Families 👨👩👦👦 Flashcards
What are the 7 types of families ?
Nuclear - mum dad dependant children
Same sex - gay/lesbian parents and dependent children
Beanpole- long line of older generations and only 1 younger one
Reconstituted family- divorce and remarried- stepbrothers/sis/mum/dads
Extended- several generations living together
Lone parent-one parent and dependent children
Why is there an increase in one person households ? Give 3 examples .
People living longer as healthcare and the standers of living is increasing
Students from abroad
Divorcees
Live apart from partners
Why are friends becoming the new families?
- People are more likely to go to friends for help as they are too embarrassed or ashamed too.
- Friends- provide emotional support and nurturing
- Are less judgemental
Eg more likely to pick up pieces of a failed relationship
What are the criticisms of friends becoming family?
They are becoming like family, but won’t replace them .
Why are children put in secure homes ?
May be dependent on drugs or alcohol.
How may the structures of families change over time ?
Solo living - living by yourself
Empty nest family- parents living tog et her as their child are now independent
Student house hold
Newley weds just married
How do different ethnicities have different family structures?
More likely to live alone -Caribbean- women headed houses holds
Asian- patriarchal, extended family
What are MC families more ?
Egalitarian- equal women have more say compared to WC families
What did the Rapoports and Rapoports find out about families?
That family diversity exists
What where the 5 types of diversity found in families that the Rapoports and Rapoports found?
Organisational- conjugal roles segregated or joint and social networks with extended family
Cultural diversity- each family has different cultures and beliefs and ideas about canalisation and gender roles
Class- if WC more traditional roles of MC a more egalitarian
Life course - if just married more likely to be a nuclear family than a empty nest family or live in a student house hold (think of flow diagram of life choices and how it effects the family structure)
Cohort- your tolerance for certain stigmas - eg an older family may not accept a child born out of wedlock whereas a younger family would
What are communes ?
A house hold where men woman and children live together normally die to political beliefs or environmental
Communes are used to help raise equality between men women and children -> cat as the head of the house
What are kibbutzims?
Jewish settlements where families live . Children over 15 leave their biological parents and live in a large children house where they all learn and eat together
What is chinas one child policy ? What was it changed ?
In cities , married couples where not allowed to have more than one child. If they did they will face social exclusion including being fired from their jobs
This was chinas way to deal with the overpopulation occurring
However , china slowly developed an ageing population that where slowing dying, leading to now available workforces to contribute to china’s economy.
So now Chinese couples are allowed 2 children
Why does parsons believe that the nuclear family has lost its function?
The certain needs of clothing and food are being met by other agents out side of the family
What does parsons believe that family is vital for ?
The formation of human personalities
Parson believes that human personalities are not born, they are but though primary socialisation
Once they are produced they need to say stable (stabilisation of adult personalities)
What are the 4 ways Delphy and Leonard found out that wives are being exploited?
- The way their labour is used by their husbands
- Financial dependancy on husband
- Unvalued for work
- Being at a subordinate position from their husband
What occurred within segregated relationships?
Husband and wife spent little to no time together
Very ridged roles such as the women doing expressive stuff and the max doing instrumental
They have separate interests and have different friends out side the home
How did Willmot and Young describe the symmetrical family ?
Joint conjugal roles though there where very opposite but did the same about eg man- dIY and women - childcare
Family became more home centred and the extended family was no longer included . Spent free time together. Couples also becomes more warmer and centred.
Financial decisions become more joint
And money become more shared than spent
The man stay more at home due to the rise of technology as entertainment becomes home base eg. Family need TV to be fixed ect
How did Willmot and Young describe how the symmetrical family will continue to spread?
Stratified diffusion - changed from the higher classes trickle down to the lower classes
What are Willmot and Young’s reasons for the symmetrical family ?
- Rise in feminism - women are going out and gaining a career rather than being a trad wife , decreasing the chance of their unpaid labour to be exploited.
- Rise in contraception- wine can choose when to have a child and combine it with their career
- Women getting more jobs within paid employment makes them more financially independent giving them the equality and status to have a say both inside and outside their home
- Change in interest- tech- men more likely to stay at home and fix it
What are Ann Oakley’s criticisms of the symmetrical family ?
Does not trust the quality of Willmot and Young’s findings -> believes men are given the praise to easily eg. Men washes dishes once and is called a ‘good’ husband and women’s paid work has a huge impact on their roles at home
What did Scott and celery feel like women feel?
Like the to the most in the house and care for others unlike the men
There are far more dual workers that have the double shift of child care and work unlike men- this leads for an unfair competition within the workplace as men have a higher chance as they have less stress and work load at home
What did Gatrell find out about conjugal roles with heterosexual couples?
Men are now more involved with child care than before , some of them did not have a father and want to be different within their child’s life
There’s tension between sharing the child caring role
Women do not what their maternal roles to be eroded and feel like men ‘cherry-pick’ the nicer child roles to avoid washing up .
She believes if men what to divide parenting time they should divide households chores equally as well
What does Delphy and Leonard think power is distributed?
