227orientations, today more centred on pro-traditional family values, was
expected to bring in additional cross-national differences.
Alongside an in-depth examination of the social and biographical con-
texts that might affect personal networks, the eight chapters of this book
have explored and compared the core configurational features of personal
networks and their consequences for social capital and family meaning,
focusing on different birth cohorts (1950–1955 and 1970–1975) in
cross-national comparative perspective. Drawing on the findings and dis-
cussions of all the chapters, two main sets of conclusions may be
highlighted.
Assessing the Impact of Late Modernity
on the Construction of Personal Networks:
Complexity and Diversity of Outcomes
A first conclusion is that some important commonalities were found
regarding flexibility and pluralization in personal relationships. In all
three national contexts, personal networks are comprised of a variety of
ties, including both kin and non-kin ties, both friendship and work-
related ties within the latter, and the great majority of individuals have a
network, in other words a (small) set of people who are regarded as
socially, emotionally, and symbolically meaningful or important in their
lives.
However, in spite of greater freedom, the construction of personal rela-
tionships reveals plural and complex combinations of related and non-
related persons rather than a predominant trend towards non-kin or even
a sharp decline in kinship ties. In fact, close kin belonging to the nuclear
family of orientation and procreation were found not only to be salient
but also much more salient than extended kin ties based on alliance and
intergenerational proximity, thereby confirming the still relevant, albeit
not overarching, principles of close blood relatives and the nuclear family
in personal relationships. Beyond consanguinity and partnership, the
underlying mechanisms of relational proximity reveal the salience of
friendship compared to acquaintanceship linked to work or vicinity and
Conclusions