Rethinking Kinship and Care across the Life Course

Kinship has long been a foundational concept in sociology, shaping how scholars understand family relationships, social support, and care across the life course. Nevertheless, many conventional assumptions about kinship—including the availability, stability, and functions of family ties—are increasingly challenged by profound demographic and social transformations. Declining fertility, changing partnership patterns, growing diversity in family forms, migration, increased longevity, population aging, and other demographic and social changes are reshaping how kinship is constituted and experienced in contemporary societies.

This session invites theoretical, methodological, and empirical contributions that rethink kinship and care in the context of ongoing demographic, social, and institutional transformations. We welcome papers from diverse world regions that examine family structures and relationships across the life course, including but not limited to intergenerational ties, sibling and extended family relationships, friendship and non-kin support, caregiving, and other forms of relatedness. Quantitative, qualitative, mixed-methods, comparative contributions are all encouraged.

The session aims to advance understanding of kinship as a dynamic and evolving social process shaped by demographic, cultural, economic, and policy contexts. We particularly encourage papers that develop new conceptual perspectives, introduce innovative methodological approaches, or generate comparative insights into changing patterns of kinship and care across diverse societies.