Unequally- sue to mans power and dominance over women
man exploits women and woman is completely dependent on mans money as the family is hierarchical and patriarchal
What did Pahl investigate about power within married couples with dependent children ?
30 /102 families still have husbands which still hold financial control within the family however it is much less than how it was in the past.
However , Pahl found out that a mother and child can still be in poverty however then man can keep all the money and be fine
What is domestic abused viewed as in the family?
A way to dominate and gain power and control over another , making them feel subordinate. Could be psychological or sexual
Why may some domestic abuse victims not report ?
Social construct- may be male and be ashamed as they are not so called masculine enough to protect themselves
May not see themselves as the victim
Think it’s a personal matter
What are conventional families ? (Ann Oakley )
Families that consists of a married heterosexual couple and 2 or less dependent children within a district domestic unit
Nuclear !
What are the two main ideas of a conventional family ?
- Each person has a different occupation due to age or gender
- Women are expected to stay in the house and a trad wife and earn no pay when as men go out the house and earn pay .
What did Ann Oakley find that was wrong with the conventional family?
- Women felt a sense of dissatisfaction and depression by just staying at home with no earnings, cleaning up all day
- Men have health issues with stress due to being the sole breadwinner
How did Ann Oakley describe financial inequality within the conventional family?
Men hold more economic power being the main bread winner especially when the woman takes care of children full time
Women lack control over the man’s income and what he can spend it on , as they are dependent on economic power .
When women go out to work , it’s normally a low pay job for a small amount of time to cover her house labour
Men may pay a few bills , but left overs are spent in themselves
What are the signs of limited change within conventional families ?
Primary socialisation, creating the next generation of dual workers and conventional families over time
How were relationships between parents and children in the olden times ?
Parents saw education as a barrier to breaking out of poverty, so parents didn’t take kids to school but put them in work and the family relied on the child’s income .
Most children where working in factories
in the 19th century
However, the Education Act of 1918 made it legal to keep a child in school until 14 . Willmot and Young argued that this was when a childhood was seen as a separate stage in human life
How are relationships now between parents and children?
Democratic and less authoritarian discipline is less stressed and individual freedom is expressed more
Children have more rights and more of a say eg. Divorce - what parent they may want to stay with
What are parent and child relationships more ?
Child centred , warmer and cosier .
Family is more smaller so there is more attention in children but they are more separated due to childcare and financial reasons or choice for most of the working of the working week
What is child rearing no longer dominated by ? What may this lead to ?
And economic factor as the age for school has been raised to 18, causing children to be more of a burden as they are restricted by the law for part time jobs making it difficult for children to become independent as they stay in the family longer as they go to university etc. - which may cause stress and conflict within families
How does Scott argue that children are not just dependent?
They can help with child care and a family business and also with emotional support with relatives to prevent stress.
Children of immigrant parents may help translate and communicate
What are Wilmott and young’s theory of the nuclear family being more distant with the extended family?
Geographical mobility- more people are moving places to get nearing to workplaces
and the rise of female involvement within the labour market
Mean that family have less time on their hands to see each other
Wider family in the uk is becoming less important and family ties are weakening
What are kinship relationships?
Individuals that are related to each other by blood being in regular contact with one another
What are a few ways a kinship relationship may look like?
Grandparents looking after grandchildren
Adult children- mostly girls - that looked after grandparents
Fathers that help with adult children house improvements
What has Charles et Al. Found that geographic mobility does not do ?
It Wares away the support of the family but not eliminate it all together eg. Adult children can call parents for financial support
Why has the life expectancy of men and women increased ?
Healthcare being cheaper and more available
How is the sandwich generation created what what does it lead to ?
Due to the rise of medicine, the uk is having an ageing population against a small population of young people . This has lead to a lot of 3 generation families to occur, causing the youngest
generation to have the burden to take care of grandparents and great grandparents and somehow provide childcare for their children
What is a boomerang child ?
Child that leaves home to go to uni or somewhere else, and comes back as there is a global economic crisis , causing them to be unable to afford housing and be independent
Why was the number of reconstituted families falling ?
- The age for women having children was increasing due to the rise of feminism and change of women roles within society, so a woman was more likely to take her time on finding a good job career and husband instead of rushing in one and divorcing
Lone parents could have a partner who lives away
What are the reasons why there is an increase in lone parent families ?
- Change in social attitudes- a women is now seen a capable of raising a child without a man sue to their increased activity in the labour market wedlock children and not so taboo
- Increase in divorce rates - divorce has become more accessible and cheaper
What are lone parents families a reason of ?
A decline of moral standards of society as father less family as seen as the underclass
Secularisation- marriage is not such a big this anymore or a milestone is society
People have more freedom of choice over what relationships they want
Describe the changing rates of fertility.+ why ?
