Family Diversity Flashcards
(49 cards)
Parsons: “Functional fit theory”
The nuclear family is uniquely suited to meeting the needs of modern society for a geographically and socially more workforce and performing two irreducible functions. These contribute to the overall stability and effectiveness of society.
Therefore…
Other types can be considered a dysfunctional, abnormal or even deviant since they are less able to perform the functions required of the family.
New Right
They believe that there is only one correct family type this is the traditional patriarchal nuclear family. This consists of a married couple with their dependent children with a clearcut division of labour between the breadwinner has and the homemaker wife.
Views on family
See this family type as natural and based on fundamental biological differences between men and women. In the view the family is the cornerstone of society, a place for a huge, contentment and harmony.
Decline of nuclear family
The decline of the traditional nuclear family and the growth of family diversity are the cause of many social problems.
Lone parent
The new right are concerned about the growth of lone families which they see as a result from the breakdown of couples they see parent families as harmful to children.
Problems with lone parent households
- lack of discipline
- Lack of adult role model resulting in educational failure, delinquency and social instability.
- to be poor and the burden on the west stay and taxpayers.
Cohabitation versus marriage
Benson analyse data on parents of over 15,000 babies. He found that over the first three years of the babies life, the rate of family breakdown was much higher among cohabits couples 20% compared to only 6% among married couples.
Benson view
Marriage is more stable because it requires a deliberate commitment to each other, whereas cohabitation and I was partners to avoid commitment and responsibility.
New right thinkers and conservative politicians
- Only return to traditional values, including the value of marriage can prevent social disintegration and damage to children.
- They regard law and policies such as easy access to divorce, gay marriage and widespread availability of welfare benefits as a threat to the conventional family .
Critics
Feminist and Oakley argues that the new right wrongly assume that husbands and wives role are fixed biologically. Instead cross-cultural steady show greater variation in the roles men and women perform within the family. Feminists also argue that the conventional nuclear family favoured by the new eye is based on the patriarchal oppression of woman and is a fundamental cause of gender inequality. In their view it prevent women working keep them financially dependent on men and denies them and equality in decision-making.
Chester: the Neo conventional family
Angel and a family in which both spouses go out to work and not just the husband. Apart from this Chester does not see other evidence of major change. Although there may be some diversity, the nuclear family remains the ideal to which most people aspire.
Life cycle
Although many people are not part of the nuclear family at one time, Chester argues that this is due to the life cycle. Many of the people who are currently living in 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.
Statistics
Statistics on household composition are this misleading because they are mainly snapshot of a single moment in time. They do not show us the fact that most people will spend majority of their lives in a nuclear family.
Evidence
- most people live in a household headed by a married couple
- Most adults Marion have children. Most children are raised by their two natural parents.
- Most marriages continue until death. Divorce has increased, but most divorces remarry.
- Cohabitation has increased, but for most couples it is a temporary phase before marrying or remarrying.
The Rapoports
Diversity is of central importance in understanding family life today. we have moved away from the traditional nuclear family as the dominant family type, to arrange of different types. Families in Britain have adapted to a pluralistic society in which cultures lifestyle are more diverse.
View of family diversity
Reflect greater freedom of choice and the widespread acceptance of different cultures and ways of life in today’s society.
5 diff family types
- Organisational diversity
- cultural diversity
- social class diversity
-Life stage diversity - generational diversity
Organisational diversity
Differences in the ways family roles are organised. For examples some couples have joint conjugal roles and two wage earners whilst others have segregated conjugal roles and wage earner.
Cultural diversity
Different cultural and religious and ethnic groups have different family structures. For example there is a higher proportion of female headed lone parent families among African Caribbean households and a higher greater proportion of extended families among Asian household.
Social class diversity
Differences in family structure, partly the result of income differences between households of different social classes.
Life stage diversity
Family structures differ according to the life stages reached in the life cycle. For example, young newlywed couples with dependent children, retired couples who children have grown up and left home, and widows who are living alone.
Generational diversity
Older and younger generations have different attitudes and experiences that reflect the historical periods in which they have lived. For example, different views of the morality of divorce and cohabitation.
Postmodernism
Cheal; we no longer live in a modern society with its predictable, orderly orderly structures such as a nuclear family. Their view society has entered a new chaotic postmodern stage. Family structures have become fragmented into many different types and individuals now have much more choice in their life lifestyles, personal relationships and family arrangements.
