Post-Pandemic Kinship: Reconfiguring Family Structures and Care Economies in a Global Crisis Aftermath

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic fundamentally altered kinship patterns and family structures worldwide, catalyzing unprecedented reconfigurations in care economies and social relationships. This research examines how families and kinship networks adapted, transformed, and evolved in response to global crisis conditions between 2020-2024. Through analysis of emerging literature, empirical studies, and theoretical frameworks, this paper explores the multifaceted ways pandemic conditions reshaped traditional family boundaries, care responsibilities, and intergenerational relationships. Key findings indicate significant shifts toward chosen kinship networks, increased reliance on digital connectivity for maintaining family bonds, redistribution of care work across extended networks, and emergence of hybrid care economies combining formal and informal support systems. The research reveals both vulnerabilities and resilience within kinship structures, highlighting how crisis conditions accelerated existing trends toward family diversification while creating new forms of mutual aid and care provision. These transformations have lasting implications for social policy, community support systems, and understanding of contemporary family life in post-pandemic society.