Families and Households- Changing Family Patterns Flashcards
What is a matrifocal family?
A family where a woman is the head
What could be the reason for the increase in single-person households?
The increasing number of divorces and a rise in people over 65 living alone
What is the fastest growing household type?
Multi-family household
What are the two overall patterns in changing family patterns?
- An increase in family diversity in the UK
- Nuclear family is still the most common
What are the five types of family diversity that the Rapoports’ identified?
Organisational diversity, cultural diversity, class diversity, life-course diversity and generational diversity
What is organisational diversity?
Differences in the way families are structured
What is cultural diversity?
Differences in the norms and values between cultures
What is class diversity?
Different views held by different social classes concerning families
What is life-course diversity?
Diversity caused by the different stages people have reached in their lives
What is generational diversity?
Differences created by the historical periods the family have lived through
What does Giddens call the individualisation thesis?
Individual choice dictates family relationships
What does Giddens say about rigid class, gender and family roles?
They no longer exist and people are free to make their own decisions
Do people have to stay in relationships because of fixed social expectations any more?
No, they are free to separate and go on to form different types of families
What do postmodernists claim?
There is no longer a single dominant family structure
What have improvements in women’s rights and the availability of contraception resulted in?
People having far more choice in their type of relationship
