Changing Relations: Achieving Intimacy in a Time of Social Transition - by Robin Goodwin

Changing Relations: Achieving Intimacy in a Time of Social Transition. Robin Goodwin. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 2009. 221 pp. ISBN 9780521842044. $90.00 (cloth). In his book, Changing Relations: Achieving Intimacy in a Time of Social Transition, Robin Goodwin describes how social changes affect relationships. Given the current economic crisis, Goodwin's book is a timely analysis of how such changes shape our ability to establish and sustain personal relationships. Research on personal relationships has a 20- to 30-year history, and Goodwin synthesizes a great deal of this research from a sociological and psychological perspective. He creates a framework to guide our understanding of how previous research findings can be explained through the lens of social change. Goodwin goes on to apply that model to the development of intimacy, to friendship networks, to sexual relationships, and to marital and family relationships. Goodwin's framework is based on the premise that society is ever changing and that people adapt and respond to those changes. He suggests that two main types of social change occur and affect relationships: (a) rapid and direct and (b) gradual and indirect. Further, he notes that either type of change occurs within the context of mediating and moderating factors. Social changes that are rapid may directly create new limitations and norms for relationships, which then alter beliefs about and behaviors within relationships. Goodwin offers the example of the one-child policy in China. This rapid change created direct limitations on families, which ultimately led to a greater valuation of male children, thus altering family dynamics. In contrast to rapid and direct social change, Goodwin suggests that some change is gradual and indirect. Here, the focus is on changes in values and beliefs, which may arise due to the influence of powerful groups or leaders. Such social change may also be due to technological advances and modernization. Modernization is a gradual process, the effects of which are seen over generations. For example, we have seen significant changes in dating and the process of finding a life partner, partly due to technological advances and associated values. Although not mentioned in the book, we may in the future see similar changes in the development of intimacy and friendship as a result of social networking sites such as Facebook. While he acknowledges some of the changes associated with modernization, Goodwin questions whether modernization is a monolithic influence affecting all of our relationships negatively. He notes that in reality, there are "simple convergences in values and relationship behaviors across the world" (p. 42) and that simply contrasting traditional and modern ways of life is too simplistic. These insights are especially valuable because mainstream media would have us believe that modernization is bringing forth bankrupt moral codes and the demise of the family. Goodwin would argue that, yes, changes are occurring, but those changes are really adaptations to environmental conditions, and thus they themselves will be influenced by subsequent societal changes. In other words, it is not all downhill from here, and we are not all living in "Peyton Place." Fleshing out his model and placing it firmly in the realm of current contextual thinking about human development, Goodwin describes mediators and moderators that may affect the extent to which social change influences relationships and categorizes them into three different levels. At the individual level, he notes that individual differences dictate that not all social change will affect everyone, and that people will be affected differently. For some, major change that is rapid and direct might be experienced as negative, but for others it may be positive. Psychological factors are part of this individual level. For example, those with more effective coping mechanisms will adapt to change more readily, as might those whose personalities render them more open to new experiences. …