It is clear that unmarried cohabitation is increasing in Chile. It is less clear what unmarried cohabitation is and why is it rising. In Latin America cohabitation is common among low income groups, and has been described as a surrogate marriage for the disadvantaged. Cohabitation in the region entails conventional gender roles and having children. It has been explained by colonial dominance, poverty, kinship, and machismo. The evidence amassed here indicates that although in practice cohabitation is similar to marriage, they are not the same. In fact, cohabitation has decreased social visibility. Cohabitation does not entail any social ceremony or rite. As it is not institutionalised it remains concealed from both social recognition and social scrutiny. Thus it tolerates partners who are dissimilar, or can be sustained despite a higher level of difficulties in a relationship. The findings validate previous research as cohabitation is sparked by pregnancy, parental tolerance - mainly through not enforcing marriage -, a close mother-son bond –which inhibits marriage-, and the material costs of marriage. The research follows a life course perspective. It is based on twenty four qualitative life histories of urban deprived young people, women and men, involved in a consensual union and with children. In Chile from the 1990s onwards cohabitation started to show a sharp increase. Prevalent views explain rising cohabitation as an outcome of processes of individualization, democratization of relationships, and female emancipation. This research suggests that rising cohabitation, among young people from low income groups in Chile, is linked to enhanced autonomy (i.e. declining patriarchy), and to social benefits targeted to single mothers. Young people are gaining autonomy as union formation is increasingly an outcome of romantic love and not of being forced into marriage. Furthermore cohabitation rose right at the end of Pinochet’s dictatorship, at a time of enhanced freedom and autonomy. By contrast, rising cohabitation does not seem to be related to female emancipation. Interviewees themselves reproduce conventional gender roles, and social policies targeted to the single mother are based on conventional views on womanhood.

Online-gaming (OG) is a fast-growing phenomenon that could have a major impact in people's life. This study analyses the impact online-gaming has on cohabitational-love relationships and outsiders of the OG world. The study is based on six qualitative interviews with couples engaged in the world of internet-usage and OG. The interviews were performed both individually and together with their partner. There are many positive effects that comes with internet and OG, but there are also plenty of negative. Central questions for this study are therefore how OG are perceived within the relationships and how the potential consequences it leads to are dealt with. The study also discusses who the problem initiator is, and how the negotiation within the relationship looks like. Previous research shows conflict as a result of too much time spent with online-gaming. The result of this study therefore aspires to add a complementary layer to what may be the cause of these conflicts. The result shows that a lack of accountability and too much time spent involved with OG creates reasons for conflict. The presented solution included mutual agreement for what is to be seen as a fair amount of time spent with OG. If the time exceeds stated agreement, it seemed to be a reason for conflict. But if not, OG would mostly be seen as something positive for both parties when it comes to their individual well-being.

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No / According to leading sociological theorists we have now entered a 'late modern' epoch of 'de-traditionalisation' and 'individualisation'. Families are crucial in this vision, where the social ties of kinship and marriage are weakened, increasingly replaced by the project of self. In this paper we take three geographical indices of central elements of the individualisation thesis, examining the distribution in Britain of same sex couples, births to cohabitants, and mothers' withdrawal from the worker role. Analysis of all three indices give support to two levels of criticism of individualisation theory. First, pre-existing social structures have not gone away; the prevalence and the effect of the components of family form and change examined here seem deeply influenced by pre-existing local structural conditions. Secondly, the analysis supports the criticism that while people might indeed have more room for manoeuvre in late modern society, and may well be less constrained by older traditions, this does not necessarily mean individualisation. The behavioural components of individualisation theory may be a non-sequitor from the observation of changing family forms. We conclude that it seems likely that individualisation may be better conceptualised as one part of pre-existing social and structural processes, and that its behavioural assumptions are unjustified.