The Family and Alternate Life Styles Book

This book explains the growth of alternate lifestyles asattempts by individuals to find the intimacy which, as a result ofa variety of societal trends, is so often lacking in traditional families.These trends include: the tendency to look at people asthings; the fast pace of technological society; the great diversity ofmodern life; the permissiveness of society today; the emergenceof a new orientation toward life; greater individualism and alienation;and disillusionment with traditional marriage and family.These societal trends on the family produce such changes as: thetransfer of major functions from the family to other institutions;fragmentation of family life; unrealistic expectations of marriage;less contact with the extended family; more women in the laborforce; more flexibility in family roles; more teen-age marriages;changing childrearing patterns; and the increasing acceptabilityof divorce. As a result of all these changes, a "market" hasdeveloped offering a variety of different, non-traditional lifestyles,six of which are selected for discussion: 1. Extramarital Relations2. Swinging 3. Cohabitation 4. Communes 5. Group marriage 6. One-parentfamilies. David Mace in his Foreword says: "Theauthors.., have carefully studied the literature about the alternativelife styles - not only the sensational propagandist literaturebut also the serious investigations and the research projects.They avoid controversy and contentiousness and the authorsplace great stress on improved human relationships."Read More