Cultural Conceptions of Family as Inhibitors of Change in Family Lives: The ‘Leitbild’ Approach

Because several well-established theoretical approaches explain family change and only few explain continuity, this chapter proposes the concept of ‘leitbilder’ as an updated cultural-normative approach to facilitate an understanding of how behavioural patterns persist or adjust slowly to fast-changing conditions. The concept assumes that individuals have complex perceptions of a ‘normal’ family life in mind, implying imaginations of what a family usually looks like and how it should look like. These perceptions are shared within societies and social groups. The authors present a survey operationalizing the concept and empirical findings from Germany. Findings suggest that societal-cultural leitbilder are less liberal than individual-subjective conceptions and have an independent retarding influence on behaviour.