Changes In Family Patterns Continued Flashcards
Marriage
‘The social institution under which a man and woman establish their decision to live as husband and wife by legal commitments, religious ceremonies, etc.’
Cohabitation
Living together but not being married.
Ernestina Coast (2006): 75% of cohabitating couples stated that they intend to marry. Cohabitation is a trial marriage
Robert Chester (1985): Argues that cohabitation acts as a trial marriage – we are seeing the rise of the Neo-Conventional Nuclear Family.
Andre Bejin (1985): Cohabitation is a way of negotiating more equal relationships than the conventional patriarchal marriage.
Shelton and John (1993): Found cohabitating couples shared domestic chores more equally.
Same sex partnerships
Stonewall (2012): The campaign for lesbian, gay & bisexual rights estimates that around 5 – 7% of the adult population have same-sex relationships.
1967: Male homosexual acts were decriminalised for consenting adults over 21 years-old.
Changes in social attitudes
Jeffrey Weeks (1999) sees the growing normality of ‘Fictive families’ as a reason for the increase in same-sex families i.e. that families can be based on friendship ties rather than blood ties. This is the idea of a ‘chosen family’.
Kath Weston (1992) supports this view by suggesting that ‘quasi-marriages’ (same sex cohabitation) are becoming recognised by society as an alternative form of partnership.
Lone parent families
1 in 4 children live in a lone parent family.
Over 90% are headed by women
There has been a shift from lone parent families being the result of divorce to them now being headed by women who have never been married.
A child living in a lone parent family is twice as likely to live in poverty.
REASONS FOR MORE WOMEN BEING THE HEAD OF LONE-PARENT FAMILIES…
Women are often seen as more nurturing or natural parents and are often favoured by the courts.
Jean Renvoize (1981) argues that women are more financially independent and are therefore happy to be a single parent.
Equally, working class mothers have less earning power and may chose to live off benefits, thus not having the father around is more financially beneficial.
Single by choice: Women may not wish to marry or cohabit. They may wish the limit the father’s involvement with the child.
New Right thinker, Charles Murray argues that it is irresponsible to have children that can not be paid for by the parent. He believes the welfare state in supporting lone parents and creating a ‘dependency culture’. Murray’s solution, get rid of the welfare state!
Critics of Charles Murray
Critics of Murray have argued that welfare benefits are not generous at all. Reasons for this include:
-Lack of affordable childcare.
-Inadequate welfare benefits.
-Most lone parents are generally women who earn less anyway.
-Failure by dad’s to pay maintenance, especially if they have a second family.
Step families
Stepfamilies account for over 10% of all families with dependant children in Britain.
Ferri & Smith (1998): stepfamilies are very similar to first families in all major respects, and that the involvement of stepparents in childcare and childrearing is a positive one. However, stepfamilies are also at greater risk of poverty.
According to Allan & Crow (2001), stepfamilies may face particular problems of divided loyalties and issues such as contact with the non-resident parent can cause tensions.
McCarthy (2013): Argues that these tensions are not so different from ‘intact’ families!
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Reasons for the patterns
Increased divorce and separation
When marriages break up, children are more likely to stay with the mother
Stepparents are at greater risk of poverty because there are often more children and because the stepfather may have to support children from a previous relationship!
Some of the tensions created may be the result of a lack of clear social norms about how individuals should behave in such families.
Black families
Black Caribbean and Black African families have a higher proportion of lone parent families. In 2012 over half of them were headed by lone parents. This is stark contrast to Asian families where only 1 in 9 were headed by lone parents.
WHY IS THIS THE CASE?
One reason is slavery: Children were more likely to stay with their mother when this was happening.
Another reason : The high rate of unemployment amongst black young males. Black men are less likely to be able to provide for their families, leading to more desertion or marriages breaking down.
Black families HOWEVER
However: Reynolds (2010) argues that the statistics are misleading and that many lone parents are in fact stable and supportive. Mirza (1997) says black women simply value their independence!
Asian families
Black and Asian families, despite popular belief still tend to be nuclear rather than extended. However, they do tend to be larger in size, partly due to Asian households having a higher proportion of child bearing adults.
However, today despite the nuclear family being more prevalent amongst Asian’s their extended family lives close by, making frequent visits.
Despite the rise in the number of nuclear families, Sikhs, Muslims and Hindu’s are still more likely then any other group to live in a Extended family.
Ballard (1982) suggests that extended family ties provided an important source of support among Asian migrants during the 1950’s and 1960’s.
MULTI-ETHNIC DIFFERENCES
There is a rise in multi ethnic families: the 2011 census showed that 12% of households with at least 2 people had someone whose partner or other household member was of a different ethnic group – some 2 million people in total.
This is a good example of changing social attitudes. 50 years ago it was unthinkable that people from different ethnic backgrounds would be a couple. Even more unthinkable that their parents would live with their partner of a different ethnic background!
THE EXTENDED FAMILY TODAY: Charles (2005)
says it is nearly all but ‘extinct’- with the only exception being found in the Bangladeshi community.
THE EXTENDED FAMILY TODAY: Willmott (1998)
argues that it still exists as a ‘dispersed extended family’ whereby relatives are geographically separated but still maintain contact through telephone and visits.
