Family: plural noun. Loving, growing and living in Third Millennium families

The central theme of the book "Family: plural noun. Loving, growing and living in Third Millennium families" ( Di Nicola, P., 2008) is change in family relationships. From the relational dynamics of the 70s in which "the family is a strong unit of two people who choose each other and choose to live together principally from affection and mutual trust rather than for material advantage" we have moved to a new way of understanding the family. For young people, indeed, it no longer represents the supreme form of enduring relationship but rather a rapport of a transitory nature. The argument family vs families arises, according to Di Nicola, in the modern period within a broad process of "immunisation" of social bonds and relationships so that the distinction between plural and singular can be traced to a three-part analysis: cultural, political and ideological. From a cultural point of view, the family is considered as 'pure unit of affections' leaving intentionally to the second level the contractual link which sanctions most Italian families even today. From a political perspective the left-right distinction yields two ways of perceiving the family. For the right the traditional family model must be preserved distinct from alternative forms of cohabitation whereas, on the contrary, the left aims to make all forms of cohabitation equal to the traditional family model. For both, from an ideological perspective, the models to pursue are intended to bring the greatest happiness to those involved in the bond.