Cross-cultural perspectives in family research

Abstract

In the introduction, systematic cross-cultural family research is distinguished from conventional xenological approaches, and from cross-national and cross-societal research. A multi-level model is then introduced as a framework for understanding the complex interplay of individual behaviour, family, and kinship relations embedded in the institutional structures of societies. As a major cultural divide, affinal and descent family and kinship systems and their inbuilt features are discussed and related to the ‘Western European marriage pattern’ and patrilineal patterns. Modernisation theory and the ‘second demographic transition’ theory are discussed with regard to their implications for family change in economically developed societies. Family demographic changes since the middle of the twentieth century in East Asian societies are taken as an example in an examination of possible convergences and path-dependent divergences between these countries and societies that follow the ‘Western European marriage pattern’. The chapter also looks at the relevance of emerging new data sources for cross-cultural family research.