Eric D. Widmer
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Cesnuitytè, V., Detlev, L., Widmer, E.D. eds. (2017). Family Continuity and Change. Palgrave Macmillan, London. p. 331. This edited collection, Family Continuity and Change: Contemporary Perspectives and Findings on Family Lives in Europe, is based on papers presented at the ‘Family: Continuity and Change’ interim meeting of the European Sociological Association’s Research Network, ‘Sociology of Families and Intimate Lives’ (RN13), held on 25–27 September 2014 in Vilnius (Lithuania). The editors selected the most promising papers that best responded to the book’s general purpose—that is, to give an extended and integrated picture of the family across Europe at the beginning of the twenty-first century. The book provides readers with fresh sociological research on family formation and practices in the perspective of continuities and changes, both across generations and during individual life courses. Authors from nine countries (i.e., Finland, Germany, Italy, Lithuania, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom) originally investigated the family by developing and applying innovative theoretical and methodical approaches for a deeper comprehension of European family lives. They looked for answers to questions, including: How much continuity do we observe in family life? Where do we observe changes? How can continuity and change be identified and measured? How can the observed continuity and change in family life be explained on a cross- national, national, social group, or individual level? |  |