ERIC Number: ED266867
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 1985-Mar
Pages: 31
Abstractor: N/A
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
Kenya: Family Networks in Transition.
Barrett, Minna; Muugi, George
This presentation is the result of 60 structured interviews that were conducted in Kenya to investigate the effects of rapid social economic changes on the psychosocial mechanism of entire family networks. The investigation addressed the hypothesis that modernization was affecting the extent to which extended family processes and patterns were being practiced and maintained. It further explored the hypothesis that parent/child and spousal relationships would be central foci for describing and explaining change. Contents of the paper focus on detailed description and analysis of the interviews, the respondents' views, and modernization and changes. It was found that younger men and women discussed the nuclearization of the family, claiming that it improves father/child and husband/wife interaction. Hence, the ideology of independence from the extended family is supported. Younger respondents mentioned with approval increases in equality between spouses. This finding adds a new highlight to research on the ideology of equality. Of the younger Kenyans interviewed, the majority supported equalization in the home. Findings also suggest the importance of surveying across generations. While all groups discussed the impact on their family lives of the transition to modernity, differences across generations were found in the weight given the issues, as well as in the interpretation, evaluation, and explanation of social change. The paper concludes with a discussion of implications for changing family relations in Kenya. (RH)
Publication Type: Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Kenya
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A