The evolution of family structure: a bone of contention in the international debate. New contexts for growing up

Abstract

In parallel with the transformation of society, there has been, and continues to be, a deep evolution in the family concept. As an historically defined sociocultural product, the ontological model of the "natural family" should be deconstructed in favor of an inclusive paradigm that considers it in the same way as the many existing types of family aggregations. The construct of generativity itself (Erikson, 1950) considers this tendency of adulthood in a sociological key and not purely, or exclusively, procreative and biological. The metamorphoses that have ousted the hegemony of the nuclear family in favor of the proliferation of new family forms, including homosexual families, fit into such a delicate context. Like any other family type, same-sex ones establish strong ties that turn them into a place of exchange and development: “the domestic space is a natural place of life and essential experience for the harmonious growth of a person” (Pati, 2019), so an active citizen. In fact, in the “liquid modernity” (Bauman, 1999), full of cultural stimuli, new forms of social marginalization and illiteracy arise, including an emotional illiteracy that finds its antidote par excellence in sentimental and emotional education: family should be the primary advocate of this type of education since it’s "relational good itself".