Changing family patterns Flashcards
Nuclear Family
A 2 generational household consisting of two heterosexual parents and one or more dependent children, preferably their own
Extended Family
Any grouping bigger than the nuclear family who are related by descent, marriage or adoption
Bean Pole Family
A long and thin type of vertically extended family, with just one or two members representing each generation
Reconstituted Family
The joining of two adults via a divorce and remarriage who have children from previous relationships
Single/Lone parent Family
A family headed by a single parent, usually the mother usually as a consequence of divorce or death
Same Sex Family
A family headed by a homosexual couple
Cohabitation definition
Two adults who live together but are not married
Major Changes in the Family in the past 50 years
Cohabitation, same sex, lone parents families has increased,
The traditional nuclear family has declined because of more births outside marriage.
Women are having fewer children later in life. Fewer first marriages and more remarriage.
Divorce
Since the 60’s there has been a huge increase in the number of divorces in the UK, approximately 40% of marriages now end in divorce
Explanations for Divorce: Changes in the Law
Divorce was very difficult to obtain in 19th century Britain, especially for women.
- Making it cheaper and equalising the grounds for divorce between the sexes.
- The divorce reform act 1969 widened the grounds for divorce, allowing divorce for the irretrievable breakdown of marriage. The act made divorce easier to obtain and led to the doubling of divorce rates.
Explanations for Divorce
Women’s increased financial independence
Improvements in women’s economic position due to education and careers has made them less financially dependent on a husband and therefore free to leave an unhappy marriage and support themselves.
The availability of welfare benefits means women feel less pressure to stay in a marriage as they don’t rely on their husbands salary
Evaluation of women’s increased financial independence
This explanation can help explain why the divorce rate is increasing as many feminist argue the fact that women are now wage earners as well as homemakers has led to a new conflict between husbands and wives
Explanations for Divorce: Declining Stigma and Changing Attitudes
As stigma declines and divorce becomes more socially acceptable, couples have to resort to divorce as a means of solving marital problems. It has now become normal
Explanations for Divorce: Secularisation
Religions increasingly have less influence on society. People who do not hold religious beliefs are less likely to be concerned about divorce. The idea of making wedding vows in the eyes of God and in a religious building therefore means very little so someone with no religious beliefs.
A large number of first time marriages still take place within a religious context
Evaluation of Secularisation
A large number of first time marriages still take place within a religious context
Explanations for divorce: Rising Expectations
- Couples today have higher expectations of marriage, and that once the honeymoon period has worn off couples are left disappointed with the reality of married life.
- Fletcher found that films offer an unrealistic image of marriage, which cannot live up to and this can help explain the high levels of divorce, particularly within the first few years of marriage.
- Many divorcees choose to remarry, which demonstrates an ongoing commitment that people have to marriage.
Explanations for Divorce: Individualisation
- People today aspire to personal fulfilment as opposed to following traditional norms and duties.
- Beck and Giddens argue that nowadays people are unwilling to remain in an unhappy relationships if they do not feel fulfilled. This can explain the high rates of divorce in modern society.
- 60% of the marriages in the UK do not end in divorce, which shows that monogamy with one partner for life remains important.
The meaning of high divorce rates: The New Right
See high divorce rates as undesirable because they undermine marriage, which they see as vital to stability.
- High divorce creates a growing underclass of welfare state dependent lone parents who are a burden on society
The meaning of high divorce rates: Feminism
See high divorce rates as desirable because it shows that women are breaking free from the oppression of a patriarchal nuclear family
The meaning of high divorce rates: Postmodernism
See high divorce rates as showing that individuals now have freedom to choose to end a relationship when it no longer meets their needs
The meaning of high divorce rates: Functionalism
High divorce rates do not necessarily represent a threat to marriage as a social institution, but instead that people now have higher expectations. The high rates of remarriage show that people are still committed to marriage.
The meaning of high divorce rates: Interactionism
Aim to understand what divorce means to the individual.
- Morgan argues that we cannot generalise about divorce because it means something different to all people.
- The personal life perspective argues that divorce has become normalised.
Marriage
From the 1970’s onwards remarriages have remained at a constant level whereas marriages have steadily declined.
Explanations for changing patterns of marriage: Secularisation
The decline of religious influence and the declining influence of the church means that people no longer feel they should get married for religious reasons, which was more common in the past.
Ao3: The majority of first time marriages still take place within a religious context, highlighting it still has an influence
Explanations for changing patterns of marriage: Declining stigma towards alternatives to marriage
Other forms are increasingly acceptable, whereas in the past people were less accepting. Cohabitation, remaining single,
having children outside of marriage etc are now all regarded as acceptable. In 2006 36% of the population had been cohabiting at some point in their lives
Despite huge increases in cohabitation most couples who cohabit do still get married at some point in their lives, it could therefore be seen as a trial run to marriage, not an alternative
Explanations for changing patterns of marriage: changes in the position of women
Due to better education, qualifications and career prospects women are now increasingly financially independent, this gives women greater freedom not to marry.
