Postmodern perspectives of the family

Giddens + Beck

Individualisation

The idea that traditional relationships, roles and beliefs have lost their influence over individuals. We have become disembedded from traditional roles and values.

Anthony Giddens

Points out that growing individualisation and the emergence of plastic sexuality, love has changed from romantic to confluent.

Plastic sexuality - sex being untied from reproduction.

Confluent love - only lasts as long as it provides satisfaction.

Stacey

Divorce extended family

Conducted a series of experiments in the 80s on postmodern families. She discovered that when women also work, it gives them greater ability to negotiate the roles played in the family.

This led to more family diversity as women were choosing other household types. One of these structures is the divorce extended family, where individuals are connected by divorce.

Beck + Beck - Negotiated family

With greater gender equality and individualism, the patriarchal family has been undermined. This led to the negotiated family, which doesn’t conform to traditional family norms, but rather decide what is best for themselves by negotiation.

Beck + Beck - zombie family

People want the family to be a haven of security in an insecure world, but today’s family cannot provide this because of its own instability. This family is then placed into the zombie category, where it appears alive, but is dead.

This is because it can no longer provide stability and security that it’s supposed to.

Carol Smart

A web of connectedness

Smart accepts that people have freedom to live their lives, but also believes this cannot be done in isolation from the traditions and norms of society. Therefore, families are constructed through choices made in social context, which is called a web of connectedness.