Sociology of the Business Family Kleve & Koellner

Summary

Family sociologists have conducted empirical research and developed theories on a wide range of family topics and family forms. In this context, it is surprising that one particular family form has so far received little attention in family sociology: the business family. This topic has also been largely neglected in classical economic research, where the primary focus has been on the family business rather than on the business family itself. This neglect is especially unsatisfactory given that the family business is the dominant type of enterprise shaping the economic system in Germany and in many other countries. It is precisely the business family that differentiates this type of enterprise from others.

In attempts to define the concept of the “family business,” three prominent approaches have been discussed: the involvement approach, the essence approach, and the family firm identity approach. Among these, the involvement approach has been particularly influential. It emphasizes that family businesses are enterprises founded by families or by members of one or more families and managed by them at least into the second generation.

According to this approach, family members own the company, are involved in its operations, and/or act as shareholders, thereby exercising decisive influence over the firm. Building on this understanding, the essence approach highlights the fundamental differences between family and non-family businesses. From this perspective, the ownership and active involvement of a family group give rise to a distinctive mode of operating the firm, which in turn produces a specific family firm identity—an idea further developed in the family firm identity approach.

This book is a translation of the original German edition “Soziologie der Unternehmerfamilie” by Kleve, Heiko, published by Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden GmbH, in 2019. The translation was done with the help of arti cial intelligence (machine translation by the service DeepL.com).

A subsequent human revision was done primarily in terms of content, so that the book will read stylistically differently from a conventional translation

Contents

• Foundations, Recent Developments and Future Perspectives of a Sociology of the Business Family: An Introduction – Tobias Koellner & Heiko Kleve
  • Preliminary Remarks
  • Foundations
  • Recent Developments
  • Future Perspectives
  • Brief Overview of the Contributions
  • References
• The Hunger for Human Capital: Industrial Society and Family Development – Hans Bertram
  • The Household as a Place of Production
  • The Family as a Factory of the Child’s Personality
  • The Order of the Family
  • Human Capital and the Catholic Worker Girl
  • The Question of the Future of the Post-industrial Society
  • Free Time, Outsourcing of Intimacy and the Institutionalization of Childhood
  • Human Capital, Family Development and a New Life Course
  • References
• Western (Business) Family Models in Historical Change: A Process–Sociological Sketch – Désirée Waterstradt
  • Theoretical Foundations
  • Household and Production Communities Through the Course of Time
  • Business Family: A Process–Sociological Reflection of the Term
  • Conclusion
  • References
• Families and Organizations: Similarities, Differences and Linkages – Stefan Kühl
  • Different Concepts of Membership
  • The Differentiation of Groups, Organizations, Movements and Families
  • Entanglements, Combinations and Transitions of Families and Organizations
  • References
• Empirical Findings on Business Families in Germany – Isabell Stamm, Fabian Bernhard & Nicole Hameister
  • Conceptual Considerations on Business Families
  • Identification of Business Families in Germany
  • Conceptual Considerations for the Construction of a Comparison Group
  • Propensity Score Matching
  • Final Considerations and Evaluation
  • References
• From the Family Business to the Business Family – Rudolf Wimmer & Fritz B. Simon
  • The Structural Change of the Family on the Way to Modernity
  • The Business Family as a Family of Its Own Type
  • The Special Role of the “Third Party”
  • The Internal Differentiation of Business Families
  • Wordless Understanding: A Necessary Fiction?
  • References
• Social Plurality and Family Identity: Succession in Family Businesses – Gabriela Leiß
  • Business Families in Transition
  • Succession in Business Families: A Theoretical Framework
  • Succession Negotiation in Business Families
  • Business Families in Reflexive Modernity
  • References
• The Business Family as a Family of Its Own Kind in the Process of Social Change – Daniela Jäkel-Wurzer
  • The Concept of Family in a Changing Society
  • The Family as a System of Social Interaction
  • The Female Role and Its Development
  • Succession in the Context of Current Social Developments
  • Opportunities and Challenges of the Change Process
  • Conclusion and Outlook
  • References
• Socialization and Parenting Processes in Business Families – Elke Schröder
  • Socialization Requirements in Business Families
  • Transmission of Values Between Parents and Children
  • Career Orientation and Succession Planning
  • Conclusion and Outlook
  • References
• The Dynastic Extended Family – Tom A. Rüsen, Arist von Schlippe & Heiko Kleve
  • Dynastic Extended Families
  • Specific Challenges in Dynastic Extended Families
  • Communication within the Circle of Shareholders
  • Conclusion
  • References
• The “Tripled” Family: Dynastic Business Families – Heiko Kleve, Arist von Schlippe & Tom A. Rüsen
  • Families
  • Formally Organized Business Families
  • Large Business Families as Networks
  • Networking in Large Business Families
  • Conclusion
  • References
• Company, Family, Business Family – Arist von Schlippe & Torsten Groth
  • The Business Family as a Social System
  • The “Duplicated” Family
  • Polycontexturality
  • References
• The Doing Family Concept – Tobias Koellner & Heiko Kleve
  • Social Change and Modernization Processes
  • Doing Family: The Creation of Cohesion
  • Doing Family in the Business Family 1.0
  • Doing Family in the Business Family 2.0
  • Doing Family in the Business Family 3.0
  • Conclusion and Practical Relevance
  • References