321
See also: Ulrich Beck 156–61 ■ David Held 170–71 ■ Colin Campbell 234–35 ■
Talcott Parsons 300–01 ■ Adrienne Rich 304–09 ■ Judith Stacey 310–11 Elisabeth Beck-
Gernsheim
Born in Freiburg, Germany,
in 1946, Elisabeth Beck-
Gernsheim is a sociologist,
philosopher, and psychologist.
Her partly Jewish heritage
meant that many of her family
members fled Nazi Germany
in the 1930s, with some of her
uncles moving to London.
She has produced several
key works in collaboration
with her husband, Ulrich Beck
(who had his own links to
London through the LSE), but
has also written extensively
on issues from social change
to biotechnologies. More
recently, she has developed
an interest in transnational
marriage, migration, and
ethnic identities. She is
currently a senior research
fellow at the Institute for
Cosmopolitan Studies,
University of Munich. (See
pp.156–61 for Ulrich Beck.)Key works1995 The Normal Chaos of
Love (with Ulrich Beck)
2002 Individualization (with
Ulrich Beck)
2002 Reinventing the Familyof emancipation and equal rights.”
The fading away of traditional
social identities means that the
antagonisms between men and
women over gender roles emerge
“in the very heart of the private
sphere,” with the result that more
couples are divorcing or separating,
and different family forms are
taking shape. All this is part of “the
quite normal chaos called love.”
Individualized living
Following on from Beck’s earlier
Risk Society (1986), which suggests
that women are torn between
“liberation” and the continuance of
traditional gender roles, the couple
makes the case that a new age of
“reflexive modernity” has produced
new risks and opportunities. The
particular social and economic
conditions of global capitalism have
led to a greater sense of individual
identity; life is less predictable and
personal narratives have more of
a sense of “do-it-yourself.”
The couple explains that
“individualization” is the
opposite principle to that used
in Germany’s Code of Civil Law
in the late 19th-century, which
established that “marriage is to
be viewed [as] a moral and legal
order independent of the will of
the spouse.” Individualization has
facilitated new forms of personal
and social experimentation. ❯❯FAMILIES AND INTIMACIES
People marry for... love
and get divorced for... love.
Ulrich Beck & Elisabeth
Beck-GernsheimWhen love finally wins it has
to face all kinds of defeat.Increased social
freedoms today mean
that people have greater
scope than ever before to
shape their own lives.Family units are now
more fragile; separation,
divorce, and remarriage
are more common.They still yearn
for stability and
emotionally fulfilling
relationships......but the social
changes have weakened
gender stereotypes
and led to a clash of
interests between
love and freedom.