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AbstractThis article is concerned with the impact of late modernity on patterns of solidarity in friend and family relationships. It takes as its starting point the transformations in partnership, family, and household formation and dissolution that have been occurring in Western societies since the 1970s. Accepting these shifts as indicative of the greater freedoms people now have over the construction of their personal relationships and social networks, the article examines the degree to which the domains of family and friendship are merging. Its principal argument is that despite increased flexibility in the construction of personal life, including diversity in the prioritization of different relationships, at a cultural level clear boundaries exist between family and friendship ties.

AbstractThis article is concerned with the significance of personal relationships in contemporary social life, principally drawing on recent British research. After reviewing traditional sociological theories concerning the impact of economic transformations on family and community ties, the author examines the character of couple and family commitment in the context of the radical demographic changes that have been occurring, particularly in patterns of family formation and dissolution. Relating these changes to theories of "late modernity," the author assesses their implications for the relevance of personal relationships in general, and friendship in particular, in contemporary social formations. The author's argument is that far from becoming socially marginal as dominant theories generally imply, personal relationships are likely to become increasingly significant as social life becomes more fragmented and less predictable.

Cover -- Contents -- Figures and Tables -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction -- 1 Fertility Change in North America, 1950-2000 -- 2 Changing Children and Changing Cultures: Immigration as a Source of Fertility and the Assumptions of Assimilation -- 3 Using Infertility, Useful Fertility: Cultural Imperatives on the Value of Children in the United States -- 4 The Performance of Motherhood and Fertility Decline: A Stage Props Approach -- 5 Parenthood, Immortality, and the End of Childhood -- 6 Leaving Home: An Example of the Disappearance of Childhood and Its End as a Predictable Set of Uniform Experiences -- 7 The Disappearance of Parents from Children's Lives: The Cumulative Effects of Child Care, Child Custody, and Child Welfare Policies in Canada -- 8 Navigating the Pedagogy of Failure: Medicine, Education, and the Disabled Child in English Canada, 1900-45 -- 9 Pathologizing Childhood -- Conclusion: From Children to Child: Ending in China -- Contributors -- Index.

Fertility change in North America, 1950-2000 /Mira Whyman, Megan Lemmon, and Jay Teachman --Changing children and changing cultures : immigration as a source of fertility and the assumptions of assimilation /Nathanael Lauster, Todd F. Martin, and James M. White --Using infertility, useful fertility : cultural imperatives on the value of children in the United States /Rebecca L. Upton --The performance of motherhood and fertility decline : a stage props approach /Nathanael Lauster --Parenthood, immortality, and the end of childhood /Nicholas W. Townsend --Leaving home : an example of the disappearance of childhood and its end as a predictable set of uniform experiences /Adena B.K. Miller --The disappearance of parents from children's lives : the cummulative effects of child care, child custody, and child welfare policies in Canada /Edward Kruk --Navigating the pedagogy of failure : medicine, education, and the disabled child in English Canada, 1900-45 /Mona Gleason -- Pathologizing childhood /Anita Ilta Garey --From children to child : ending in China /Jing Zhao, Nathanael Lauster, and Graham Allan.