Families And Households Flashcards
What is a household?
A person living alone or people living together for example sharing meals, bills, housework etc. This group may or may not be related
What is a family?
Involves a monogamous marriage of a man and woman, plus their children, all sharing the same residence
Any set of arrangements where those involved consider eachother family
What are the Rapoport’s five types of family diversity?
Cultural diversity
Life-stage diversity
Organisational diversity
Generational diversity
Social class diversity
What is cultural diversity?
Caused by migration
Ethnic groups have different family structures E.g. more children, larger families
What is life-stage diversity?
Through an individuals life course they will experience a variety of different structures E.g. childless couple, parents with young children, retired, widowed
What is organisational diversity?
Different ways of organising the household and the family roles e.g. single or dual earners
What is generational diversity?
Depending on the era in which an individual is raised, they may have different views towards different household structures E.g. attitudes towards cohabitation
What is social class diversity?
The income of the family influences its structure E.g. middle class woman pursuing her career may choose to have children later in life
Marriage trends and patterns
People are marrying later in life- in 2012 the average age for first time marriages was 32 for men and 30 for women
Civil ceremonies have increased- in 1981, 60% of weddings were conducted with religious ceremonies but by 2019 it fell to 18.2%
Why have civil ceremonies increased
Society has transformed from close identification with religious values toward non religious values and secular institutions
Divorcees now make up a growing proportion of those marrying. They often have less desire to marry in the Church and the Church refuses to marry them
Why are people marrying later in life
Young people choose to marry later in life for a number of reasons; spending longer in full time education, establishing themselves in their careers, save money and want to cohabit before getting married
Cohabitation trends
In 1996 2.9 million people aged 16-59 were cohabitating, by 2012 this rose to 5.9 million
This makes cohabitation the fastest growing trend in the Uk
Reasons for cohabitation
Churches are in favour of marriage but as there influence decreases, people feel freer to choose not to marry
With rising divorce rates, some may be put off marrying because they see an increased likelihood of marriage ending in divorce
Cohabitation as a permanent alternative to marriage
For some cohabitation has become marriage by a different name. Barlow et al (2001) found marriage has become more of a lifestyle choice than an expected
Chandler (1993) points out that cohabitation isn’t a new phenomenon
Increase in number of children born outside of marriage
In 1961, 94% of births were registered to married couples in comparisons with 2011 where the figure decreased to 53%
According to Brown this trend reflects a reduction in ‘shot gun weddings’ where couples married to legitimise the pregnancy
