This is straight out of Walker Percy's Lost in the Cosmos.
The Postmodern Family Clan
31–40 of 55 posts
Re: The Postmodern Family Clan
#32I see these types of stories as propaganda aiming to placate younger generations into accepting a lower standard of living than their predecessors. The ones I really get a kick out of are all the Tiny Home shows popping up. I know, I know, some people really are embracing simplicity and being unencumbered by the responsibilities past generations faced. However, what these types of stories are really saying is; sorry…
I have similar thoughts every time I see food trucks that are charging full-service restaurant prices for people to stand on the street and eat carbs. There's an argument to be made that it's faster or more convenient than full-service as well as higher quality than conventional fast food and that you're paying for that, but it's also asking consumers to accept less than previous generations expected for their dinner experience, while paying as much or more. I see it as a symptom of the rising cost of running an establishment, instead of a reflection of changing tastes. Some humans are too good at making virtues of inconveniences instead of tackling the source of the inconvenience.
I'm pleasantly surprised whenever I see a Tiny Home that isn't a death-trap with a single exit.
Re: The Postmodern Family Clan
#33All of the benefits described by the author's proposed "postmodern family" are already enjoyed by much of the world's population, a large portion of which lives in extended family compounds. From India to the Middle East, and S. America to much Africa, families live together in multigenerational housing. Indeed, even many Americans lived in this type of arrangement up until the WWII era. And the benefits to this livi…
The likelihood of 6 adult individuals meeting and having sufficient overlap in goals and interests and habits to create a cohesive home is laughable. It's hard enough to do with just 2 financially independent individuals, not to mention navigating relationships when the value of one individual drops relative to the other(s).
Re: The Postmodern Family Clan
#34Funnily the postmodern family clan looks quite similar to the old fashioned non-nuclear family: The grandfather would have multiple children, which all live in the same household. Each of the marrying sons will bring their wives (and then children) to the main household. The whole family will help each other and the responsibility of children will be shared between everyone.
The increasing rate of generational change makes this more difficult to organize than in the past. One hundred years ago, a granddaughter was basically living the same lifestyle as her grandmother. Today, the two would have less common ground and more likely to be in different political hemispheres.
Re: The Postmodern Family Clan
#35All of the benefits described by the author's proposed "postmodern family" are already enjoyed by much of the world's population, a large portion of which lives in extended family compounds. From India to the Middle East, and S. America to much Africa, families live together in multigenerational housing. Indeed, even many Americans lived in this type of arrangement up until the WWII era. And the benefits to this livi…
The likelihood of 6 adult individuals meeting and having sufficient overlap in goals and interests and habits to create a cohesive home is laughable. It's hard enough to do with just 2 financially independent individuals, not to mention navigating relationships when the value of one individual drops relative to the other(s).
> The likelihood of 6 adult individuals meeting and having sufficient overlap in goals and interests and habits to create a cohesive home is laughable.
I disagree. Already, there's a significant movement underway in the US called "co-living", which shares a lot of the features described by the author:
Re: The Postmodern Family Clan
#36Earlier quoted context omitted.
The likelihood of 6 adult individuals meeting and having sufficient overlap in goals and interests and habits to create a cohesive home is laughable. It's hard enough to do with just 2 financially independent individuals, not to mention navigating relationships when the value of one individual drops relative to the other(s).
> The likelihood of 6 adult individuals meeting and having sufficient overlap in goals and interests and habits to create a cohesive home is laughable. I disagree. Already, there's a significant movement underway in the US called "co-living", which shares a lot of the features described by the author: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coliving
That's great until you throw a child into the mix. Or a sick in law who needs care. Or anything more complicated than a clean kitchen and bathroom.
Re: The Postmodern Family Clan
#37Earlier quoted context omitted.
> The likelihood of 6 adult individuals meeting and having sufficient overlap in goals and interests and habits to create a cohesive home is laughable. I disagree. Already, there's a significant movement underway in the US called "co-living", which shares a lot of the features described by the author: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coliving
That's great until you throw a child into the mix. Or a sick in law who needs care. Or anything more complicated than a clean kitchen and bathroom.
Some coliving housing is even oriented toward families with children and other dependents. Look it up, you'll be surprised.
Re: The Postmodern Family Clan
#38is the concept of clan by definition pre-modern?
Re: The Postmodern Family Clan
#39This concept really appeals to me, but I’m disappointed the article failed to talk at all about what could go wrong. Another comment here discussed the difficulty in decision making for big life choices, but in addition to that what happens when one of the couples falls out of love and wants to divorce? Suddenly the other couple might be expected to “choose sides” and the messiness of a normal divorce is compounded b…
It's basically reinventing an LLP business. Operating a home or family has a business aspect to it, and a single spouse is great for providing a backup income, labor, and obviously to help procreate. However, even a single spouse comes at a cost of adding politics to the business, just like adding a business partner would. And the more business partners you add, the more politics you get.
Re: The Postmodern Family Clan
#40Earlier quoted context omitted.
The likelihood of 6 adult individuals meeting and having sufficient overlap in goals and interests and habits to create a cohesive home is laughable. It's hard enough to do with just 2 financially independent individuals, not to mention navigating relationships when the value of one individual drops relative to the other(s).
> The likelihood of 6 adult individuals meeting and having sufficient overlap in goals and interests and habits to create a cohesive home is laughable. I disagree. Already, there's a significant movement underway in the US called "co-living", which shares a lot of the features described by the author: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coliving
Are there numbers? The trend from what I understand is exactly the opposite. The US has passed 40% of births to unmarried mothers [1], so we're approaching a default family of 1 adult. (Possibly 1 adult present + some percentage of another's earning power, enforced by the courts, but still.)
[1] https://www.heritage.org/sites/default/files/~/media/images/...
