2. Describing Family Change Flashcards
What is family change
Family change is just change in the family
The traditional nuclear family with the submissive female and dominant male outlined by Parsons is declining
Sociologists say the reason for family change is that there is less well-paid male work in the economy and that women have started to put careers first.
How does demography contribute to family change
- People are living longer and remain healthier for longer due to increased living conditions and medicine creating a rise in the ageing population.
- Women are choosing to have less children due to putting their careers first and are having children later in life or not have any children at all
- Rates of divorce are rising since the 1950s due to the changing social attitudes with many people delaying marriage or not marrying.
- Theres a rise in social change to same-sex families
- People may live in long-term relationships but prefer to live on their own this is known as elective singlehood. 20% of adults live alone.
- Children may live at home longer due to rising prices and tuition fees. Some children move out and come back they are known as boomerang children.
What is a beanpole family
Beanpole families refers to family trees that are long, straight, and narrow as people have less children, aunties, and uncles and less cousins, this is more common in the modern society.
What is the sandwich generation
The sandwich generation is a generation that simultaneously looks after their children and their parents providing emotional financial and physical support. This term is given to people who are in their early 50s who support elderly parents, children and possible grandchildren.
What is a Living apart together family
This is a new family form identified by Levin in 2004. This is where couples have a household each although they maintain a close partnership.
This family form is found in Scandinavia but Levin argues it can follow cohabitation when people become financially secure and choose to live in seperate homes
People choose this option as it can be the most financially smart decision
What is a blended family
These are families in which the parent remarry causing a step family. 10% of families have two adult parents but children from more than one relationship.
What is a saturated family
saturated family is where the family is no longer a place of shared experiences and values. Instead it is individuals who are increasingly involved in or saturated by activities, often away from other family members or using technology inside the family
sociologists Gergen 1991, Silva 2009 discuss this family type.
