关系型家庭:城市中老年家庭的生活特征与个体化悖论

Relational Family:The Paradox of Life Characteristics and Individualization of Urban Middle Aged and Old Families

在个体崛起与社会风险并存的外部环境中,家庭生活的价值观念呈现多元化的特征,这一多元化的价值观念深嵌在家庭文化内涵中。在中老年家庭的日常生活中,伦理性价值是维系家庭稳定的基本要素,情感性价值是家庭成员的生活体验,工具性价值是协调个人、家庭与社会三者之间关系的平衡器,这一以家庭的伦理性价值为核心并协调个人与家庭以及个人与社会之间权变关系的家庭生活方式可以称为"关系型家庭"。与西方家庭的个体化相比,中国家庭生活变迁既呈现人口学意义上明显的个体化趋势,又突出伦理价值、情感性价值以及工具性价值在家庭中的重要功能,这是中国家庭生活变迁的独特内涵。

This article reveals the life changes and value foundations of the middle aged and elderly families in urban communities.It is found that the values of family life in the external environment of individual rise and social risk are diversified,whichis embedded in the connotation of family culture.In their daily life of the middle-aged and old age family,the ethical value is the basic element to maintain family stability.The emotional value is the life experience of the family members.The instrumental value is the balance to coordinate the relationship amongpeople,the family and the society.The author takes the ethical value of the family as the core and harmonizes the individual and the family.And the family life style of contingency between individuals and society is called"relational family".Compared with the individualization of western families,changes in family life in China not only show the obvious individualized trend in the sense of demography,but also highlight the important functions of ethical value,emotional value and instrumental value in the family,which is the unique connotation of the changes of family life in China.