The Sociology of the Family in Italy: Its Contribution to Public Debate and Social Policies

The article explores the sociology of the family in Italy, examining its contribution\r\nto the public debate and its role in understanding the major transformations\r\nof the family. The focus is on a few key issues, including secularization and the\r\ncrisis of religious marriage, the reduction in the number of children, separations and\r\ndivorces, changing couple lifestyles and gender roles, socialization within multigenerational\r\nfamilies, new biographical paths, reconciling family and work, migrant\r\nfamilies, the aging population process, and family care tasks. The sociology of the\r\nfamily has seen significant transformation since the 1970s, often with contrasting\r\nsociological paradigms. While from different perspectives, the empirical research\r\nconducted by sociologists of the family has made it possible to understand families’\r\nspecific resources in Italy, as well as their needs, on both a material and a\r\nrelational level. Particular attention has been paid to the tasks of socio-education\r\nof new generations and the care of fragile and elderly members. Italian sociologists\r\nhave contributed to make evident the post-modern dialectic between the rights of\r\nindividuals, women and men, and the rights of families that can promote a sense\r\nof belonging, solidarity, and common good. In this sense, sociologists have played\r\nan important role in giving concrete shape to interventions to monitor families’\r\ntransformations and needs (such as the National Family Observatory and the ISTAT\r\nmulti-purpose surveys) and to support families (the National Plan for Families and,\r\nrecently, the Family Act). Finally, the article sheds light on open issues on which\r\nthe work of family sociologists is mostly focused today, with special attention to\r\nthe future of the family and its role in the development of society.