Family, Generations and the Life Course

De-institutionalisation, Not Disappearance

Ron Lesthaeghe and Dirk van de Kaa named the second demographic transition in 1986. The first transition saw mortality and fertility fall. The second involves what happens next:

• Sustained below-replacement fertility
• Later and less universal marriage
• Widespread cohabitation and rising non-marital births
• Higher divorce rates
• A cultural shift towards self-realisation

Andrew Cherlin analysed the family itself through the de-institutionalisation of marriage. Social norms defining spousal behaviour have weakened. Marriage is now negotiated between partners rather than following a set script. It did not disappear, but it lost its role as the default framework for adult life.

Household structures changed alongside these norms. Roughly 28 per cent of Spanish households now contain just one person. One-person households are the fastest-growing type across the European Union. They reflect later partnership in youth and rising survival into widowhood at older ages.

The Life Course and Cohorts

The life course approach, pioneered by Glen Elder, examines life transitions within historical time. The traditional path to adulthood has become de-standardised. Transitions are now reordered, repeated, and stretched out.

In the European Union, Spanish youth leave home at a mean age of 30, compared to an EU average of 26 (Eurostat). Jeffrey Arnett calls this extended stage emerging adulthood.

Generations require careful sociological handling. Karl Mannheim argued that a cohort only becomes a generation when shared historical events activate it. Norman Ryder showed how cohort replacement drives broader social change.

Disentangling these dynamics creates a methodological challenge:

Common pitfall: using pop labels like Generation Z. Real cohorts require shared historical exposure, not arbitrary birth-year cut-offs.