Family diversity

New right

Family is ‘natural’ to biology, decline of nuclear family creates issues for society. Lone parent mothers cant discipline, no adult role model, money issues. Main cause of lone parent families is due to collapse of cohabitating couples. Benson - 15000 babies, over first three years of babies life, breakdown 20 % common in cohabitating couples, compared to 6% married. Couples more stable when married. However, Oakley - roles not biologically fixed.

Chester

Neo conventional family - A dual earner family, not much change from nuclear apart from this. Nuclear family still ideal, and one person nearly always experiences it. Family diversity is exaggerated.

The rappoports

Moved away from nuclear family, in response to people’s needs and wishes. Organisational - The way roles in family are organised. Cultural - cultural groups have different structures e.g higher lone parent in African carribean. Social class - differences due to class. Life stage- differences due to what stage of life reached. Generational - different generations have different structures.

Stacey - post modern families

Greater freedom/choice benefitted women. Women are agents of changes, can free themselves from patriarchal oppression. The women interviewed worked, weren’t housewives. Divorce extended family - members connected by divorce instead of marriage e.g Pam, married young, divorced and cohabitated before remarrying second husband had also been married before.

The individualisation thesis

Giddens + Beck - traditional structures such as class have lost their influence over us. No one expected to marry anymore, or take up appropriate gender roles. So we are ‘disembedded’ and choose how to live.

Giddens:choice and equality

Greater choice and gender equality. Contraception allowed intimacy rather than reporoduxtion, and women are independent due to feminism so now work. Now couples can define their relationships themselves, rather than be defined by tradition. Exists solely to satisfy partners needs, so can leave when they want and it’s built on connection. (Pure relationship) same sex couples are pioneers to this.

Beck: The negotiated family

Now live in ‘risk society’ tradition has less influence, more choice, so more aware of risks. Don’t conform to tradition, but to members needs and wishes, who decide what’s best for them through negotiation. Moved away from past patriarchal families, e.g marrying and having kids and being locked in. Now have zombie families - appears to be safe haven but is not as it’s not stable, alive but dead.

PLP - criticisms of individualisation thesis

Budgeon - neoliberal view, traditional norms still affect us. / ignores social factors such as class which effect relationship choices.

The connectedness thesis

Smart -we are fundamentally social beings always with a web of connectnedness. We live in a web of existing relationships, histories. E.g separated parents remain connected by children. Relationships can’t simply end as always connected. Also class and gender have bigger influence, e.g after divorce, gender roles usually mean mum gets custody.