The Role of “Relational Reflexivity” in Family Relationships: a Case Study on the Example of Two Young Couples
Research Article
Acknowledgments
The article was prepared within the framework of the project «Awareness of life in marriage by young spouses. Development of categories of communication, reciprocity, compatibility» with the support of PSTGU and the Living tradition fund.
How to Cite
Lyubinarskaya N.A. The Role of “Relational Reflexivity” in Family Relationships: a Case Study on the Example of Two Young Couples. Interaction. Interview. Interpretation. 2022. Vol. 14. No. 4. P. 62-88. DOI: https://doi.org/10.19181/inter.2022.14.4.4 (in Russ.).
Abstract
This paper analyzes the dynamics of the relationship of spouses and reveals the role of “relational reflexivity” on the example of interviews with two young families conducted in 2019 and 2021. The study based on the assumption that relational reflexivity plays a significant role in the stability of family relationships: its presence can strengthen them, and its absence can lead to a crisis in the family or to divorce. According on the results of comparing the narratives of two couples, changes in relational reflexivity in each family over time. We trace these changes through the analysis of the respondents’ narratives which we will explain through the category’s relational reflexivity — “self-detachment” and “relational steering” which create a “sense of us” using the methodology of the already existing research in the field of family sociology researchers Donati, Moscatelli, Ferrari, Paris, etc. In their work, the researchers rely on relational theory of sociologists Donati and Archer and argue that for the emergence of “relational reflexivity” in the family, it is necessary to take into account two states of individuals in a pair — “ability to manage relationships” (relational steering) and “distance from oneself” (self-detachment), which allow relationships to be resilient to the hardships of family life by constructing a “we-relation”. Thus, the strength of an alliance may depend on the response to external circumstances, how decisions are made and how destabilizing situations are resolved. The opposite of “relational reflexivity” can be “individualism”. In Archer and Donati's logic of reflexive relations, individualism has similarities with “autonomous reflexivity”, for which it is important to focus on “I” and not “We”. Thus, excessive individualism in a couple can create precedents for ignoring the joint difficulties that arise in the life of each partner, and create difficulties in managing relationships, which in the future can lead to a crisis in the family and affect the joint future.
Keywords:
young couple, relational reflexivity, autonomous reflexivity, we-relation, divorce, case-study, relational theory, individualism
References
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Strause A., Korbin J. (2001) Osnovi kachestvennogo issledovaniya_ obosnovannaya teoriya_ proceduri i tehniki [Basics of Qualitative Research Grounded Theory Procedures and Technique]. Transl. from Eng. by T.S. Vasileva. Moscow: Editorial URSS. P. 81–97. (In Russ.)
Yin R. (1992) The Case Study Method as a Tool for Doing Evaluation. Current Sociology. Vol. 40. P. 121–137. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/001139292040001009
Zabaev I.V. (2011) Logika analiza dannih v obosnovannoi teorii _grounded theory: Versiya B.Glezera [Grounded Theory Logics of Data Analysis: B. Glaeser’s Version]. Sociologiya: metodologiya, metody`, matematicheskoe modelirovanie (Sociologiya: 4M) [Sociology: Methodology, Methods, Mathematical Modeling (Sociology: 4M)]. Vol. 32. P. 124–142. (In Russ.) DOI: https://doi.org/10.19181/4m.2021.52.5 EDN: OJILPH
Beck U., Beck-Gernsheim E. (1995) The Normal Chaos of Love. Cambridge: Polity Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/2076615
Beck U., Giddens A., Lash S. (1994) Reflexive Modernization: Politics, Tradition and Aesthetics in the Modern Social Order. Cambridge: Polity Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/3341775
Berger P., Kellner H. (1964) Marriage, and the Construction of Reality: an Exercise in the Microsociology of Knowledge. SAGE. P. 5–11. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/039219216401204601
Bonkalo T.I., Marinova T.Yu., Feoktistova S.V., Shmelyova S.V. (2020) Diadicheskie koping-strategii suprugov kak faktor latentnyh disfunkcional'nyh otnoshenij v sem'e: opyt empiricheskogo issledovaniya v usloviyah pandemii [Dyadic Coping Strategies of Spouses as a Factor in Latent Dysfunctional Relationships in the Family: An Empirical Study in a Pandemic]. Social'naya psihologiya i obshchestvo [Social Psychology and Society]. Vol. 11. No. 3. Р. 35–50. (In Russ.) DOI: https://doi.org/10.17759/sps.2020110303 EDN: CCZXFA
Chernova Z.V., Shpakovskaya L.L. (2010) Molodye vzroslye: supruzhestvo, partnerstvo i roditel'stvo. Diskursivnye predpisaniya i praktiki v sovremennoj Rossii [Young Adults: Marriage, Partnership, and Parenthood. Discursive prescriptions and practices in contemporary Russia]. Laboratorium: zhurnal socialnyx issledovanij [Laboratorium: Russian Review of Social Research]. No. 3. P. 19–43. (In Russ.) EDN: UEREOZ
Coontz S. (2005) Marriage, a History: How Love Conquered Marriage. London: Penguin books.
Dolbik-Vorobej T.A. (2003) Studencheskaya molodezh' o problemah braka i rozhdaemosti [Student Youth on the Problems of Marriage and Fertility]. Sociologicheskie issledovaniya [Sociological Studies]. No. 11. P. 78–83. (In Russ.) EDN: HSSRIL
Donati P. (2014) Which Engagement? The Couple’s Life as a Matter of Relational Reflexivity. Anthropote. Vol. 30. No. 1. P. 217–250.
