Family diversity Flashcards
Postmodernism and family diversity - STACEY
STACEY- argues that greater freedom and choice has benefitted women, enables them to free themselves from patriarchal oppression and to shape their family arrangements.
-Stacey used life history interviews to construct a series of case studies, of post modern families.
-Found that women rather than men have been the main agents of changes in the family.
-Most of the women she interviewed had rejected the traditional housewife mother role.
-One of the new family structures STACEY calls ‘divorce extended family’ where members are connected by divorce.
The individualisation thesis - GIDDENS AND BECK
explore the effects of increasing individual choice upon families and relationships.
The individualisation thesis argues that traditional social structures such as class, gender and family have lost much of their influence over us.
People used to be defined by fixed roles however now individuals have less roles to follow.
We can have become freed ‘disembedded’ from traditional roles and structures leaving us with more freedom to lead our lives.
GIDDENS: choice and equality
Giddens argues that in recent decades family and marriage have been transformed by greater choice and more equal relationships between genders.
Transformation has occurred because;
🔴 Contraception has allowed sex and Intimacy rather than reproduction.
🔴 Women have gained independence as a result of feminism.
Basis of marriage and the family has changed, Giddens argues that past traditional family relationships were held together by external forces such as laws and by the norms against divorce etc.
In contrast couples today are free to define their relationships themselves, no laws define them.
The pure relationship - GIDDENS
Giddens says what holds a relationship together today is no longer law, religion or social norms. Instead it’s individual choice and equality.
Giddens describes this relationship as ‘pure relationship’ - solely exists to satisfy each partners needs.
Couples stay together because of love, happiness or sexual attraction rather than tradition.
Individuals are free to choose when to leave a relationship whenever they want.
However Giddens notes that with more choice, personal relationships become less stable.
Same sex couples as pioneers - GIDDENS
Giddens sees same sex relationships as leading the way towards new family types and creating a more democratic and equal relationships.
This is because same sex relationships, are not influenced by tradition to the extent that heterosexual relationships are.
This has enabled those in SS relationships to negotiate personal relationships and to actively create family structures that serve their own needs rather than having to conform to pre existing norms.
BECK: The negotiated family
Beck now argues that we live in a ‘risk society’ where tradition has less influence and people have more choice.
This means we are more aware of the risks as we are making the choices.
- in the past people were expected to marry for life and men were expected to be the breadwinners.
-Although the traditional patriarchal family was unequal and oppressive, it provided a stable and predictable basis for family life.
Greater gender equality - challenged domination and women now expect equality at work and marriage.
Greater individualism- people’s actions have more influenced by their self interest.
Negotiated families do not conform to the traditional family norms, but vary according the wishes and expectations of their members
The connectedness thesis - SMART
Sociologists from the personal life perspective propose an alternative to the individualisation thesis - ‘connectedness thesis’
Smart argues that we are fundamentally social beings whose choices are always made ‘within a web of connectedness’
We live within networks of existing relationships that strongly influence our range of options and choices.
Class and gender - SMART
The connectedness thesis also emphasises the role of class and gender structures, these structures limit our choices about the kinds of relationships, identities we can create for ourselves:
🔴After a divorce, gender normals generally dictate that women should have custody of the children, which may limit their opportunity to create new relationships.
🔴Men are better paid than women and this gives them greater freedom and choice in relationships
🔴women lack freedom to choose so may remain trapped in abusive relationships
The power of structures - MAY
May argues that these structures are not disappearing but are simply being reshaped, for example women in the past 150 years have gained important rights in relation to voting, divorce, education etc.
Personal life perspective does not see increased diversity as a result of greater freedom of choose instead emphasise the importance of social structures in shaping the freedom of many people.
Although there is a trend towards greater diversity, structural factors such as patriarchy and class inequality restrict people’s choices
