Abstract

COSTA, Rosalina. Family Rituals: Practices and Social Representations in the Construction of the Contemporary Family. Sociologia [online]. 2014, vol.28, pp.81-102. ISSN 0872-3419.

This article aims to contribute to the questioning and critical discussion of the recent sociological theorization often presenting the contemporary family as an ‘ephemeral’, ‘fluid’ and ‘fragile’ reality. Empirically, the family was conceptualized through the lens of family rituals, combined with a qualitative, intensive and in-depth methodological approach. The main argument presented here is that the theories of deinstitutionalization, individualization and risk are insufficient for understanding the nowadays family, and one needs a more textured approach, capturing its meaning while being simultaneously a physical, relational and symbolic space

Keywords : family; ritual; social construction of reality.

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