Changing Family Patterns Flashcards
Family patterns today
Nuclear family- fallen
Higher divorce rates
More remarriages
People marry later
More couples cohabit
Same-sex relationships- civil partnership
Women- fewer children
More births outside marriage
More lone parents
More people living alone
Stepfamilies and couples
Divorce
Higher rates. Reasons:
Changes in the law- equality, cheaper, widening grounds
Declining stigma
Secularisation
Rising expectations of marriage- true love and personal fulfilment
Women’s finial independence
Feminists- dual burden, conscious of patriarchy
Modernity and individualisation- free to pursue self interest
Meaning of high divorce rate
New right- undesirable, undermines marriage and traditional nuclear
Feminists- desirable because shows women breaking free from patriarchy
Postmodernists- individuals now have freedom to choose.
Partnerships - marriage, cohabitation and same-sex relationships
Less first marriage
More cohabitation
Increased some-se relationships
Reason for changing patterns in marriage
Secularisation
Declining stigma
Changes in womens position
Fear of divorce
Reasons for increase in cohabitation
Increased career opportunities
Declining stigma- sex before marriage
Secularisation
Young people more likely
Trial marriage
Alternative to marriage
Increase in Same sex relationships
More socially acceptable
Social policy treats all couples equally
Chosen families
Increase in one person households
Divorce and separation
Decline in marriage
Living apart together
Parenting
Children born outside marriage, lone parent families , step families
Reasons for changes in Childbearing
Decline in stigma
Women having children later
Remaining childless
Career focused
Reasons for increase in lone parent families
Increase in divorce, decline in stigma, single by choice.
Independent lone mothers
Murray - Happens due to over generous welfare benefits -perverse incentive that rewards irresponsible behaviour
Step families- reasons for increase
Divorce
Women’s previous relationship- custody
Greater risk of poverty, more children
Tensions due to not knowing how to act
Ethnic differences
Black families- more lone-parent families. Due to unemployment and slavery, couples sold separately.
Asian families- larger households, immigration. Extended families, live nearby.
Extended family today
Wilmott- dispersed into beanpole family- vertical across3 generations, due to obligation to family members and caring for elderly relatives.
