An interesting programme on the BBC’s World Service last week told us that nuclear families in nations as far apart as Asia and Latin America are beginning to show signs of break-down, following the West into a more transient and multi-layered style of family life.
An academic expert told us that this seems to be another demographic transition,like that which saw the shift to smaller families (in terms of average numbers of children per woman).
Perhaps the fundamental cause is the same – the astonishing reductions in mortality, even in the face of high murder rates, drug wars & poverty – mean that people feel much less able to make a commitment that is till death do us part. So that is what explains why so many people reared in stable households have been unable to repeat that stability in their own lives.
The programme is available as a podcast.
