Family in the Middle East: Ideational Change in Egypt, Iran and Tunisia

9780415774864

0415774861

Family in the Middle East explores, from a historical comparative perspective, the globalization of dominant myths of 'modern' family and society, and their effects on families in Egypt, Iran, and Tunisia. for Western social scientists from the 1700s through the mid-1900s, the dominant model for understanding societal and family change was the 'developmental paradigm'. Accordingly, the 'most advanced' societies were those in Northwest Europe and its diasporas, other societies occupied 'less advanced' positions, and societies 'progressed' through the same stages of 'development.' Scholars since have challenged many of these early assertions, but a persistent belief in the developmental paradigm has had two potential consequences. First, it may have stalled the growth of new theory about the actual triggers of family change. Second, it may have produced a set of hegemonic "myths" or "ideals" about family and family change that, according to other scholars, have influenced families around the world.The volume's rich presentation of ethnographic and survey data reveals how ordinary people in three distinct settings have understood dominant icons of 'modern family' and have appropriated them to forge their own idiomatic modernities.To date, no edited volume has explored 'developmental myths' as forces of family change in the Middle East. As a result, the volume fills a major gap in critical family studies in and on the Middle East by offering a new, empirically-grounded framework about 'the modern family' icon as a force of family change. In so doing, this volume contributes uniquely to sociological debates about globalization.