Used to be high for economic reasons - children could work and earn , until the Education Act of 1918 said that children had to stay in school untill 14 then it was changed to 18
Children became a burden and were expensive and their was a global economic crisis and people couldn’t afford their own homes
Worn decided to have less children as they had the choice and rejected the house wife roles
so women become more active in the workforce meaning they could focus on their career laws like
the sex discrimination act backed this up
Contraception was more available and abortions are legal
What are the 7 types of marriages?
Polygamy - several people marring at once
Polyandry- 1 women loads of men
Polygyny- 1 Man loads of women
Monogamy- THE RIGHT WAY OF MARRIAGE LEGAL 1 PERSON MARRING ANOTHER ✅✅✅
Seiral monogamy 💩🤮🤢- marring another person and divorce them then marring another agian and again … wth
Bigamy ❌❌‼️🚩- Marring someone when there already married 🚨🚨👮🏾♀️
What are some rules of polyandry/gyny?
There may be a written contact that wives /husbands may be treated the same
What are arranged marriages? Why are they different from forced ?
Arranged marriages is when a family finds someone they may think is suitable for you to marry
- why have the choice to say no and you have to give consent -
you are forced to marry someone in forced marriages and no consent is given -
illegal up to 7 years
What are the four changes in household structures?
A decrease proportion of children living in conventional families Headed by a married couple
An increase of children living with in a family headed by a cohabiting couple
An increase of families headed by same-sex couple
A significant increase in one person households
What are the reasons for the decrease in reconstituted families? 2)
- Women and less likely to have babies at a young age this means that is it a woman rushing into marriages they could find the right person decreasing the chance of divorce 
- Couples could be live in a park together due to work reasons this means that they’re not taking in as a reconstituted family
Why is there an increase in dual-career families? What are they ?
women may feel my face conflicts between a role as a parent and an employee
As a result of the increase of Co-habitation like living apart together
Why has the Amount of loan parent families increased? 2)
- High levels of divorce being easier to obtain for example you don’t have to give a certain reason
- change in a social attitudes towards marriage is not seen as a big thing anymore and it’s more socially acceptable for a single woman to bring up a child without a man
What do you some commentators link the rise of fatherless families too?
A declined to societies moral fibre and cultural dependency They identified as the underclass and depend on the welfare state
Why is there an increase in one person households?
- Ageing population in the UK due to the increase of healthcare available
- Increase in solo living more children I’m going out for education living single mothers alone and international migrants live alone to do their education
What is fertility?
The amount of women of childbearing age give birth children in a particular
society
What are the change in patterns of fertility in the UK?
Women are having less children than they had 30 years ago
What are the Reasons for the changing patterns in fertility? 5)
- Economic factors children-
are normally born to get jobs and then provide income for families but that’s no longer the case due to the education act 1918 
They became a burden as they had to stay longer within the families without generating income
and they became the main consumers of fashion tech and brands leading to conflict
- Labour market uncertainty-
during global recession is it was uncertain if they could afford housing which would discourage people from having children
as they cannot afford to provide for themselves
- Later marriage-
woman with Marrying later said it would delay having children - Women’s increase in employment and higher education- Women have more options than motherhood
- Effective birth-control methods women have more control when they want to have children
How has the level of annual number of marriages looks like in the UK?
There has been a decrease
Why is there a decrease in marriages in the UK? 3)
People are getting married later due to Increase in education especially for women
Change in attitudes to premarital sex - more acceptable 
Laws allowing same-sex marriages there’s been an increase in this

Why has there been an increase in cohabitation? 3)
1.Changing social attitudes with sex outside of marriages
- secularisation 
- High cost of weddings
Why is there an increase of births outside marriage?
Babies born out of wedlock are no longer stigmatised
What are the five reasons that there has been an increase in divorce?
- Legal changes have made it easier to obtain a divorce
- Changing attitudes - divorce is more socially acceptable
- Secularisation - process this has weakened religious barrier to divorce
- Women in empty shell marriages depend less on their husbands through economic dependence
- The media-
amplification of romantic love encourages couples have high expectations when in reality these expectations are not met they may result in a divorce as people are unhappy
What are the consequences of divorce for individuals in family structures ?
What has it lead to ?
The rising divorce rates has led to an increase in one person household lone parents and reconstituted families
These changes in family structures may lead to difficulty to adjust to different expectations of behaviour however it may give allow more people to be available to provide attention and support
What does the consequences of divorce lead to conflict occurring between ?
Causes conflict between previous spouse to continue after the divorce and continue to dispute with parenting and property
What does the consequence of the divorce lead to some children losing?
Please contact with parent or extended family members from the divorcee 
What did the forced men experience after divorce?
Lack of emotional support if their friends or social networks change
What do divorcees tend to lose with the finance as a Consequence of divorce?
A loss of income which may cause an impact families to face hardships with finance
Why may teenage pregnancy not be a disaster for young mothers?
It’s actually an opportunity for your mothers to be responsible and encourage them to take up education training and employment
How are relationships between teenagers and adults Viewed as now?
Teenagers cannot be controlled by their parents
due to an adequate socialisation with a lack into societies norms and values
and that teenagers are literally parents themselves
