Increasing Marriage Rates Despite High Individualization: Understanding the Role of Internal Reference in Swedish Marriage Discourse
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Increasing Marriage Rates Despite High Individualization : Understanding the Role of Internal Reference in Swedish Marriage Discourse. / Strandell, Jacob.
In: Cultural Sociology, Vol. 12, No. 1, 2018, p. 75-95.Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › Research › peer-review
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TY - JOUR
T1 - Increasing Marriage Rates Despite High Individualization
T2 - Understanding the Role of Internal Reference in Swedish Marriage Discourse
AU - Strandell, Jacob
PY - 2018
Y1 - 2018
N2 - Individualization remains the most prominent theoretical explanation for the shifts in European demographic trends since the 1960s, including decreasing marriage and fertility rates and increasing divorce rates. Demographic theorists suggest that a shift from traditional to individualized values, such as autonomy and self-realization, has been driving these trends. However, conceptualizing individualization as a set of values cannot account for why Swedish marriage rates have increased since 1998, despite highly individualized values. This article suggests re-thinking individualization as a form of internally referring attributions in causal and moral reasoning about human behavior, emphasizing agency and internal causes over structure or context. As such, individualization shapes peoples’ perceptions and understandings of the world, including their expectations of marriage and close relationships. Data from focus groups support this conceptualization and show how participants individualize risks, while perceiving marriage itself as inconsequential. In line with previous research, individualized reasoning obfuscated assumptions that were less individualized and implicit.
AB - Individualization remains the most prominent theoretical explanation for the shifts in European demographic trends since the 1960s, including decreasing marriage and fertility rates and increasing divorce rates. Demographic theorists suggest that a shift from traditional to individualized values, such as autonomy and self-realization, has been driving these trends. However, conceptualizing individualization as a set of values cannot account for why Swedish marriage rates have increased since 1998, despite highly individualized values. This article suggests re-thinking individualization as a form of internally referring attributions in causal and moral reasoning about human behavior, emphasizing agency and internal causes over structure or context. As such, individualization shapes peoples’ perceptions and understandings of the world, including their expectations of marriage and close relationships. Data from focus groups support this conceptualization and show how participants individualize risks, while perceiving marriage itself as inconsequential. In line with previous research, individualized reasoning obfuscated assumptions that were less individualized and implicit.
KW - Faculty of Social Sciences
KW - attribution
KW - cultural schemas
KW - discourse
KW - individualization
KW - marriage
KW - Sweden
U2 - 10.1177/1749975517722476
DO - 10.1177/1749975517722476
M3 - Journal article
VL - 12
SP - 75
EP - 95
JO - Cultural Sociology
JF - Cultural Sociology
SN - 1749-9755
IS - 1
ER -
ID: 222621567