Der Wandel von Familie: Zur Rhetorik sozialwissenschaftlicher Texte. (German)

In contemporary societies we observe an increasing interest for the forms of persuasive public communication, for which the term "new rhetoric" has been proposed recently. It includes the analysis of scholarly publications and therefore is related to developments in the sociology of science. Family research is a fruitful field for research on this kind of "scientific rhetoric". A small number of key-terms, among them prominently "pluralization of family forms", play a dominant role in the literature. At the same time, a remarkable rise of family research led to a multiplication of theoretical approaches. Also, speaking and writing on the family unavoidably contains moral and therefore rhetorical connotations, due to the anthropological dimensions of the topic. The article starts with comments on the discourse on the family. Then the theoretical foundations of research on scientific rhetoric in a media society are presented. It is followed by a comparative analysis of three recent articles on the situation of the family and related forms of private life in Germany. Finally, a frame of reference for the analysis of family rhetoric in scholarly texts is sketched out and the utility of rhetorical analyses is discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Österreichische Zeitschrift für Soziologie is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)