Abstract
A review of representative literature in the newly developing area of alternative lifestyle research suggests an antisocial structural bias. The origin of this trend and its implications for a theoretically based social science of alternative lifestyles are explored. The aged, women, and Black families are viewed as examples where social structural conditions affect the diversity of intimacy, marriage, and family alternative lifestyles chosen. Current definitions of alternative lifestyles, individual freedom, and choice are seen as reflecting and supporting the social, political, and economic status quo in American society. It is concluded that a social science of alternative lifestyles is only possible when we more fully understand the individual, institutional, and historical dynamics determining the availability and feasibility of alternatives in intimacy, marriage, and family life.
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Author's Note: This article was presented as a paper at the Annual Meeting of the National Council on Family Relations, August 14–18, 1978 in Boston. The author wishes to acknowledge the assistance and encouragement of Roger Libby of the University of Massachusetts in the writing of this manuscript. Thanks also go to Julia Ericksen, Kyriakos Kontopoulos, and Robert Bell of Temple University for assistance during various stages of its development.
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Cazenave, N.A. Social structure and personal choice. J Fam Econ Iss 2, 331–358 (1979). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01083713
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01083713