The Familistic Arrangements of urban households: the case of Milan

The analysis presented here mainly rests on the ethnographic material collected through fieldwork research carried out in the neighborhood of Porta Genova-Navigli in Milan regarding social security procured by kinship. There is a distinct pattern of strong mutual assistance between a limited number of relatives in this Milanese neighbourhood. For the most part, social security is provided by a small kin network that comprises the nuclear family, the families of origin and to a lesser extent the family of close collaterals (siblings). Substantial material help flows through the ascendant line. Its characteristics alter with the transition to adulthood. Parents provide comfortable living conditions at home and pay for most of the expenses, whereas on the whole children do not contribute to the family budget and rarely perform domestic chores or take care of the elderly. Considering that children tend to prolong their stay in the parental home until they are well into their thirties, the amount of support is immense, albeit overlooked by both parties. Co-residence with parents can also re-occur when adult children move back into the parents’ house after divorce or separation. Residential proximity is the model of social organization that families seem to find ideal and try to achieve. It may also be viewed as a time strategy, in that it facilitates daily contact among related nuclear families as well as occasional or complementary childcare on behalf of kin.