STATUS OF FAMILY THEORY AND RESEARCH IN SWITZERLAND

The sociology of marriage and the family in Switzerland does not have a long history of theorizing and empirical research, It is only during the last two decades that research groups at the sociological institu tes of the Universities of Zurich and Geneva specialized in this field . Research was first of all stimulated by the dramatic socio-demograph ic changes that occurred in the late 1960s which called for sociologic al explanations, and secondly by the contradictions between these chan ges and the strong normative traditionalism peculiar to Switzerland, N evertheless family research in Switzerland is still relatively margina l, compared to other topics of social sciences. A scientific center co ntinuously dealing with family issues as still lacking, Swiss family r esearchers will therefore continue to integrate themselves into the br oader framework of European family research.