Disenchantment of the Family

Helen Knauf

doi:10.21240/mpaed/00/2019.12.03.x

Abstract

This study asks how parenthood has changed in the context of mediatisation. To investigate the question, the 100 most frequently viewed German-language family blogs were systematically analysed. Methods of qualitative text analysis were applied. The analysis reveals that family blogs meet the parents’ need for exchange and community and, at the same time, fulfil a similar function to parenting self-help books and diaries. Family blogs therefore also include an essential element of identity development. The study shows that family blogs not only create a public, they also lead to a disenchantment and politicisation of family and parenthood. Product tests and reviews that serve as a source of financial income for the bloggers play an important role in these blogs. The economisation of parenthood through advertising points to a shift in the boundary between the economic world outside the home and non-economic family life, contributing to a disenchantment of the family.

Highlights

Zusammenfassung Der Beitrag geht der Frage nach, wie sich Elternschaft im Kontext von Mediatisierung verändert
Various more recent studies demonstrate the benefits of social network sites for family practices, for example of Instagram as a medium of grieving (Thimm and Nehls 2017) or Facebook for sharing and preserving family photos (Autenrieth 2014; Holloway and Green 2017)
As there has not been done much research on the influence of mediatisation on parenthood and family, this study aims at investigating how parenthood and family are changing in the context of mediatisation processes

Summary

Introduction

Zusammenfassung Der Beitrag geht der Frage nach, wie sich Elternschaft im Kontext von Mediatisierung verändert. Der Beitrag arbeitet heraus, dass mit den Familienblogs nicht nur Öffentlichkeit hergestellt wird, sondern auch eine Entzauberung und Politisierung von Familie und Elternschaft einhergeht. The integration of social network sites reveals «domestication», that is, the penetration of the private, household sphere with (digital) media, which is compounded by the virtual availability of the media and increasing mobility of the end devices (Hjarvard 2008) It is precisely with the help of the domestication theory perspective that it can be worked out how everyday routines in families change through the use of digital media; Thereby digital tools become a constitutive instrument of social interaction (Röser and Peil 2012). The writing itself (in the sense of therapeutic writing), and the exchange with others and the support given to bloggers by people in a similar life situation proves to be helpful (Petko et al 2015)

Objectives

Results

Conclusion