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Exploring family diversity
Starter
1. Make a list of any laws that have encourage family
diversity to exist in the UK
2. List as many examples of family diversity in the UK
that you can think of
3. What do the New Right think about family
diversity?
Chester: neo-conventional family
- Not that much has changed!
• Chester (1985) agrees that there has been increased
family diversity but does not regard this as significant or
negative.
• Only important move is from a traditional/conventional
family-> neo-conventional family.
• Neo-conventional family is a dual earner family in which
both spouses go to work.
• Apart from this he does not see any other major change
and that most people still aspire to live in a nuclear family
(still ideal.)
"Families in Britain today are in a transition from coping
in a society in which there was a single overriding norm
of what family life should be like to a society in which a
plurality of norms are recognised as legitimate and,
indeed, desirable".
Rappoport, Rapporport and Fogerty
RN Rapoport and R Rapoport note that only a minority of
nuclear families resemble the nuclear family ideal. And argue
that family life in the UK is characterised by diversity because
people live in a range of family types
Firstly
Extended families with 3 generations living under the same roof or
very close by can still be found in some white working class and
ethnic-minority communities e.g. Sikhs.
Secondly
Thirdly
Some modern nuclear families are ‘privatised’ and
‘relatively isolated’ from kin.
Some nuclear families are part of a modified extended family network in
which they offer material and emotional support to each other
Fourthly
Single-person households are growing in
number as increasing numbers of young
women elect to live alone; sociologists call
this ‘creative singlehood’
Lastly
Diversity can be seen in domestic arrangements in
that most nuclear families in the UK are now ‘dualcareer’ families although some retain the traditional
division of labour, while others may have reversed it
entirely as men become house-husbands
It should be obvious to most people that the make up of Britain’s
family structure is changing. In pre industrial Britain large nuclear
families and extended families supported each other in a ‘dual
role’ function
However small families are now the norm
• A quarter of all children in Britain are the only child in their
household
•A further 50% of all children live in a family with only one
other child
•Larger families containing four or more children are now
quite rare in most parts of the country, Although in 5% of
voting wards more than a fifth of children live in such families
Rapoport, Rapoport and Fogarty
Identified 5 types of family diversity in Britain:ORGANISATIONAL DIVERSITY
i.e. diversity in terms of family structure, household type, the division of labour in the home etc.
CULTURAL DIVERSITY
i.e. diversity in the family due to religious and ethnic influences.There is a link here to education and Cultural
Capital
CLASS DIVERSITY
- there are differences between the middle and working classes in terms of adult relationships, the socialisation of
children etc. Some believe that middle class parents are more likely to be child centred.
LIFE - COURSE DIVERSITY –
different stages in the family life cycle generate different patterns of structure, e.g. newly weds without children have
a different structure and life style to those with dependent children.
COHORT DIVERSITY –
cohort refers to specific periods of time through which the family has passed which might have a direct effect on
structure – e.g. unemployment in the 1980’s would have led to a smaller family structure.
McGlone et al
Family remains an important source of help and support
Contacts still kept even though far apart
Class differences still apparent – working classes are more likely to keep in touch than middle class
Due to unemployment, poverty, caring for the elderly the working class
Finch
Golden age of family in pre-industrial times not necessarily true, (didn’t look after sick and elderly)
Kin relationships remain just as special, people feel a greater sense of duty to their family more than
anyone else
Interdependence is just as important and reliance in kin is seen as last resort
Women keep greater ties than men
Each family is different, everyone has their own rules
Rosser and Harris and Bell
Studies of Swansea
Lived in nuclear families but still maintained close contact with kin through telephone, letters and
visits
Bell found father/son ties were most important in providing help for young families in need of
financial support
The Modified Extended Family
Various sociologists have described a new type of extended family.
