Abstract
This chapter explores the concept of empty nest syndrome and its value in sociology. The analogy of an empty nest as a cosy space is used to describe the phase of family life when children leave their parents. The chapter delves into the history of the family home, highlighting the shift towards private and intimate family life in the late nineteenth century. The confinement of women in family life is also discussed, with Dorothy Canfield’s analogy of a “squirrel cage” used to designate marriage. The concept of empty nest syndrome is situated within broader sociological discussions about gender roles and family dynamics. The author argues that this syndrome belongs to a wider critique of fixed roles attributed to women. He questions whether working mothers are fewer mothers in terms of identity than stay-at-home mothers, highlighting that time spent and place in identity is not dissociated. The chapter provides insights into the history and sociology of family life, shedding light on important issues related to gender roles and family dynamics.
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Notes
- 1.
In La chaleur du foyer. Analyse du repli domestique (1988), Jean-Claude Kaufmann stresses that the family is associated in the social imagination with a warm atmosphere created by the family home, like a nest.
- 2.
The return of the child home—the boomerang effect—is problematic as parents have to combine the two factors again.
- 3.
If we assume more medical measures, there is no empty nest syndrome either (Dennerstein et al., 2002).
- 4.
This also makes the return of the children, known as the boomerang effect, a possibly unpleasant phenomenon, not only because of the new burdens associated with resuming the parenting role, but also because of the fear of having failed as a parent.
- 5.
This feeling of loneliness is felt even by those who live in couples (cf. Cheng et al., 2015).
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de Singly, F. (2024). The Value of “Empty Nest Syndrome” in Sociology. In: Żadkowska, M., Skowrońska, M., Giraud, C., Schmidt, F. (eds) Reconfiguring Relations in the Empty Nest. Palgrave Macmillan Studies in Family and Intimate Life. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-50403-7_2
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