Liminal familyhood: Conceptualizing the gray zone between marriage and divorce in late-modern societies

This study aims to conceptualize a relational form that has remained undefined within the sociology of family literature by focusing on the gray area situated between marriage and divorce. While existing scholarship examines transformations in family structures through the lenses of individualization, liquid relationships, and emotional capitalism, it has largely overlooked the chronic forms of uncertainty embedded between marriage and divorce. In response to this gap, the study introduces the concept of liminal familyhood to explain conditions in which marriage continues legally despite relational, emotional and everyday disengagement. Reinterpreting the classical anthropological theory of liminality from the perspective of family sociology, the study draws upon Arnold Van Gennep’s theory of rites of passage, Victor Turner’s concept of anti-structure, and Arpad Szakolczai’s notion of permanent liminality. The insecurity and uncertainty characterizing intimate relationships in late modernity are analyzed through Anthony Giddens’ concept of the pure relationship , Zygmunt Bauman’s liquid love , Eva Illouz’s emotional capitalism , and Ulrich Beck and Elisabeth Beck-Gernsheim’s theory of individualization . The study argues that liminality within contemporary family relationships has evolved from a temporary transitional phase into a structural and enduring relational condition. This gray zone, characterized by the coexistence of institutional continuity and emotional disconnection, is analyzed through four ideal-typical forms: ritualistic marriage , delayed-divorce marriage , parallel life marriage , and child-centered marriage . These types transcend the conventional married–divorced binary and reveal the multilayered and dynamic nature of contemporary family relationships. This article enhances family sociology by introducing the concept of liminal familyhood, which serves as a new analytical framework for examining chronic relational ambiguity, evolving family boundaries, and the transformation of intimacy in late-modern societies, through the lens of the gray area between marriage and divorce.