postmodernity and the nuclear family

Postmodernism

* we are no longer in a modern society with predictable orderly structure such as the nuclear family
* in postmodern society there is no single stable and dominant family type, family structures have become fragmented into many different types
* individuals have much more choice in their lifestyles, personal relationships and family relationships

Stacey - postmodern families

* greater freedom and choice has benefitted women as has enabled them to escape from patriarchal oppression and to shape their family arrangements to meet their needs
* used life history interviews to construct series of case studies of postmodern families - found women rather than men have been main agents of changes within family
* traditional structural theories assume the family being explained is the traditional nuclear family, this is not relevant any more, there is family diversity, changing gender roles and changing relationships between parents and children

Stacey - divorce-extended family

* new family structure, members are connected by divorce rather than marriage
* key members are usually female and may include former in-laws such as mother-and-daughter-in-law
* suggests that postmodern families are no longer clear entities, different people are included at different times, reconstituted families involve all sorts of people, all sorts of groups claim to be families, biology/legal ties are no the basis for those claims

Giddens - individualisation thesis

* traditional social structures such as class, gender and family have lost much of their influence over us
* in the past, people’s lives were defined by fixed roles that largely prevented them from choosing their own life course. In today’s society we have fewer fixed roles meaning we have become ‘disembedded’ from traditional roles giving us more freedom in our lives

Giddens - choice and equality

* family and marriage have been transformed because of availability of contraception, sex and intimacy rather than reproduction are the main reasons for relationships
* women’s independence has transformed family and marriage as due to feminism women now have greater opportunities in work and education
* the basis of family and marriage has changed - in the past traditional relationships were held together by external factors (laws, social stigma around divorce etc.) but now couples are free to define relationships themselves

Giddens - pure relationship

* relationships are no longer bound by traditional norms
* the key feature of relationships is that they exist solely to satisfy each partner’s needs, couples stay together because of love, happiness and sexual attraction rather than tradition or a sense of duty
* individuals are thus free to enter and leave relationships as they see fit, relationships become part of an individual’s self-discovery or self-identity
* HOWEVER: ‘pure’ relationships are less stable due to more choice and this produces greater family diversity (lone parents, step families etc.

Giddens - same-sex couples

* same-sex couples lead the way towards new family types and creating more democratic and equal relationships, same-sex relationships are not influenced by tradition. this has enabled same-sex relationships the negotiate personal space, create family structures that serve their own needs rather than having to conform to pre-existing norms in the way heterosexual couples have had to

Beck - risk society

* another version of individualisation thesis
* we live in a ‘risk society’ where tradition has less influence and people have more choice, this means we are more aware of risks which contrasts with an earlier time where people’s roles were more fixed and rigid social norms dictated how people act
* in past, people expected to marry for life and once married men were expected to play the role of breadwinner etc.

Giddens - negotiated family

* in past, traditional patriarchal nuclear family (although oppressive) provided stability and a predictable basis for family life by defining each member’s role clearly
* the traditional nuclear family has been undermined by 2 trends: greater gender equality and greater individualism
* this has led to new type of family replacing nuclear family with the negotiated family - families that don’t conform to the traditional family norm but vary according to wishes and needs of members, they enter relationship in equal basis
* HOWEVER: although negotiated family is more equal than nuclear family it is less stable as individuals are free to leave if their needs are not met

Criticisms of individualisation thesis

* exaggerates how much choice people have about family relationships
* **Budgeon** - exaggeration of extent of choice reflect neoliberal ideology that individuals today have complete freedom of choice when in reality traditional norms that limit people’s relationship choices are still in place
* wrongly sees people as free floating ‘disembedded’ individuals, ignores fact that our decisions and choices about personal relationships are made within a social context
* **May** - Beck and Gidden’s view of the individual is an idealised version of the White middle-class man , ignores fact that not everyone has same ability to exercise to choice about relationships

Smart - connectedness thesis

* Personal Life Perspective sociologists propose alternative to individualisation thesis, sees people as fundamentally social beings whose choices are made within a web of connectedness rather than isolated individuals with limitless choice about personal relationships
* we live within networks of existing relationships and interwoven personal histories and these strongly influence our range of options and choices in relationships
* families usually include more than just the couples that Giddens focuses on and even couple relationships are not always ‘pure’ relationships that you can just walk away from e.g. parents who separate are linked by their children

connectedness thesis - class and gender

* class and gender structures also limit the choices about the kinds of relationships, families etc. we can create for ourselves
* e.g. after a divorce gender norms usually dictate that children remain in the custody of the mother which may limit the mothers opportunities to create new relationships
* men generally better paid than women and this gives them greater freedom in relationships
* relative powerlessness of women and children means many lack freedom to choose and so may remain trapped in abusive relationships

May - the power of structures

* structures are not disappearing as Beck and Giddens argue but are being re-shaped e.g. women in the past 150 years have gained important rights in relation to voting etc. but this doesn’t mean they ‘have it all’
* e.g. while women can pursue traditionally ‘masculine’ careers they are still expected to be heterosexual
* PLP doesn’t see increased diversity as result of greater freedom of choice but instead emphasises the importance of social structures in shaping the freedoms many people now have to create more diverse types of families
* while there is greater trend towards diversity PLP emphasises continuing importance of structural factors such as patriarchy and class inequality in restricting people’s choice