Globalization refers to factors such as the declining importance of national borders; rising worldwide interconnectedness through the information and communication technology revolution; tougher tax competition between countries, accompanied by the deregulation, privatization, and liberalization of domestic industries and markets; and the rising importance of, and exposure to, a world market with unpredictable disruptions.

The broader changes brought about by globalization have clear consequences for family systems. First, the uncertainty generated by globalization has been linked to the postponement of family formation (entry into partnerships and parenthood). The spate of neoliberal and often market-led processes not only have the potential to lead to greater freedom, more choice, lower prices, and prosperity, but may also come with painful consequences and uncertainty for families. This includes adjustments in the system and institutions, such as privatization of companies, breakdown of labor unions or wage-setting agreements, and other protective features that may have previously shielded employees and breadwinners within families. A growing body of literature links current conditions of global economic uncertainty with individual consequences such as unemployment, mortgage defaults, or growth of temporary or fixed-term contracts to postponement of entry into family formation. Individuals postpone entry into long-term partnerships such as marriage and parenthood when they are in a more uncertain position or unable to make a long-term binding commitment.

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