Introduction

Many authors (Bengtson, 2001; Laszloffy, 2002; Popenoe, 1993) have posited that from the sixties of the preceding century the nuclear family has been in decline. This raised debates about the stimulation of cooperation, solidarity, and mutuality between generations in the family and in the society in general. In this paper we discuss changes in the (western) family, the connectedness of intergenerational learning, socialization, and communication. In the research we analyze the perception of three generations' about mutual learning and cooperation, the influence of family members' interconnectedness on understanding, and the contents of mutual learning between the three generations. We also analyze inclusion of family members to local community.

Family changes and mutual learning in different families

In the last century families confronted important changes – in age structure as well as in generational formation, in multitudes of forms and functions, and in expectations of family members with regard to their relationships. Changes appeared due to the social, economic, demographic, cultural, and political factors, amongst them longevity, the crises of the social and health care systems, the emancipation of women, the intensification of individualism, secularization, the crisis of employment, migration, and numerous others. Some authors claim that in the process of modernization the “family” gradually transformed from an extended family, which was the predominant form in the preindustrial societies and initial phases of industrialization, to a small nuclear family.