As is well known, 1994 was International Year of the Family. Accordingly, “International Year of the Family and Contemporary Families” was the title of the main theme session of the 4th general meeting of the Japanese Society of Family Sociology in 1994.
Up until this time, contemporary families have been largely perceived by contemporary family sociology as modern conjugal families. However, according to the global perspective of I.Y.F., contemporary families in the changing world are not only conjugal, but also encompass many various forms and family systems. This means that it is necessary to change from an industrialized society-centered family model to a global perspective-centered paradigm.
Contemporary families have usually been considered as modern conjugal families and only from the historical perspective of industrialized society. This means there is a lack of global perspective in our family sociology. The I.Y.F. has made it extremely clear that a new perpective on families and a new paradigm are required in family sociology.