Relational Networks of Young Couples and Marriage Choice Paths in Italy: Data on Membership and Influence

Abstract

This chapter proposes an exploratory research on morphological structure and functions of the personal networks of young Italians organizing their lives as couples during their transition to married life. In Italy, next to the weakening and a process of deinstitutionalization of marriages (Cherlin 2004; Bramanti 2013), new ways of forming couples are spreading such as long cohabitation and live apart together (LAT) with no intention to get married. Young people experience new relational codes in a social context that promote the reversibility of choices and/or the privatization of behaviours. These configurations affect the traditional role (and identity) of the family within society and could trigger a series of knock-on effects on future generations. A recent publication in fact has sized up the Italian situation by noting that the increase in unstable, fragmented couples poses questions about the future of society there (Donati 2012).