The place the father dwells in contemporary Chile. Study of the representations of paternity in different social groups

Abstract

In the midst of a long historical process inscribed in family changes, the end of the twentieth century has seen a decline of the authority bestowed on the father proper of the modern-industrial patriarchal family matrix, allowing a the emergence of a new place for the male parent. This article analyzes, on the bases of thirty interviews, the changes in the representations of fatherhood among different Chilean social groups, the inter-generational breaks and contemporary models of fatherhood. It shows the limits of the changes that have taken place in the traditional gender order, even though today’s fathers are seen closer and have greater participation in the lives of their children in a context in which the modern father with the “head of the house” that governs the family restoring tradition.