Reinventing the Family: In Search of New Lifestyles

Reinventing the Family: In Search of New Lifestyles. Elisabeth Beck-Gernsheim. Maiden, MA: Blackwell. 2002. 170 pp. ISBN 0-7456-2214-3. $26.95 (paper). In Reinventing the Family, Elisabeth BeckGernsheim focuses on the social, economic, and political changes since the 1970s that continue to shape family configurations today. The author directs her attention primarily to Germany and occasionally to the United Kingdom and the United States. Academics interested in a treatment of the changing family in the United States may feel a bit shortchanged, though the book does address some trends relevant to America. Beck-Gernsheim identifies changes in the family since preindustrial times: the separation of sex and reproduction, female gains in education, the basis of marriage (more on romance and less on economic considerations), higher divorce rates, a decline in the traditional nuclear family, and greater social and legal rights for same-sex couples. The new family forms arising from these trends are explained by the author's theory of individualization. Her perspective essentially argues that traditional relationships have weakened alongside an increase in personal freedom granting greater control over one's life. The author is primarily interested in the consequences of these two forces for the family. In Chapter 1, Beck-Gernsheim argues that uncertainty has arisen since the 1960s and 1970s regarding the family, that is, the definition and boundaries of the family. In her discussion of some examples of this uncertainty, the author acknowledges that the traditional family is one of many different forms throughout history, and that the Industrial Revolution led to the changing basis of the family-from "a working unit to an economic unit" (p. 13). I suspect that the author's individualization perspective informs her assertion that although "external circumstances" were the driving force behind different family configurations in the past, today they are a matter of individual choice. Many family scholars would agree that though individualism is a relevant force today, "external forces" are still responsible for a great many changes in the family. Regarding divorce trends (Chapter 2), the author presents a debate between two opposing viewpoints: Divorce trends indicate both a continuing stability in the family and a major transformation of the family. Although the author presents a sound discussion of the consequences of divorce for all parties concerned, a broader crossnational comparison of social policy on child support and alimony would have been helpful. Her argument on how divorce contributes to stability in the family needs strengthening. In Chapter 3, Beck-Gernsheim discusses the insecurity that comes with individualism and modernity. In light of this growing insecurity, the author suggests that people plan more for the future-cohabitation, premarital counseling, etc. The structures of contemporary life, she argues, "are no longer set by class, religion, and tradition, but rather by the labour market, the welfare state, the educational system, the judicial system, and so on" (p. 44). She argues that contemporary society is based more on achievement than ascription when compared with preindustrial society, but how does this comparison of pre- versus postindustrial society inform us about changes over the past few decades? …