Flexibility,friendship, and family

This article is concerned with the impact of late modernity on patterns of solidarity in friend and family relationships. It takes as its starting point the transformations in partnership, family, and household formation and dissolution that have been occurring in Western societies since the 1970s. Accepting these shifts as indicative of the greater freedoms people now have over the construction of their personal relationships and social networks, the article examines the degree to which the domains of family and friendship are merging. Its principal argument is that despite increased flexibility in the construction of personal life, including diversity in the prioritization of different relationships, at a cultural level clear boundaries exist between family and friendship ties.     

Self‐expansion and flow: The roles of challenge,skill, affect,and activation

The self‐expansion model posits that engaging in challenging activities with one's romantic partner increases the quality of that romantic relationship. Research on flow suggests that the optimal level of challenge for such experiences is determined by the skill of the individual. In a series of 5 studies spanning experimental, survey, and experience sampling methodologies, we elaborate on the self‐expansion model to describe how activity challenge effects romantic relationship quality. The results suggest that engaging in challenging activities with one's partner results in increases in relationship quality, though this effect is dependent on the skill of the individual. Changes in affect appear to fully mediate this process. We present a theoretical model combining self‐expansion and flow theories.     

HISTORY,BELIEF AND IMAGINATION IN CHARLES TAYLOR'S A SECULAR AGE

In this essay I explore, from a theologian's perspective, two questions which arise from the Taylor's development of a genre addressing two quite different audiences: the social scientists and the theologians. In particular, it examines the relationship between theology and history and the relationship between believing, an act of faith and the imaginary. While accepting the conditions for believing in the age of enchantment differ from those in a secular and disenchanted age, the essay concludes by questioning whether an act of faith was any less difficult and by pointing out that if it was less difficult then theologically we need a more nuanced account of the relationship between God and history.