Family and kin relationships are important sources of emotional connectedness and support in increasingly insecure and vulnerable social and economic conditions. In the paper we study the role of family, friends and other members of social support networks in provision of emotional support to middle and older generations in two points of time (1987 and 2005). Analysis is based on quantitative and qualitative methods. Our analysis shows that family is very important source of emotional support for both generations and both points in time. We have also found that provision of emotional support is still gendered. According to female interviewees, women provide more emotional support than men, attributing men's limited emotional involvement to deficits in their capacities, or lack of knowledge - to factors beyond personal choice. They also showed high identification with their traditional therapeutic role. We argue, that in this way, gender asymmetry in emotional support is sustained. On the other hand, we suggest that this very role provides women with specific form of power at micro level of family life as the site where technologies of power (surveillance and normalization) are used to control or "discipline" the behavior of family members.
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