Since the 1960s, the institution of the family has been changing in Argentina, Chile and Uruguay. Female labour force has increased, birth rates have dropped, divorce rates have risen and public acceptance of single parenthood and non-heterosexual lifestyles has become more prevalent. This thesis aims to examine these changes in the context of the ‘second demographic transition’ and to show how these rapid social and legal changes have been facilitated by the use of the family as a symbol during the dictatorial period, both for and against the regimes. The use of these symbols by the opposing forces of regime and resistance created a dialogue in which understandings of what it meant to be a father, a mother or a child were problematised, challenged, and transformed – and as these countries returned to democracy, the institution of the family also began to be democratised, with existing roles taking on new significance and new forms of family becoming destigmatised. By combining analysis of the dictatorial and transition periods with an examination of cultural representations of the family since the turn of the millennium, I will provide an overview of how this institution was understood, how these understandings were affected by the dictatorships and the resistance to them, and how the institution is understood in the Southern Cone today. I will also compare the situation in these three countries, explaining how and why the institution of the family has been understood differently and has changed differently across the different societies. This thesis will demonstrate how the once monolithic image of the family has been replaced by the concept of a diverse range of families, with different formations and different roles to suit varied lifestyles in an increasingly individualistic world.
Families in Transition: a Changing Institution in Argentina, Chile and Uruguay
Nazarko, R. (Author). 2017
Student thesis: Doctoral Thesis › Doctor of Philosophy