Family, modernization and sociological theory

This article examines the global evolution of the modern family on two theoretical plans: in terms of its globalization/hybridization as well as regarding its answers to certain “existential questions” and how it relates to other social systems. It tries to argue, albeit with qualifications, for the idea of a global modernity and to make more complex that of autonomy of social systems. Also when it is not made explicit, these themes are closed related. We can therefore state that there is a tendency towards the development of the family, which changes it, opposed by another, originating in rutine and resistances, that tie it to pre-modern forms. Along the text some empirical examples (India, China, Latin America) aiming at sustaining the proposed conceptual moves