France

In France, during the 1960s and 1970s, the family was thought of in terms of its crisis, decline, or rupture. Some even spoke of its death. The rapid changes brought on by the strong economic, social, and cultural movements of the era explain this phenomenon. Yet the family was ever-present and continued to play a major role in society, as numerous works of the time emphasized (Rémy 1967; Roussel and Bourguignon, 1976; Pitrou 1978). The French have never stopped considering the family an essentially valuable part of society, as shown in the retrospective analysis of about fifty surveys taken between 1968 and 1988 (Chalvon-Demersay 1989). In short, despite the different schools of thought, the French have been and still are attached to the family. This is not only true of adults. A survey taken among a representative sample of people between fifteen and twenty-four years of age (Gurrey and Subtil 1999) shows that more than eight out of ten (82%) consider the family "very important," coming before friendship (75%), work (61%), love (59%), studies (48%), school (39%), money (30%), and sexuality (29%). Yetit must be admitted that the family is no longer that of the 1950s.