Litwak – a collation of nuclear families in a state of partial dependence
Allan – modified elementary family – consists of an inner circle of wives, husbands, parents and children
Willmott – most common family form. Made up of two or more related families who cooperate with
each other even if they live some distance apart
Eversley and Bonnerjea
E.&B. believe that diversity typifies the modern family, pointing out six types of REGIONA
DIVERSITY, namely:the “sunbelt” – i.e. affluent south typified by the upwardly mobile two parent family;
The “Geriatric Wards” i.e. coastal areas populated by retired couples e.g. Brighton;
The old declining industrial areas of the north typified by traditional extended family
structures;
The inner city – typified by single parent families and ethnic minority variations;
The “newly declining industrial areas” of the Midlands, dominated by diverse structures
Rural areas – typified by extended families.
Peter Wilmott
Wilmott in a more recent study of North London argued that three types of EXTENDED FAMILY could be
discerned, namely:-
The Local Extended Family in fact 1 in 8 families still matched the old traditional
extended pattern of relative living either with or near to children.
The Dispersed Extended Family– one half of all families matched this pattern where
wider kin might live over a hundred miles away yet close links are maintained
through the car, phone, letters etc. In short, when help is needed the family is still
there. It is interesting to note that Parsons would reject this as being a typed of
extended family – he would still see the geographical distance as meaning it is
isolated and nuclear.
The Attenuated Extended Family – in which, for instance, single people might move
away as students, but will, of course return to the family at regular intervals.
Do you fit into any pattern so far- discuss and note down which and
why?
Explain what is meant by the ‘attenuated extended family ’ (2 marks)
Suggest two reasons why the UK is more diverse today (4 marks)
Identify three ways in which greater ethnic diversity
has contributed to family diversity
(Item 2A). (6 marks)
Postmodernity and the Life Course
Modernist approach = is a top down approach which assumes that there is
one dominant family type; assumes society dictates family type.
Postmodernists reject this because:
1
2
We are individual social actors, we make choices
We have a lot of choice, everyone is different.
We can no longer talk about a single best type or set of types such as those
given by the Rappoports
Anthony Giddens
Family and marriage has changed due to greater
equality and choice
• Contraception has allowed sex and intimacy
rather than reproduction as the main point of
the reproduction
• Independence of women
Life Course Analysis
• Hareven (1978) there is variation in peoples lives depending on whether they have a
baby, come out as gay.
• It focuses on what family members find important rather than what sociologists
regard as important.
• Family structures are the result of just choices.
• Claire Holdsworth and Morgan (2005)
Life course analysis focuses on the meanings people to life events and choices.
Unstructured interviews allow family members to discuss what is important rather
than what sociologists do.
Family Practices
David Morgan (1995)
Family practices = routines actions that we actually do
These are influenced by beliefs about rights and responsibilities.
Conflict is caused by a clash of family practices.
Family practices is used instead of family structure because families are
not concrete things. The term gets us closer to the realities of
everyday life because people are much freer to choose how they
organise their relationships.
Family Practices
David Morgan (2007)
The family is not clear cut and separate from society like the
functionalists argue.
Society is much more fragmented: family, friendship and other kinds of
relationships have become blurred.
Morgan does not completely reject structural theories, whilst life
courses might be the actions of individuals but they take place in the
context of wider social structure and norms.
Postmodernism
• Cheal (1993) – we no longer live in a modern world with
predictable orderly structures, we now live in chaotic
postmodernity.
• There is no single type of family (eg: lone parents) only
FAMILIES.
• Society has entered a new chaotic postmodern stage.
Gives people freedom to plot their life course
But creates more instability as we don’t know what to pick.
Beck (1992) Risk society
• Tradition is less important it is all about choice.
• People miss things being stable and predictable.
• New type of family ‘negotiated family’ although more equal
it is less stable.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SL5l5wQVqCQ&feature=related
Weeks (2000)
• Long term shift in attitudes since 1950’s. State and church have lost
power.
• Family diversity is now undeniable. The New Right are fighting a
losing battle.
• The idea of chosen families and friendships as kinship among gays
suggest that the distinction between family and non family is
becoming less clear.
• There is a growing acceptance of sexual and family diversity.
24 mark question
•Assess Sociological explanations of the
nature and extent of family diversity
today.
• Examine some of the reasons for the
diversity of families and households in
Britain today. (24 marks)