The Changes in Power Relations in Families

Abstract

This paper aims at knowing and understanding the transformations of power relations within the private domain of the family system. We share with Giddens (1993) the idea that much has been thought about the exercise of democracy in the public sphere and only today, in contemporary times, has the gaze of society focused upon issues related to the exercise of power within the intimacy of the family system. In this paper we work from a systemic stance, which leads us to think of the family as a live changing organism with its own local dynamics, whereby one experiences sometimes relations of dominance, and at other times egalitarian-individualistic relations or even relations of citizenship. It is worth remembering, however, that the family unit sets the tone of its power relations, which are closely connected to the social, economic, and cultural context, as the social tissue is permeated with myths, values, and beliefs that very often support inequalities in the relations of gender, social class, race, and ethnic background.