Speculations about the New Lifestyle Privacy Needs in Domestic Space for Post-Capitalist Families

Throughout history, transformations in social, political, economic, and health situations have influenced the reformations in family structures that follow the changes in work positions of women and men, and which determine each era’s expected gender roles. Accordingly, this qualitative exploratory study has examined the issue of gendered privacy within family houses throughout the twentieth-century and onwards, in order to trace the marks of social changes in family structures and the embedded gender roles that were reflected upon the spatial arrangement of functions within houses. The main motivation to conduct this study was to provoke a discussion and to open new lines of thoughts about home, by speculating about the “Post-capitalist” family house for this time. A house that might ease the coming life challenges following the expected transformation of the economic system as a consequence of the current health crisis situation (COVID-19). To test the hypothesis that the traditionally gendered privacy/spatial arrangement of functions within family houses that prioritized “masculinity” have changed throughout time into a more democratic manner. A documentary survey was used together with a case study analysis of detached house plans from the twentieth-century and beyond in the U.S.A. The results revealed that the traditional “masculine-dominance” in the public zones was only in the first half of the century, then from the 1950s and onwards, slight changes have started to appear. These results have encouraged the speculative discussion about the new “Post capitalist” family household. A significant reformation of the family structure is expected to begin with the new domestic masculinities/femininities. Perhaps, the new “work-from-home” lifestyle is demanding more privacy between adults by having bigger and multiple-use master bedrooms that are partially-segregated, an additional work/study shared room or two separated rooms (depending on the house’s size), a multiple-use kitchen, bigger terraces/outdoor-spaces, etc.