Communes and Changing Family Norms

Abstract

This article examines attitudes and behaviors regarding marriage, parenting, and lifestyle among former members of communal groups. A follow-up sample of 635 individuals who lived in a variety of communes in the early 1970s was restudied using personal interviews and self-administered questionnaires. Ex-commune members are less likely to have married than others in their age group. Sizable proportions currently live in multi-adult households. The vast majority of respondents hold open the possibility of collective living some time in the future. Attitudes show continuity of ideological criticisms of traditional life styles and a commitment to emotional openness and negotiated role relations within the family. Findings support a cohort-historical explanation of the commune movement. Communal experimentation was both a manifestation of and a contributor to the larger process of family change.