PoMo views on the family

Stacey (1998) - freedom and choice in relation to women

• Increased freedom and choice has benefitted women, who have freed themselves from patriarchal oppression and shaped their families to fit their needs

• Women have become agents of change in modern families as opposed to men by rejecting their role of a traditional housewife

  • Have achieved this creation of new families that suit their needs better by:

    • Working

    • Returning to education

    • Increasing their job prospects

    • Getting divorced

    • Getting re-married

Stacey (1998) - divorce-extended families and Pam Gamma

• Members in D-E families are connected by divorce, not marriage

  • Key members are female (former in-laws, ex-wife and new partner)

• Pam Gamma

  • Married young, divorced, cohabited, re-married to another divorcee

  • Formed a relationship with her ex-husband’s new cohabitant and they helped each other financially and domestically

Morgan (1996; 2011) - generalisations and life course analysis

• Large scale generalisations (functionalists) are pointless

• Families are named by those involved

• It’s more valuable to focus attention on how people create their own diverse family lives and practices

  • This can be done through life course analysis

Hareven (1978) - life course analysis

• In depth, unstructured interviews

• Explore meaning that individual family members give to their relationships and choices e.g. have a baby or come out

Holdsworth and Morgan (2005) - use of life course analysis

• Examined meaning behind young people leaving home and becoming independent and how others influence their decisions

Strengths of life course analysis

• Focuses on what family members themselves consider important

  • Looks at families and households from the viewpoint of those involved and the meaning they give to their lives, relationships and choices

• Is suitable for studying post/late-modern society where there is more choice about personal relationships and family diversity