Modernism And The Nuclear Family.

What have perspectives such as Functionalism and the New Right been described as?

‘Modern‘. That is, they see modern society as having fairly fixed, clear-cut and predictable structure. They see one ‘best‘ family type - the nuclear family - as slotting into this structure and helping to maintaining it by performing certain essential functions

What does Parsons argue?

That there is a ‘functional git‘ between the nuclear family and modern society.

What does Parsons see the nuclear family as?

Parsons sees the nuclear family as uniquely suited to meeting the needs of modern society for a geographically and socially mobile workforce, and as performing the primary socialisation of children and the stabilisation of adult personalities, contributing to the overall stability and effectiveness of society.

What is the general functionalist view on the nuclear family?

That because of the family’s ability to perform such functions (stated by Parsons/Murdock), we can generalise about the family type we will find in modern society - namely, a nuclear family with a division of labour between husband and wife.

What perspective do the New Right have on the family?

A conservative and anti-feminist one; they are firmly opposed to family diversity.

Like functionalists, what does the New Right argue?

They hold the view that there is only one correct or normal family type. This is the traditional or conventional patriarchal nuclear family consisting of a married couple and their dependent children, with a clear-cut division of labour between the breadwinner-husband and home maker-wife.

What is the breadwinner husband and family maker wife of the New Right view the same as?

The functionalist distinction between the instrumental and expressive roles performed by husband and wife respectively.

What do the New Right see the nuclear family as?

‘Natural‘ and based on fundamental biological differences between men and women. In their view, this family is the cornerstone of society; a place of refuge, contentment and harmony.

What is the New Right view on the changes in family patterns?

They oppose most of the changes in family patterns. They argue that the decline of the traditional nuclear family and the growth of family diversity are the cause of many social problems.

In terms of changing family patterns, what are the New Right particularly concerned about?

The growth of lone-parent families, which they see as resulting from the breakdown of couple relationships. They see loose-parent families as harmful to children.

What does the New Right argue about lone-parent families?

That:

• Lone mothers cannot discipline their children properly.

• Lone-parent families leave boys without an adult male role model, resulting in educational failure, delinquency and social instability.

• Such families are also likely to be poorer and thus a burden on the welfare state and taxpayers.

What does the New Right claim the main cause of lone-parent families is?

The collapse of relationships between cohabiting parents.

What did Benson analyse and find?

Data on the parents of over 15,000 babies; he found that, over the first three years of the baby’s life, the rate of family breakdown was much higher among cohabitating couples. In the New Right view, only marriage can provide a stable environment in which to bring up children,

What does Benson argue?

That couples are more stable when they are married. For example, the divorce rate among married couples is lower than the rate of breakups among cohabiting couples.

In Benson’s view, why is marriage more stable?

Because it requires a deliberate commitment to each other, whereas cohabitation allows partners to avoid commitment and responsibility. He therefore argues that the government needs to encourage couples to marry by means of policies that support marriage.

What have New Right thinkers and Conservative politicians used evidence gathered by those such Benson to support?

The view that both the family and society at large are ‘broken‘;

• They argue that only a return to ‘traditional values‘ including the value of marriage, can prevent social disintegration and damage to children.

• They regard laws and policies such as easy access to divorce, gay marriage and widespread availability of welfare benefits as undermining the conventional family.

What does Oakley argue against the New Right?

That they wrongly assume that husbands and wives’ rles are fixed by biology. Instead, cross-cultural studies show great variation in the roles men and women perform within the family. She belives that the New Right view of the family is a negative reaction against the feminist campaign for women’s equality.

What do feminists argue against the New Right?

That the conventional nuclear family favoured by the New Right is based on the patriarchal oppression of women and is a fundamental cause of gender inequality. In their view, it prevents women working, keeps them financially dependent on men, and denies them an equal say.

What do critics of the New Right argue?

That there is no evidence that children in lone-parent families are more likely to be delinquent than those brought up in a two-parent family of the same social class.

