Family Diversity

Functionalist + new right =

modernism

Functionalism

Functionalist families believe nuclear to be the best family type, Also believe that this is the standard family type.

Parsons’s functional fit theory states that the nuclear family is good because it fits in with the industrial.

Geographical mobile workforce – jobs around the globe, easier to take the nuclear family over the extended family.

Socially mobile workforce – in extended family status is ascribed, and nuclear family status is earned. Son cannot have a better job than father. Skilled, competent workers are required. Therefore, the son moves out and creates his own nuclear family to obtain a good job.

Two irreducible functions

Primary socialisation of children - This would be teaching children basic norms and values before entering society, for example teaching the children between right and wrong

Stabilisation of adult personalities This means that when the adult is in a toxic work environment they come home to unwind with their families, this stabilises their mindset. Come home to release tension.

Other family types are abnormal and dysfunctional. (lone parent, same-sex, extended)

(these points are the theory of the family, make sure you do not get mixed up)

New Right

The new right holds the view that they hold the one correct family type. This is nuclear. They see this family as natural as they are based on biological differences. They believe that the wife takes the expressive role, and the man takes the breadwinner. They see that the rise in lone-parent families is the result of many social problems and chaos in society. This is because they are harmful to children, so lobe mothers cannot discipline their mothers properly, for young boys, if they do not have a father, cannot be disciplined properly, which means that they have educational differences in achievement. And the welfare promotes women having children they cannot afford, as they are supported by the welfare state.

Evaluation: critics of the new right argue that there is no evidence that children who are raised in lone-parent families are more likely to become delinquent than those brought up in a two-parent family of the same social class.

The rate of cohabitation is higher amongst poorer social groups. Smart points out that it may be poverty that causes the breakdown of relationships rather than the decision not to marry.

Chester neo-conventional family

Believes that there has been an increase in family diversity, and the only important change from the conventional nuclear family to the neo-conventional family. The conventional family is when the man is the breadwinner, and the woman is the nurturer. In the neo-conventional family, when both spouses share tasks, they go out to work, which means they have joint conjugal rules, and they spend their time together and engage in domestic labour. In a segregated conjugal role, they don’t spend time with each other, do not engage in domestic labour together, and spend their leisure activities by themselves. The key thing is that there has been an increase in family changes. Chester argues that many of the people living in a one-person household, divorced people, or people that have not been married yet were ither part of the nuclear family in the past or will be in a nuclear family in the future and example of this is most people live in a household headed by a married couple, most adults marry and have children which means they are reared by two natural parents. The only important difference from Chesters view and the functionalist is that Chester sees a change from the conventional to the neo conventional nuclear family where both spouses play an instrumental or a breadwinner role. Scr JCR was moving from the standard conventional to neo-conventional, and both spend their leisure time together, which does not undermine how the nuclear family is the main type of family, this is because at least one time they have been in a nuclear family such as divorce or they are yet to enter a nuclear family like people that cohabit who are yet to marry.

Criticism:

Some sociologists, like the Rapoports, argue that Chester underestimates the extent of family diversity and that there are many different types of families beyond the nuclear and neo-conventional models

Rapoports 5 types of family diversity

Moved from an area that had a traditional fixed-family

Moved to a pluralistic society

Organisational diversity – roles: each family has different roles, different way family roles are in different families for example, some families Joint conjugal roles and other families have segregated conjugal roles

Cultural Diversity: the difference in cultural, religious and ethnic groups that affect different family structures. More single mothers in black families, and there are more extended families in Asian households.

Social class diversity – Different levels of income affect family structures. An example of this would be a middle-class family may be able to go on holiday, and a working-class family may not be able to

Lifestage diversity – the stage families have reached in the lifecycle, which affects family structures, couples with dependent children, and families whose children have left home.

Generational Diversity – older and younger generations have different attitudes, which affects family structures. For example, the older generations may have had several siblings, and the younger generations may only have one or no siblings. Older generation parents have stricter topics such as divorce compared to younger parents.

Staceys post modern family

Stacey argues that greater freedom and choice have benefitted women so they are free from patriarchal oppression and can choose their own family arrangements to meet their own needs. More women are now able to access high-paying jobs. More women are able to get a divorce on easier grounds. Because of these changes, women have been the main agents of change in the family. One of the new family structures Stacey calls divorces extended family, whose members are connected to divorce rather than marriage. Example in one of Stacey case studies pam gamma created a divorce extended family as she married young, divorced and then cohabited then remarried, her second husband had married before.

Criticism – Morgan argues that it is pointless trying to make large scale generalisations about the family, as if it is a simple thing that functionalist do. Rather family is simply whatever arrangements those involved choose to call their family.  

Individualisation thesis

Fact that there is an increase in individual choice among families, traditional social attitudes, values and views have lost their influence over us, so in the past, people’s lives were defined by these social structures for example everyone was expected to marry, and take up their appropriate gender role, however in today’s society, however in today’s society these roles have taken their influence over us, we have been freed or disembodied from these roles, people have more freedom and have more in control of their lives.

Connectedness thesis

The connectedness thesis criticises the individual thesis, saying that they are overexaggerating, they say that instead of seeing us dismembered isolated individuals, we are still within a web of connectedness, whilst we can see, whilst people are free, what relationship they want to be in, there still is an aspect of traditional views that have an impact on us. For example, individuals can negotiate the relationships they want, but they still have obligations that restrict their freedom of choice.