Download or read book Still Connected written by Claude S. Fischer and published by . This book was released on 2011 with total page 180 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The book shows that Americans today have fewer relatives than they did forty years ago and that formal gatherings have declined over the decades- at least partially as a result of later marriages and more women in the work force. Yet nether the overall quantity of personal relationships nor, more importantly, the quality of those relationships has diminished. Americans' contact with relatives and friends, as well as their feelings of emotional connectedness, has changed relatively little since the 1970s. Although Americans are marrying later and singly people feel lonely, few Americans report being socially isolated and the percentage who do has not really increased. The author maintains that this constancy testifies to the value Americans place on family and friends and to their willingness to adapt to changing circumstances in ways that sustain their social connections.