Family lives and intimate relationships in Austria—A plea for inclusive and interdisciplinary family research

Abstract

This special issue provides an insight and overview of current family research in Austria, bringing together a wide variety of questions and topics, different theoretical perspectives, distinctive methodological approaches, and many important findings-with no claim to be exhaustive. It originates from the Family Research Section of the Austrian Sociological Association (ÖGS), founded in 2021, which pursues the goal of advancing knowledge and know-how in this specialised field of sociology, aims to make sociological family research in Austria visible and accessible, and builds on a strong tradition of family research and various strands of institutionalized and systematic family research in Austria, like the Austrian Institute for Family Studies (ÖIF; since 1994), the Austrian Society for Interdisciplinary Family Studies (ÖGIF; from 1988 to 2018), various conventions for family research (e.g., Kapella et al. 2009Kapella et al. , 2018, the Family Reports published every ten years since 1969 (most recently BKA/FFJI 2021), and a number of data collection efforts, ranging from "Living with children" (1978 and 1981/82; first panel data on Austrian families, see Münz 1985) to the Austrian Generations and Gender Survey (most recently Neuwirth et al. 2023). With its methodological and thematic diversity, the present compilation of recent findings from family research is a novelty for Austria,