ABSTRACT
There is little question that grandparents play valuable roles in providing time, labor, and financial and symbolic resources to other family members, which often enhances the equilibrium of families buffeted by stresses aris ing from social change. Social change (resulting from political, social, and economic transformations in society) may introduce uncertainty and tur bulence into family systems and, at the extreme, cause the breakdown of competent family functioning. Assumed in the literature, but rarely artic ulated as a general principle, is the notion that grandparents are particu larly valuable when social forces threaten to weaken the fabric of family life. This notion is rooted in the ideas and concepts of the life course per spective, a social-developmental framework that highlights historical, contextual, and systemic aspects of family development. In this chapter, we demonstrate how the elements of time, generational placement, cul ture, and place are key to our understanding of the role that grandparents play in the lives of their families.
