Introduction

Family change theory (Kagitcibasi, 1996, 2007) is an approach which can be used to explain how modernisation and globalisation processes affect the family. The most important assumption of the theory is that when traditional interdependent cultures modernise, they need not necessarily develop in the direction of the independent family model typical of Western individualistic societies. Instead, they may develop towards a family model of emotional interdependence that combines continuing emotional interdependencies in the family with declining material interdependencies and with rising personal autonomy. In this chapter a preliminary evaluation of the empirical status of family change theory is given based on a review of recent cross-cultural studies. It will be shown to what extent the few studies that have been systematically conducted in this respect have found results either supporting or not supporting aspects of the theory, and where the strengths and problems of this research lie.

Modernisation and family change

Around the world, cultural and social change in the last decades as well as the recent revolution in communication technologies and social media have created increasing synchronisation of shared information and similarities in lifestyles across otherwise culturally and economically very different contexts. Modernisation theorists have argued that this development will eventually lead to a global culture following the Western cultural model (Inkeles and Smith, 1974). In spite of continuing economic differences and severe poverty in some regions of the world, in most regions changes in direction of greater affluence, higher levels of education and higher life expectancy (summarised in the Human Development Index (HDI); UNDP, 2011) have been observed. Debate is going on whether economic globalisation will eventually lead to a general cultural homogenisation or whether longstanding cultural traditions (for example, religions) have an impact on the ways societies manage their paths through modernisation, as recent theoretical approaches argue (Berger and Huntington, 2002; Inglehart and Oyserman, 2004).

The way in which families function and intergenerational relationships are negotiated in a society is an important aspect of that society's culture. The family as the main socialisation agent is responsible for the transmission of cultural values and practices and its functioning is at the same time affected by the larger cultural context (Bronfenbrenner, 1979; Trommsdorff, 2009).