What New Right view has been challenged?

The view that marriage equals commitment, while cohabitation does not. It depends on the meaning of the relationship to those involved. Some people see it as a temporary phase while other see it as a permanent alternative to marriage.

What does Smart point out?

As the rate of cohabitation is higher among social groups, she points out that it may be poverty that causes the breakdown of relationships, rather than the decision not to marry.

What does Chester recognise?

The fact that there has been some increased family diversity in recent years. However, unlike the New Right, he does not regard this as very significant, nor does he see it in a negative light.

What does Chester argue?

That the only important change is a move from the dominance of the traditional or conventional nuclear family, to what he describes as the ‘neo-conventional family‘.

By the conventional family, what does Chester mean?

The type of nuclear family described by the New Right and Parsons, with its division of labour between a male breadwinner and a female home maker.

What does Chester define the neo-conventional family as?

A dual-earner family in which both spouses go out to work and not just the husband, similar to the symmetrical family described by Young and Willmott.

Apart from both spouses going to work, what does Chester not see any evidence of?

Any other evidence of major change. He argues that most people are not choosing to live in alternatives to the nuclear family (such as lone-parent families).

Although many people are not part of a nuclear family at any one time, what does Chester argue that this is largely due to?

He argues that this is largely due to the life cycle. Many of the people who a.e currently living in a one-person household, such as elderly widows, divorced men or young people who have not yet married, were either part of a nuclear family in the past or will be in the future.

How are statistics on household composition misleading?

Because they are merely a snapshot of a single moment in time. They don’t show us the fact that most people will spend a major part of their lives in a nuclear.

As evidence of his view that little has changed, what does Chester identify?

A number of patterns:

• Most people live in a household headed by a married couple.

• Most adults marry and have children. Most children are reared by their two natural parents.

• Most marriages continue until death. Divorce has increased, but most divorcees remarry.

• Cohabitation has increased, but for most couples, it is a temporary phase before marrying or remarrying. Most couples get married if they have children.

• Although births outside marriage have increased, most are jointly registered, indicating that the parents are committed to bringing up children as a couple.

For Chester then, the extent and importance of family diversity has been exaggerated. Like the functionalists, Chester sees the nuclear family as dominant.

What is the only important difference between Chester’s view and that of the functionalists?

That Chester sees a change from a conventional to a neo-conventional nuclear family where both spouses play an ‘instrumental‘ or breadwinner role.

What do the Rapoports argue?

That diversity is of central importance in understanding family life today. They believe that we have moved away from the traditional nuclear family as the dominant family type, to a range of different types. Families in Britain have adapted to a pluralistic society - one in which cultures and lifestyles are more diverse. In their view, family diversity reflects greater freedom of choice and the widespread acceptance of different cultures and ways of life in today’s society.

Unlike the New Right, what do the Rapoports see diversity as?

A positive response to people’s different needs and wishes, and not as abnormal or a deviation from the assumed norm of a ‘proper‘ nuclear family.

What do the Rapoports idenitfy?

Five different types of family diversity in Britain today.

What are the five different types of family diversity as identified by the Rapoports?

• Organisational diversity.

• Cultural diversity.

• Social class diversity.

• Life-stage diversity.

• Generational diversity.

What is organisational diversity?

This refers to differences in ways family roles are organised, For example, some couples have joint conjugal roles and two-wage earners, while other have segregated conjugal roles and one wage-earner.

What is cultural diversity?

Different cultural, religious and ethnic groups have different family structures. For example, there is a higher proportion of female-headed lone-parent families among African Caribbean household and a higher proportion of Extended families among Asian household.

What is social class diversity?

Differences in family structure are partly the result of income differences between households. Likewise, there are class differences in child-rearing practices,

What is life-stage diversity?

Family structures differ according to the stage reached in the life cycle.

What is generational diversity?

Older and younger generations have different attitudes and experiences that reflect the historical periods in which they have lived. For example, they may have different views about the morality of divorce or cohabitation.