Family Without Consanguinity: New Patterns of Family Structure
Date Issued
2015
Date
2015
Author(s)
Lee, Yun-Ping
Abstract
With the development of society, family structure in Taiwan has increasingly diversified. In addition to single-parent, cohabitation, blended families and other atypical families, another type of family structure has emerged. These newly emerging families are no longer based on marital ties or consanguinity, but rather upon lasting bonds of friendship and shared interests, religious beliefs or experiences. They live together, take care of each other and view each other as family members. This thesis uses the term “multi-person family” to describe such unions. This thesis is divided into three major sections. Chapter One to Chapter Five elaborates on how multi-person families work in practice, including their origins, modes of interaction, common ownership of wealth, division of domestic labor and potential sources of conflict. As real-life cases can demonstrate, multi-person families mark a break from traditional institutions by redefining the meaning of the family and rewriting its internal structure. Such alternative families are not limited to the LGBT community, but also seen among heterosexual people. Chapters Six and Seven discuss legal difficulties encountered by multi-person families. As Taiwanese law does not officially recognize such families, from a legal standpoint, members of these families are classified as “strangers” to one another. Legal rights guaranteed by the law to most families, such as medical rights, inheritance and adoption, are not applicable to multi-person families. The multi-person families interviewed in this study hope for their rights to be protected by law as soon as possible. Chapter Eight presents the conclusion of the entire thesis. Multi-person families mark a break from existing family structures, making marital ties and consanguinity no longer the only basis to form a family. Society should devote more attention to such alternative families, which are still increasing. This thesis found nearly ten multi-person families that were willing to share their stories, through snowball sampling. Through this study, the author aims to encourage more people to learn about multi-person families, as well as increase mutual understanding among different groups in society.
Subjects
multiple-person families
diverse family formation
homosexual
family
heterosexual
Type
thesis
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