THE INDIVIDUALIZATION OF EVERYDAY LIFE 313
many diff erent consumer societies whose inner dynamics and various
shades of diff erentiation need to be looked at more closely. For example,
there are generational diff erences associated with consumption, such as
the fact that retirees have become an important consumer group because
they have had more money than young people since the 1990s. Such
factors are augmented by variations in affl uence, diff erent leitmotifs of
consumption (not just hedonistic ones), and the simultaneous interna-
tionalization and constriction of consumer markets.^101 Despite the fact
that economic considerations are the driving force behind consumption,
these factors were not necessarily homogeneous, nor were they always
socially dominant.^102
Types of Families and Daily Life
The following section off ers a look at the family from a variety of per-
spectives. It begins with its sociostructural development as indicated by
statistics before turning to changes in notions of the family and family
policy. Then it examines shifts in family life over the last thirty years of the
twentieth century, looking closely at how domestic partnerships among
unmarried couples gained in popularity as a new way of life. As with con-
sumption, there are two key leitmotifs that appear over and over again in
these processes: individualization and pluralization. Finally, this section
will identify the motors behind these developments toward the end of
the twentieth century, bearing in mind that these processes had various
facets that merit more attention. Although it is not possible to determine
precisely who or what was behind these shifts, the role of women and
small social groups living alternative lifestyles certainly played a key role.
Sociological studies and very recent historical research have stressed
the importance of both the student protest movement and the women’s
movement, or the leftist-alternative milieu. Yet there were indeed other
decisive factors such as the legal reforms introduced in the 1970s, better
contraception, improved access to education, and the growing percent-
age of women within highly qualifi ed professions in particular. All told, it
was employed female professionals with advanced degrees who were a
central motor behind these changes.^103
Statistics and the Family: The Gentle Pluralization of Private Lives“Families Today—Three Diff erent Ones” was the headline of an issue of
the women’s magazine Für Sie in July 1980. It compared the diff erent
lives of three kinds of nuclear families: a married couple with children,