Kinship relationships in the young Swiss generations: lineage, structure and function

Although intergenerational relations have been the subject of recent sociol ogical research, the role and significance of kinship for the young generat ions has received less attention. This article presents the results of a su rvey examining the ways in which young adults (18-25 years) are integrated in the family network. The subjective importance of kin (outside the nuclea r family) for young adults is assessed from a relational and normative pers pective. What type of contacts and quality of relationships do they have wi th the kinship group? How are these exchanges structured? What are the spec ific functions of the different members of the kinship group? These are the main lines of inquiry around which the analysis is organized, with particu lar emphasis on lineage and generation membership as a differentiating fact or in family relations. A synthesis is made using a hierarchical classifica tion to produce an empirical typology of the relationships between young ad ults and their kinship network.