Donati P. (2019) Relyacionnaya teoriya obshchestva: Social'naya zhizn' s tochki zreniya kriticheskogo realizma [Relational Theory of Society: Social Life from a Perspective of Critical Realism]. Moscow: Izdatelstvo PSTGU. (In Russ.)
Donati P., Archer M. (2015) Relational Subject. Cambridge: University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/cbo9781316226780
Giddens A. (1992) The Transformation of Intimacy: Sexuality, Love and Eroticism in Modern Societies. Stanford: Stanford University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/2075988
Giddens E. (2004) Transformaciya intimnosti: seksual'nost', lyubov' i erotizm v sovremennyh obshchestvah [The Transformation of Intimacy: Sexuality, Love and Eroticism in Modern Societies]. St. Petersburg: Piter. (In Russ.)
Goleva M.A. (2020) Kak molodye lyudi osmyslyayut vstuplenie v brak? Istorii o znakomstve i svad'be v interv'yu molodyh suprugov [How Young People Perceive Entry into Marriage: Acquaintance and Wedding Stories from the Interviews with the Newlyweds]. Monitoring obshchestvennogo mneniya: ekonomicheskie i social'nye peremeny [Monitoring of Public Opinion: Economic and Social Changes]. No. 5. P. 186–203. (In Russ.) DOI: https://doi.org/10.14515/monitoring.2020.5.1646 EDN: CFKWEO
Illouz E. (2008) Saving the Modern Soul: Therapy, Emotions, and the Culture of Self-Help. Berkeley: UC Press, Ltd. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1525/CALIFORNIA%2F9780520224469.001.0001
Illouz E. (2012) Why Love Hurts: A Sociological Explanation. Malden: Polity Press.
Kozina I.M. (1995) Osobennosti primeneniya strategii «issledovaniya sluchaya» (case study) pri izuchenii proizvodstvennyh otnoshenij na promyshlennom predpriyatii [Features of the Application of the Strategy of “Case Study” in the Study of Industrial Relations in an Industrial Enterprise]. Sociologiya: metodologiya, metody`, matematicheskoe modelirovanie (Sociologiya: 4M) [Sociology: Methodology, Methods, Mathematical Modeling (Sociology: 4M)]. No. 5–6. P. 65–90. (In Russ.) EDN: PFTWIF
Lagojda N.G. (2017) Problema stabil'nosti braka i rosta chisla razvodov v sovremennom obshchestve [The Problem of Stability of Marriage and an Increase in the Number of Divorces in Modern Society]. Vestnik Buryatskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta [Bulletin of the Buryat State University]. No. 2. P. 86–96. (In Russ.) DOI: https://doi.org/10.18101/1994-0866-2017-2-86-96 EDN: YHEFDL
Lyubinarskaya N.A. (2020) Religioznost' i meta-refleksivnost' kak vzaimosvyazannye faktory, vliyayushchie na ustojchivost' otnoshenij [Religiosity and Meta-Reflexivity as Interrelated Factors Affecting the Stability of Relationships]. Sociologiya religii v obshchestve pozdnego moderna. Sbornik statej po materialam IX nauchnoj konferencii [Sociology of Religion in the Late Modern Society. A Collection of Articles on the Materials of the IX International Scientific Conference]. Vol. 9. P. 184–189. (In Russ.) EDN: RERFLY
Moscatelli M., Ferrari C., Parise M., Serrano C., Carrà E. (2021) “Constructing the We”: Relational Reflexivity of Couples with Children in Italy. A Mixed-Method Study. Marriage & Family Review. P. 1–30.
Pavlyutkin I.V. Kak voznikaet obshchnost' v brake: logika vzaimnosti v narrativah zhyon iz mnogodetnyh semej [How the Sense of Community Arises in Marriage: The Logic Mutuality in the Narratives of Woman from Large Families]. Ekonomicheskaya sociologiya [Journal of Economic Sociology]. Vol. 22. No. 4. P. 11–34. (In Russ.) DOI: https://doi.org/10.17323/1726-3247-2021-4-11
-34 EDN: PHQCRM
Strause A., Korbin J. (2001) Osnovi kachestvennogo issledovaniya_ obosnovannaya teoriya_ proceduri i tehniki [Basics of Qualitative Research Grounded Theory Procedures and Technique]. Transl. from Eng. by T.S. Vasileva. Moscow: Editorial URSS. P. 81–97. (In Russ.)
Yin R. (1992) The Case Study Method as a Tool for Doing Evaluation. Current Sociology. Vol. 40. P. 121–137. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/001139292040001009
Zabaev I.V. (2011) Logika analiza dannih v obosnovannoi teorii _grounded theory: Versiya B.Glezera [Grounded Theory Logics of Data Analysis: B. Glaeser’s Version]. Sociologiya: metodologiya, metody`, matematicheskoe modelirovanie (Sociologiya: 4M) [Sociology: Methodology, Methods, Mathematical Modeling (Sociology: 4M)]. Vol. 32. P. 124–142. (In Russ.) DOI: https://doi.org/10.19181/4m.2021.52.5 EDN: OJILPH
Article
Received: 24.06.2022
Accepted: 24.12.2022
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Lyubinarskaya, N. A. (2022). The Role of “Relational Reflexivity” in Family Relationships: a Case Study on the Example of Two Young Couples. Interaction. Interview. Interpretation, 14(4), 62-88. https://doi.org/10.19181/inter.2022.14.4.4
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Field work research
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