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Personal relationships in late modernity
Author(s) -
ALLAN GRAHAM
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
personal relationships
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.81
H-Index - 83
eISSN - 1475-6811
pISSN - 1350-4126
DOI - 10.1111/j.1475-6811.2001.tb00043.x
Subject(s) - modernity , friendship , relevance (law) , argument (complex analysis) , late modernity , sociology , context (archaeology) , social psychology , epistemology , psychology , social science , history , political science , law , philosophy , biochemistry , chemistry , archaeology
This 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.