FAMILIES TOPIC 6 - FAMILY DIVERSITY Flashcards
(5 cards)
The neo-conventional family
Chester recognises that there has been some increased family diversity in recent years.
However, unlike the new right, he does not regard this as significant nor in a negative light.
The only important change is a move from the dominance of the traditional or conventional nuclear family to what he described as the neo-conventional family - a dual earner family in which both spouse go out to work and not just the husband. Similar to the symmetrical family described by Willmott and Young
Chester argues that many people will be a part of a nuclear family at some point in their lives - it is all down to the life cycle.
Most people live in a household headed by a married couple
Most adults marry and have children and most children are reared by two natural parents
Most marriages continue until death
Cohabitation has increased but for most its just a temporary phase
Most births are jointly registered under both parents’ names, regardless of whether they are married or not
The 5 types of family diversity
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.
Organisational diversity - the ways family roles are organised
Cultural diversity - different cultural, religious, or ethnic groups have different family structures
Social class diversity - differences in family structure are partly due to a the result of income differences between households which also cause differences in child-rearing patterns
Life-stage diversity - stage reached in the adult life cycle
Generational diversity - younger and older generations have different attitudes and experiences that reflect historical periods in which they lived
Postmodern families
Cheal - we no longer live in modern society with predictable, orderly structures. We have entered a new, chaotic, postmodern life stage. There is no longer one single, dominant, stable family structure such as the nuclear family. Some writers argue that this greater diversity and choice brings with it advantages and disadvantages:
Gives individuals greater freedom to plot their own life course
Greater freedom of choice in relationships means greater risk of instability
Stacey - the greater freedom and choice has benefitted women.
Used life history interviews to construct a series of case studies of postmodern families in silicon valley, california. Women rather than men have been the agents of changes in the family. Many rejected the traditional housewife-mother role. They had worked, returned to education as adults, improved their job prospects, divorced and remarried. Some women created divorce extended families where they still had strong bonds with divorced family.
The individualisation thesis
Explores the effects of increasing individual choice upon families and relationships.
We have become freed / disembedded from traditional roles or structures, leaving us with more freedom to choose how lead our lives.
GIDDENS
Todays couples are free to define their relationship themselves, rather than simply acting our roles that have been defined in advance by law or tradition.
What holds today’s relationships together is the continuing persistence to satisfy both partner’s needs. Giddens calls this the ‘pure relationship’. It is typical of today’s late modern society where relationships are no longer bound by traditional norms.
The pure relationship is like a rolling contract that can be ended more or less at will by either partner.
The connectedness thesis
Reflecting these criticisms, sociologists from the personal life perspective propose an alternative to the individualisation thesis. Smart calls this the ‘connectedness thesis’
Isolated individuals with limitless choice about personal relationships, smart argues that we are fundamentally social beings whose choices are always made with a web of connectedness.
We live within networks of existing relationships and interwoven personal histories, and these strongly influence our range of options and choices in relationships.
Finch and mason - although individuals can to some extent negotiate the relationships they want, they are also embedded within family connection and obligation that restrict that freedom of choice.
Such findings challenge the notion of the pure relationship
Emphasises the role of class and gender structures in which we are embedded. Gender norms generally dictate that women should have custody of the children which may limit their opportunity to form new structures. Men are generally paid more than women giving them more freedom to choose relationships.
