Identity and Variety of the Family. The Phenomenon of Pluralization, 2001

The Seventh Report  faces radical and in the same time fascinating challenges for the contemporary Italian family, the so called “pluralistic family forms”.
It is a complex phenomenon, characterized by three  principal trends: the fragmentation of the nuclear family, the claim of new subjective rights of the individuals in the family, the claim of new rights on behalf of individuals who live in “other” social relations which are “family” only by analogy or metaphor.
All these forms deserve attention, but it is necessary to distinguish the nature and the type of protection and treatment that society should reserve to them. The pluralisation, in fact, can be a source of more humanization of the person or  direct towards a  further deterioration  of social life.

The  Report proposes to distinguish the family from other forms of community life that emerge nowadays as life style, partly transitory towards family, partly alternatives of family, on base of specific qualities of what signifies “being a family” respect to other types of unions, agreements or private pacts.

Family pluralism can not be indistinct and chaotic, but has to be “qualified” from the cultural point of view as well as from the juridical, social and political one.
The different types of cohabitation have to be distinguished considering if they want to assume commitments  similar to  the family characteristics or if they choose to configure as primary relations which can have a certain sociality, but are motivated by needs that are different from those who characterize the family.

The Italian family “pluralises”.Reality, meanings, distinguishing criteria
Pierpaolo Donati

Family and pluralisation of life styles: distinguish between family relations and other primary relations
Pierpaolo Donati

Demographic analysis of “new” family and cohabitation forms  in Italy and in Europe
Gian Carlo Blangiardo

The filial relationship in the “plural” family
Giovanna Rossi, Elisabetta Carrà Mittini

The scenic configurations of being family or about reasoning on pluralism
Corrado Pontalti

From the Breakdown of Marriage to the Plurality of Family Courses
Vittorio Cigoli, Giancarlo Tamanza

Media and family pluralism. The contribution of TV to the social representation of family plurality
Francesco Casetti, Mariagrazia Fanchi

Marriage pluralism from a religious point of view: Christianity, Judaism, Islam
Silvio Ferrari

Welfare and the pluralism of cohabitation forms:  promotion or dismantling of the conjugal family
Carla Collicelli, Franco Salvatori

Identity and pluralism in the relations between society, law and family
Riccardo Prandini

Family, families: how to combine identity and pluralism
Pierpaolo Donati