- The feminist view that marriage is oppressive and patriarchal puts many women off getting married, and they prefer to focus on their career
Ao3: Women still marry, they just increasingly get married later in life once they have established their own careers
Remarriage
Remarriages have increased, largely due to the rise in divorces. The two have grown together so that the rising number of divorces provides a supply of people available to remarry.
Marriage age is rising
The age at which couples marry is rising because young people are postponing marriage in order to spend longer in full time education, and establish themselves in a career.
Couples are likely to cohabit for an extended period of time before committing to marriage. This demonstrates a rise in serial monogamy (many long term, monogamous relationships during the course of an individuals life).
Church Weddings are Declining
!. Secularisation - fewer people see the relevance of a religious ceremony
2. Many churches refuse to marry divorcees
Cohabitation
Cohabitation involves an unmarried couple living together, and this has now become fairly normal and common in society. It is the fastest growing family type, there are 2.9 million cohabiting heterosexual couples in Britain
Why cohabitation has increased
- Declining stigma and changing attitudes towards sex outside of marriage - no longer seen as living in sin
- Increased career opportunities for women may mean they have less need for the financial security of marriage
The meaning of cohabitation
- Cohabitation doesn’t mean the same thing for all couples
For some couples, cohabitation is a step in the way to getting married, seen as a trial run
For others cohabitation is a life choice and permanent alternative to marriage
Same Sex Relationships
- Estimated 5-7% of the adult population today are in same sex relationships.
- May not be an increase compared to the past, as relationships may have been kept hidden due to stigma and illegibility. Now increased acceptance of same sex relationships
- The homosexual age of consent has been equalised with heterosexuals
- Social policies treat same sex couples the same as heterosexual couples and there are equal rights and opportunities regardless of sexuality
One Person Households
- Fewer people today are living in couples.
- There has been an increase in the numbers of people living alone. In 2013 approximately 3/10 households contained only one person. 40%. are pensionable age
Child Bearing
- Nearly half of all children are born outside of marriage. In most cases both parents are still cohabiting to still in contact in some capacity.
- Women are also having children later. On average women have their first child in their late 20’s
- Women go on to have less children than in the past
- Many women are increasingly choosing to remain childless due to increased career options
Why there have been changes in child bearing
- Increases in cohabitation due to declining stigma and growing social acceptance help explain why nearly half of children are born outside of marriage.
- Women want to establish themselves in a career which helps explain why the average age for women to have their first child is 28
- Women want to be able to return to their careers which helps explain why women now have fewer children to help reduce the amount of time spent out the workplace
-Women see themselves in terms of careers rather than mothers which helps explain why some women are choosing to remain childless so they can entirely focus on their job
Lone parent families
Over 90% of lone parent families are headed by women, who are far more likely to be given custody of children in the event of a divorce
Why women are more likely to head lone parent families
- The widespread belief women are by nature more suited to the expressive role.
Men may be less willing than women to give up work for childcare. - Murray sees the growth of lone parent families as resulting from over generous welfare provisions, which provide benefits for single parents and children. Created a dependency culture where people rely on the government to provide for them as opposed to earning their own money.
- Encourages women to have children outside of marriage as they can claim more benefits as lone parents.
Step families
Ferri and Smith found that step families are very similar to first families in all major aspects, the involvement of stepfamilies in child rearing and childcare is a positive one
Ethnic differences in family patterns - black families
- High levels of immigration to the UK in the past 60 years has helped to create greater ethnic differences, and therefore contributed to changing family patterns.
- Black families have a higher proportion of lone parent families. In 2012 over half of families with dependent children headed by a black person were lone parent families.
- This can be contributed to by high rates of unemployment among black males leading to desertion.
- Mirza argues that black lone parent families demonstrates the high value black women place on independence
Ethnic differences in family patterns - Asian families
Asian families tend to be larger and extended. This is due to both having more family members living together and Asian nuclear families having more children. This reflects family values in Asian culture.
- Ballard - extended families provided an important source of support amongst Asian migrants in the 1950’s.
The extended family today
- Parsons argues the extended family was widespread in pre industrial society, but that in industrial society it has been replaced by the nuclear family.
- Charles - study of Swansea found that the classic 3 generation family living together is now all but extinct, with the exception of the cities Bangladeshi community.
- Whilst the traditional extended family may have declined Willmott argues that it has simply evolved into the dispersed extended family - relatives are geographically separated and therefore don’t live together under one roof.
- They retain frequent contact due to the ease of travel, traditional and modern forms of communication.
- The extended family continues to play a vital role for people today. The dispersed extended family has evolved to meet the needs of modern society
Beanpole family
Brannen - in society today we have seen the emergence of a new type of extended family called a beanpole family.
- This is a long and thin type of vertically extended family with one or two members representing each generation. It has arisen due to an increasing life expectancy and smaller family sizes
Obligations to relatives
- Despite changes in the family and family patterns many people still feel the need to help their next of kin
- Finch and Mason - over 90% of people had given or received financial help to relatives, 50% had cared for a sick relative. More is expected of females than males, particularly when undertaking the expressive role.
- This may reflect the underlying view that females are best suited to the expressive role in society
