Realignment, Calibration and Exclusion Following Familial Crises


Mariana Pinzon-Caicedo, Simon Fraser University

Nearly every household and individual encounter family crises at some point in life, yet the study of the social implications of these events has been lacking. We know from extensive research in social sciences and economics that familial crises (e.g. death of a parent, divorce/separation of parents, severe life-threatening illness/accident, job/income loss) can have long-lasting effects on households’ economic prospects and subjective well-being. We know from extensive research in social sciences and economics that familial crises (e.g. death of a parent, divorce/separation of parents, severe life-threatening illness/accident, job/income loss) can have long-lasting effects on households’ economic prospects and subjective well-being. On one hand, public policy and poverty scholars agree that the strategies used to mitigate the economic hardships derived from these shocks may deplete assets, worsen health and nutritional conditions, and increase rates of school drop-outs (Dercon 2002; Brown and Churchill 1999; Fiszbein, Giovagnoli, and Aduriz 2010; Kochar 1995; Pradhan and Mukherjee 2018), many times leading households to chronic poverty (Hallegatte et al. 2020). Additionally, social scientists have shown that these types of crises increase stress, reduce happiness, and affect overall subjective well-being (Harriss-White et al. 2013; Leopold and Lechner 2015; Ronen et al. 2016; Kuhn et al. 2021), leading to a downward trajectory that is difficult to recover from (Amato 2000). Within this research, some scholars have come to recognize that access to strong social support can cushion the negative effects of these crises on people’s lives (Reeskens and Vandecasteele 2017; Ronen et al. 2016). Previous research, however, assumes that group participation and social relations remain unchanged in the event of familial crises. Conceptualizing familial crises as disruptions to social interactions, I propose that these unforeseen events cause interaction disruptions affecting small-group dynamics, starting a relational reaction chain that culminates in group exclusion. Familial crises alter the resources available to the person/ household for engagement in collective activities (e.g. church events, sports teams, local political groups). In small groups, participants are expected to contribute economic, physical and human resources (Wynn 2016) in order to organize and carry-on the activities that maintain the bond between members (Lawler 2002; Collins 2004; Lawler, Thye, and Yoon 2008; Fine 2010). Sudden events, thus, force changes in the ways those affected interact with the group. Shortly after the occurrence of the event, affected group members will attempt to maintain social relationships employing three techniques of realignment: withdrawal, concealment, and rearrangement. Realigning group participation in the face of disruptions, however, does not solely depend on the actions performed by the individual affected by the crisis. The stabilization of the new relationship requires, not only that the affected person reacts appropriately given group dynamics, but also that other group members deem the proposed error-correction satisfactory. Realignment in the social relations requires a calibration process in which the reaction to the disruption is appraised by others, granting them the opportunity to demand modifications when appropriate. Failures in these realignment processes will lead to member exclusion, either as a sanctioning tool for group survival or as a self-sanctioning mechanism to avoid shame and embarrassment. The shock-to-reaction-to-exclusion chain exposed helps to conceptualize the impact of external shocks on the maintenance of social ties. This paper highlights that unforeseen events not only deplete economic resources and affect emotional well-being but also have an impact on social relationships within small-groups.

This paper will be presented at the following session: