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Exploring social norms around cohabitation: The life course, individualization, and culture: Introduction to Special Collection: "Focus on partnerships: discourses on cohabitation and marriage throughout Europe and Australia"

Exploring social norms around cohabitation: The life course, individualization, and culture: Introduction to Special Collection: "Focus on partnerships: discourses on cohabitation and marriage throughout Europe and Australia"
Exploring social norms around cohabitation: The life course, individualization, and culture: Introduction to Special Collection: "Focus on partnerships: discourses on cohabitation and marriage throughout Europe and Australia"
BACKGROUND Explanations for the increase in cohabitation often rely on the concept of ideational change and shifting social norms. While researchers have investigated cohabitation and the role of social norms from a quantitative perspective, few studies have examined how people discuss the normative context of cohabitation, especially in cross-national comparison.

OBJECTIVE This article introduces a Special Collection that uses focus group research to compare social norms relating to cohabitation and marriage in 8 countries in Europe. The Introduction explicates the concept of social norms, describes the focus group project, reflects on the method’s advantages and limitations, and summarizes the theoretical and methodological contributions of the project.

METHODS Collaborators conducted 7-8 focus groups in each country using a standardized questionnaire. They coded each discussion, analysed the results, and produced a country-specific chapter on a particular theme. They also collaborated on an overview paper that synthesized the overall findings of the project.

RESULTS The articles provide insights into the meanings of partnership formation in each country. In addition, their findings contribute to three main theoretical themes: 1) lifecourses, sequencing, and intersections; 2) individualization, freedom and commitment; and 3) culture, religion, and the persistence of the past.

CONCLUSIONS This Special Collection contributes to and challenges current explanations for family change by pointing out how social norms shape partnership behavior. The project informs quantitative research by emphasizing the need for nuances in interpretation. We urge researchers to recognize the multiple meanings of cohabitation within each context and across countries.
1-34
Perelli-Harris, Brienna
9d3d6b25-d710-480b-8677-534d58ebe9ed
Bernardi, Laura
8ca89d0f-e067-43be-9eb5-39efa709cc20
Perelli-Harris, Brienna
9d3d6b25-d710-480b-8677-534d58ebe9ed
Bernardi, Laura
8ca89d0f-e067-43be-9eb5-39efa709cc20

Perelli-Harris, Brienna and Bernardi, Laura (2015) Exploring social norms around cohabitation: The life course, individualization, and culture: Introduction to Special Collection: "Focus on partnerships: discourses on cohabitation and marriage throughout Europe and Australia". Demographic Research, 33 (25), 1-34. (doi:10.4054/DemRes.2015.33.25).

Record type: Article

Abstract

BACKGROUND Explanations for the increase in cohabitation often rely on the concept of ideational change and shifting social norms. While researchers have investigated cohabitation and the role of social norms from a quantitative perspective, few studies have examined how people discuss the normative context of cohabitation, especially in cross-national comparison.

OBJECTIVE This article introduces a Special Collection that uses focus group research to compare social norms relating to cohabitation and marriage in 8 countries in Europe. The Introduction explicates the concept of social norms, describes the focus group project, reflects on the method’s advantages and limitations, and summarizes the theoretical and methodological contributions of the project.

METHODS Collaborators conducted 7-8 focus groups in each country using a standardized questionnaire. They coded each discussion, analysed the results, and produced a country-specific chapter on a particular theme. They also collaborated on an overview paper that synthesized the overall findings of the project.

RESULTS The articles provide insights into the meanings of partnership formation in each country. In addition, their findings contribute to three main theoretical themes: 1) lifecourses, sequencing, and intersections; 2) individualization, freedom and commitment; and 3) culture, religion, and the persistence of the past.

CONCLUSIONS This Special Collection contributes to and challenges current explanations for family change by pointing out how social norms shape partnership behavior. The project informs quantitative research by emphasizing the need for nuances in interpretation. We urge researchers to recognize the multiple meanings of cohabitation within each context and across countries.

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Published date: 21 October 2015
Organisations: Social Statistics & Demography

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 401943
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/401943
PURE UUID: 9dd01f84-80c0-4ee5-b53b-704d65c598f4
ORCID for Brienna Perelli-Harris: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0001-8234-4007

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Date deposited: 25 Oct 2016 13:07
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 03:38

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Author: Laura Bernardi

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