Family as Mapped Realities

Abstract

Both in everyday language and in more theoretical definitions, family is often made synonymous with household. At the same time, family and household structure have changed remarkably during the last few decades. These changes have implications for how we define family. With a closed and nonproblematized concept of family, certain types of interpretations of social reality are made, but what is needed is a view that can accommodate the more complex and less normative concepts drawn from the everyday experience of family members themselves. This article presents a method for mapping members' conceptualizations.