Family Diversity

Question 1

Willmott (1988) argues that there are FOUR main types of extended family which are:

Answer 1

EXTENDED FAMILY OF RESIDENCE- where the members live in the same household.

LOCAL EXTENDED FAMILY-where 2 or 3 nuclear families live separately but in close proximity and see each other often.

DISPERSED EXTENDED FAMILY-nuclear families who see each other frequently but live further apart and do not see each other as regularly.

ATTENUATED EXTENDED FAMILY-similar to the dispersed extended family but the contact is even less frequent.

Question 2

Rhona and Robert Rapoport (1982) FIVE types of diversity

Answer 2

ORGANISATIONAL

CULTURAL

CLASS/ECONOMIC

LIFE-COURSE

COHORT

Question 3

Ethnic diversity families

Answer 3

South Asian families have a more traditional family structure-large families, more extended, less joint conjugal roles.

West Indian families are more likely to be single parent families or ‘mother households’, in which the mother is the read winner and female kin and friends help out with childcare and other duties.

Question 4

Eversley and Bonnerjea (1982) Diversity and location

Answer 4

They suggest local influences produce different life experiences and so diversity. They identify SIX different areas or types of area in Britain which offer different types of family organisation: 
•THE AFFLUENT SOUTH OR 'SUN BELT'
•THE 'GERIATRIC WARDS'
•OLDER INDUSTRIAL AREAS
•RECENTLY DECLINING INDUSTRIAL AREAS
•RURAL AREAS
•INNER CITIES

Question 5

Reasons for increased diversity

Answer 5

• Effects of changing in marriage, cohabitation and divorce.
• Effects of demographic changes-decline in birth+death rates.
• Effects of changing social attitudes.
• Changes in the position of women.
• Welfare support from state.
• Secularisation
• Increase in Britain in variety of cultures and ethnicities.
• Changing patterns of social life.
• Historical events and periods.

Question 6

What is the significance of this increased family diversity?

Answer 6

Feminists-diversity is valued as a liberating force for women, opening up choices. (Gittins 1993) it has also become more acceptable to become a househusband and to play a less male traditional role.

New right-wish to defend the nuclear family ad traditional morality. Diversity therefore means that the family is in a state of crisis. Leading to increase in levels of educational failure… they believe we should cut benefits, enforce responsibility on parents, as an attempt to reinforce the position of the traditional family.

Postmodernists-Morgan (1996) sees diversity in family forms as evidence of wider fragmentation in society-which characterises postmodern society.

Question 7

Examples of family structures/relationships and households

Answer 7

• Nuclear family
• Cohabitation
• Couple
• Extended family
• Reconstituted family
• Single-parent family
• Single person
• Group of friends