The challenges of contemporary family and modernization : an emphasis on divorce in the process of demographic transition

The present article is based on the demographic transition theory and analyzes the main characteristics and trends of changes in the contemporary family and divorce phenomenon from a socio-cultural perspective. It discusses both global patterns and focuses specifically in the context of Iran. The existing literature identifies two major patterns: while the family was highly valued in the past, the contemporary human society has witnessed substantial changes in the value and formation of the family. The changes have been mainly reflected in an increasing rate of divorce so that the modern society has been termed as ‘The Age of Divorce’ and ‘The Divorce Revolution’. Moreover, the modern society has experienced the emerging forms of family formations: single-parent family, one-child family, childlessness, and cohabitation. According to the demographic transition theory, these revolutionary changes of the contemporary family are mainly associated with the process of modernization and its major components (individualism, industrialization, and urbanization). The results of this study show that while these family changes exist overwhelmingly in the developed and industrialized societies, the changes become increasingly more visible in the developing countries. This particularly applies to the increasing trend of divorce rate. Finally, the results of the study addressed the high value of family characteristics in the Iranian culture which provides the opportunity to deal with the divorce phenomenon from a policy-making perspective.