Variant Family Forms in a World Perspective

Abstract

The favorable evaluation of variant forms by researchers reflects their own search for solutions to strains in traditional family forms; the strains in turn operate on a global scale as a result of the world division of labor and its effect on family and other institutional processes. Family forms labeled variant thus provide indicators of adaptation to the globalization of production, media, their diffusion of common norms, and the consequent.globalization of reference groups. Greater experimentation is projected, and two instances (childfree lifestyles and communes) are briefly treated to exemplify the relationship between the division of labor, changing institutional norms, and family variance.