From the Normal Family to Alternate Families to the Quest for Diversity With Interdependence

Abstract

This article traces the development of changes internal to households since the late 1960s. The discussion is set in the context of two competing theories—constructionism and functionalism, old and new. The notion of varieties of families is distinguished from household diversity. Variety refers simply to what are known as family variants or alternative lifestyles. Diversity is indicated by a structural and spatial situation in which there is both parity of and linkages among households.