diverse families Flashcards
why is there a rise in same sex relationships?
change in attitudes
secularisation
legislation changes
what is a chosen family?
family is a group of individuals who deliberately choose one another to play significant roles in each other’s lives. You consider these people ‘family’ even though you are not biologically or legally related.
why are gay people more likely to choose a chosen family?
Weeks (1999) argues that chosen families offer the same security and stability as heterosexual families
rejected etc
What is heteronormativity
Heteronormativity iswhat makes heterosexuality seem coherent, natural and privileged. It involves the assumption that everyone is ‘naturally’ heterosexual, and that heterosexuality is an ideal, superior to homosexuality or bisexuality.
Others may assume that is a same-sex couple family works differently because the family looks different to a heterosexual family.
Functionalism – stabilisation of adult personalities – chosen family provides stability as they understand what the member is going through. May also provide economic function i.e. helping with financial costs. Socialisation.
Weston
Kath Weston (1992) argues that gay lifestyles in the 1970’s were very different from today. She suggests that in the past they rejected monogamy and family life in favour for casual sex relationships. Weston coins same-sex cohabitation as a ‘quasi marriage’.
Allan and Crow
Allan and Crow argue that the absence of legal frameworks until recently has resulted in same-sex chosen families being flexible, but also unstable i.e. as they could not marry until 2014 they had no legal stability if one partner was to leave or die, so they had to constantly negotiate their relationships to suit their needs.
Einasdottir
Anna Einasdottir (2011) argues that some same-sex couples prefer to stay in chosen families despite legal changes as this will limit their flexibility. They also don’t want to appease heteronormative ideas of what is a ‘normal’ and ‘acceptable’ family.
how are one person households increasing?
29% of households
Rise in the number of people living alone.
3/10 households consist of people living alone. This has nearly tripled since 1961.
Since 1961 the rates of one person households have more than doubled! 14%-29%
By 2033 its predicted to be 30%
how many old people live alone?
40% are people over 65 years old. This has doubled since 1961. The rate for non-pensioners has tripled!
what are the stats regarding gender living alone? why do you think this is?
Men under 65 are the most likely to live alone.
Aswell as women over 65
men - live alone after divorce
women - feminisation of old age
how have rising divorce rates led to an increase in one person households?
More men under 65 living alone as children tend to live with the mother.
Social attitudes have changed – no longer stigmatised to live alone as a woman (can link to feminism).
how have falling marriage rates influenced one person households?
People are staying single longer or remaining single.
Men less likely to marry than women
young people celebrate being single e.g. ‘self-partnered’
how has an ageing population influenced one person households?
Life expectancy higher for women than men – more likely to live alone in later years.
As people are living longer, they will not stay in ‘loveless’ marriages so decide to divorce and live alone.
what are LAT couples and why are they accepted as an alternative?
Levin (2004) LAT is becoming increasing accepted as an alternative to marriage or cohabitation because:
Divorce and separation rates continuing to increase.
Technology
Giddens ‘Pure relationship‘
Changes in labour markets make it hard to maintain job in other areas
People choose LAT because:
Practical reasons
Responsibility and care
Risk – don’t want to repeat the same mistake twice
Duncan and Phillips:
Data from the British social attitudes survey found that 1/10 adults were ‘living apart together’; they are in a significant relationship but are not cohabitating.
This equates to around 50% of those classified as single.
Both choice and constraint play apart in this decision i.e. some may not afford to live together, whilst others simply may not want to.
Seen as socially acceptable – 20% saw living apart together as their ideal relationship * this was higher than cohabitation*
Despite this arguably being a ‘new’ family, Duncan and Phillips argue it does not reject traditional relationships enough to be classified as so.
However, critics argue, this may reflect a trend towards less formalised relationships and families of choice.
how have lone parent families increased?
Percentage of lone parent households has tripled since 1971 – now 22%
1 in 4 children live in a lone parent family
90% of lone parent families are headed by lone mothers
why do we have more lone parent families?
Divorce
Separation
Never-married women having children
Decline in stigma attached to births outside of marriage
why is it more likely to be a female headed lone family?
Women seen as more nurturing
Court systems more likely to grant custody to the mother
Men seen to be less willing to give up work than women to care for the children
what does single by choice mean?
don’t want to cohabit or marry, and may want to limit the fathers involvement.
Renvoize:
professional women were able to support their children without fathers help (middle class).
Cashmore
working class mothers with less earning power chose to live on welfare benefits without a partner due to abuse.
how does charles murray feel about the welfare state?
New Right thinker Charles Murray argues that the rise in lone parent families is a consequence of the welfare state being too generous by providing benefits for unmarried mothers and their children.
He argues it has created a ‘perverse incentive’ that rewards irresponsible behaviour i.e. having children they cannot provide for.
He argues this has created a dependency culture as there are decreasing feelings of responsibility, due to the state picking up the pieces.
The solution is to abolish welfare benefits.
what is the problem with UC?
no longer get as much as they used to
For your first child:£281.25/month (born before 6 April 2017)
£235.83/month (born on or after 6 April 2017)
For your second child born (and other children if born before 2017):
£235.83/month per child
many rely on foodbanks - half of users
