Kdo je člen rodiny a kdo už "jen" příbuzný?

Abstract

This sociological study focuses on a family as a subjectively constructed social category. The main aim is to explore how people nowadays distinguish who is a member of their family and who is just a relative. Authors use a qualitative methodology analyzing five focus groups held in Czech Republic. On the grounds of the discussions authors define a typology of family layers based on the processes of including or excluding a person to the near family. The most important layer is a parent–child relationship, which is seen as the only absolutely automatic and indissoluble one. Also the factors influencing the decision to view someone as a family member or just as a relative are described. The basic factors are good relations which are positively influenced by an exchange of help and also frequent and high quality contacts. Contacts of adult sibs seem to be highly influenced by a presence of a “connecting member”, i.e. a parent from the oldest demographic generation. A death of this connecting parent is an important event in the family history.Overall, the discussions revealed that despite of a huge variability of family settings in the population there are some shared conceptions of what creates family and who should be a part of it. Therefore authors summarize that family as a social group does not lose its form even in today’s individualized and unstable society. It only allows individuals to create their own sense of family based on the shared family pattern and their own rationalized choice.