Selective Network Formations and Family Change

The family and non-family network formations are increasingly and intertwiningly more selective. In this paper, lesbian and gay families and families living in collective housings as well as stepfamilies are discussed as a variety of family-subcultures being organized selectively on the basis of homophily. These family-subcultures serve as “private” institutions to support non-conventional family formations. When “the redistribution of care” becomes problematic, however, the family-subcultures undergo complex social processes of conflict and/or coalition with other subcultures over the politics regarding“public” institutions such as family laws. These middle ground processes linking the micro and macro levels of the society are the key to understanding the family change in present Japan.