Abstract
Studies on the Management of a Social Organization for Discussion of Family Diversity
Hong, Seung-ah
Choi, In-hee
Choi, Jin-hee
Yoo, Eun-Kyung
Families in Korean society are changing rapidly. A traditional family consisting of parents and their unmarried children still accounts for the largest part of households in Korea; yet, its percentage has rapidly been diminishing in recent years. Simultaneously, a new type of family has emerged in Korean society: single-parents, multicultural couples, single-person households, divorced people, remarried couples, and cohabiting couples.
These circumstances have brought about issues regarding children of divorced, remarried, international, and unmarried couples as society, immersed into the ideology of “normal families”, still regards legally binding marriages and blood relationships as being “normal.” Thus, as society is ushered into an era of family diversity, it is imperative that society understands and embraces the new types of families for the growth and socialization process of children from aforementioned households.
Family values on marriage, divorce, remarriage, international marriage, cohabitation, and a single-parent are rapidly changing. Young people in their 20s and 30s are particularly more receptive to changing family values than the older generations. As the diversification of family seems to be accelerated in the future, it is inevitable for society and individuals to accept changing family values.
The diversification of families urges society to extend the traditional definition of family-the standard family model and universal model, and to expand the range of family policies. Society should seek to respect and embrace new types of families including single-parents, multicultural and reconstituted households, adoptive families, international married couples, single-person households, and cohabiting couples, as well as to offer various programs to improve social inclusiveness such as social education, campaigns, and discussions.
Against this backdrop, this study intends to establish a foundation for social discussions on responding strategies to family diversity, providing preliminary data to determine the optimal status of a social organization and to draw up specific plans to launch and manage the organization in order to increase social inclusiveness of new types of families and broaden the social consensus of diverse family structures.
To this end, this research is preceded by case studies of Korea and France, and experts workshops on social organizations at home and abroad. The suggestions made by this research are as follows:
First, two ways of managing social organization should be considered: 1) by the government that can tap into its strong motivation and momentum and 2) by private sectors that can raise questions on a broad range of issues regarding rights and discriminations and seek solutions through comprehension and agreement.
Second, two directions can be considered for social organization and its research: 1) focusing on the identification of discriminations and bias against new types of family structures as suggested in the title of this study and 2) paying attention to extensive family issues not only on new family types but also on overall changes in family structures to design new family policies and cultures.
Third, social organization should consist of members of the government, experts, religious groups, media, and other concerned parties.
Forth, suggestions for the title of social organization include The Family Communication Committee (or Network), The Family Equity Committee (or Network), The Committee (or Network) for the Inclusiveness of Family Diversity, The Future Family Committee, The Discrimination Remedy Committee (or Network) for Family Diversity, The Family Forum, or The Family Network.
Lastly, after the social organization is launched, progress should be made as follows:
1) draw up strategies to change people's perspectives on family values in order to encourage them to embrace family diversity and set necessary agendas
2) set agendas on family diversity and establish a representative organization
3) create a team dedicated to the organization of social governance and implementation of its plans, Suggestions for the plans include living as family, nurturing children, engaging in economic activities, balancing work and family, participating in local communities under diverse family structures
4) recommend revisions of relevant laws and policies as well as make suggestions for revision based on the conclusion drawn by social organization