Stepping off the ‘relationship escalator’. A spatial perspective on residential arrangements of consensually non-monogamous parents

Abstract

The residential landscape of western societies in the 20th century was based on a nuclear and monogamous normative representation of the family. This representation contrasts with the representation of the family that some consensually non-monogamous (CNM) parents carry. How did CNM informants combine residence, parenting and multiple relationships within the hetero-mono-normative organizational legacy of society? An extensive set of exploratory and ethnographic data was gathered in francophone countries in Western Europe during 2013–2018. Informants’ dwelling configurations were interpreted as the result of their personal life paths interwoven with a web of macrostructural tensions. A comparative approach on residences, combined with life stories gathered within a strategic group of informants, contributed to understanding the various processes leading to specific forms of CNM dwellings with children. The comparison highlights five categories of CNM residential patterns, all resulting from attempts to compromise with the hetero-mono-normative dwelling tradition. The developments of transportation and communication technologies appeared as an important factor in the spatial and temporal organizations of family functions within the CNM configurations observed. These CNM family arrangements also appeared as ephemeral and versatile. These conclusions lead to new avenues of research regarding the social forces contributing to their fragility despite the intent of the actors.