Argentineans and the family

Introduction: "/.../.The first section introduces theoretical guidelines of a new socio-economic context as well as its impact on family life, from the point of view both of its structure and of its dynamics. Thus, Pierpaolo Donati's work has been taken into account as a main reference, as well as the works of other authors such as Salustiano del Campo, Zygmunt Baumann and Anthony Giddens, among others. In a new socio-cultural context, the focus has been on the individualization proceses that lead to speculation about whether the family is undergoing a deinstitutionalization process or if it ceases to be considered as a public institution and it is reduce to an prívate institution. As regards Latín America, it is necessary to consider the socio-economic vulnerability as well, taking especially into account the inequality between the different sectors of some countries. The second section presents original empirical research carried out through the Argentine Social Debt Survey (EDSA, for its Spanish acronym) of the Argentine Social Debt Observatory (ODSA, for its Spanish acronym) of the Argentine Catholic - University (LTCA, for its Spanish acronym) in the last quarter of 2013. This research focused on structural aspects relating to different types of households, the resources they relied on, and the opinions of their members on central aspects of family life such as marriage, child-parent relationships and community links. The empirical material gathered by ODSA has been supplemented with that from secondary. sources, such as the Argentine National Institute of Statzirtics and Censuses (INDEC, for its Spanish acronym). The chapter ends with a brief section which emphasizes the main findings and proposes different actions aimed at strengthening the 'family as a social institution, as it works to establish itself as primary social good, according to Donati's concept