Family diversity Flashcards
The Rapoports…
Sociologists, such as the Rapoports, argue that Britain is no longer dominated by one family type and are epitomised by diversity.
They argue that we should be celebrating family diversity – there now exists a greater choice and variety than ever before in terms of family lifestyles.
Family life in Britain is made up of the conventional nuclear family, cohabiting couples with children, the single-parent family and the reconstituted family. Bear in mind that the reconstituted family is also referred to as a ‘blended family’ or as a ‘step family’.
The reconstituted family…
The reconstituted family is often made up of divorced or widowed people who have remarried and their children from the previous marriage. Such families are on the increase because of divorce, e.g. one in 15 families are stepfamilies; one in 12 children were living in them in 1991.
Reconstituted families, and especially children within them, are likely to have close ties with the families of previous partners.
Children may be pulled in two directions and have tense relationships with their step-parents. These families may be further complicated if the parents decide to have children of their own. Family life, therefore, may be experienced quite differently from that experienced in a conventional nuclear family unit.
Are households always families?…
The Rapoports note that families are households, but households are not necessarily families (though some will evolve into families or may have evolved out of them), e.g. ‘married couple only’ households.
There is also evidence that single-person households are increasing and accounted for about 30% of all households in 2010. Surveys suggest that an increasing number of young, professional women are electing to live alone.
Ethnic origins…
There are distinct differences in the lifestyles of families with different ethnic origins and religious beliefs.
Britain is now a multicultural society in that about 14% of the population is from an ethnic minority background.
Asian family life is diverse and depends on a wide range of factors such as religion, presence of extended kin and cultural beliefs.
We have seen a great deal of inter-marriage between Whites, African-Caribbeans and Chinese, which has resulted in a dramatic increase in mixed-race children.
Kinship…
Diversity also exists in patterns of kinship. Some modern nuclear families are ‘privatised’ and ‘relatively isolated’ from kin.
However, most are part of a ‘modified extended family’ set-up where nuclear family members still feel obliged to kin and offer emotional and material support in times of crisis.
Studies also suggest that extended ties are important to the upper class in their attempt to maintain wealth and privilege.
Same-sex couples…
The number of same-sex couples who are cohabiting is increasing and it has become a trend for such couples to have families through adoption, artificial insemination and surrogacy.
In 1999, the law lords ruled that homosexual couples can be legally defined as a family and the government has now introduced same-sex civil partnerships (a type of marriage) which means that same-sex partners have similar rights to heterosexual married couples, with regard to inheritance (e.g. of property and pensions) and next of kin status.
Eversley and Bonnerjea…
Eversley and Bonnerjea note geographical variations in family life, e.g. that seaside areas have large concentrations of elderly couples and single-person households, whilst inner-city areas see large numbers of single-parent families, reconstituted families and ethnic minority families.
Traditional working class areas see more extended families, whilst the affluent southeast sees a greater proportion of nuclear families.
Division of labour…
Diversity can be seen in the internal division of labour within families.
The Rapoports argue that most nuclear families in Britain are now dual-career families.
Some women will have responsibility for the bulk of child-care and housework. Others may have negotiated a greater, perhaps even equal, input from men in the domestic sphere.
The media are fond of announcing the appearance of the so-called New Man. Others may have found husbands who are happy to reverse traditional roles and become house-husbands.
Feminism…
The impact of feminism on the home. It is argued that this has led to the introduction of equal opportunities and equal pay legislation which have distracted women from their ‘natural’ careers as mothers.
The New Right claims that there have been few tax or benefit policies aimed at encouraging mothers to stay at home with their children.
The New Right argue that feminism has led to gender confusion about family roles and a corresponding rise in divorce and the number of single-parent families.
Working-class mothers…
It is also suggested that working mothers are responsible for social problems, such as juvenile delinquency and anti-social behaviour, because children no longer experience long-term nurturing and socialisation from their mothers who are out at work.
The New Right therefore claim that generations of children have been psychologically ‘damaged’ by maternal deprivation.
Sexual promiscuity…
The New Right claims that sexual permissiveness and promiscuity is on the increase and the cause of a moral decay in society.
New Right writers argue that government social policy has actually encouraged this decline in morality by decriminalising homosexuality and abortion, making the contraceptive pill freely available on the National Health Service (NHS), making divorce easier through the Divorce Reform Act (1969) and by not doing enough to promote marriage over cohabitation.
Critiques…
The Rapoports are very critical of the New Right’s insistence that there only exists one ideal family type.
They note that in 1994 only 20% of nuclear families contained a division of labour, in which the father was the sole breadwinner and the mother was exclusively the home-maker/childcarer.
The Rapoports argue that family life in Britain is characterised by a range of family types which reflect the plurality of British society.
Negative impacts on societal laws and policies…
:( Tax and welfare policies have generally favoured and encouraged the heterosexual married couple rather than cohabiting couples, single parents and same-sex couples. Allan (1985) goes so far as to suggest that these policies have actively discouraged cohabitation and single-parent families.
:( Social policies such as the payment of child benefit to the mother, and the lack of free universal nursery care, has reinforced the idea that women should take prime responsibility for children.
:( Expectant mothers receive paid maternity leave for six months and unpaid leave for twelve months. In contrast, fathers only receive two weeks paid paternity leave. Bear in mind that social policies change over time as incoming governments introduce new policies or modify existing ones. It is important to keep up-to-date with key policy change by reading the quality press.
:( The Community Care Act (1990) encourages families and voluntary agencies to have a greater involvement in the care of the elderly and sick. This has placed an increased burden on women who are often the ones who take on responsibility for the sick, the elderly and disabled relatives who would once have been given free residential care. Less state assistance is given to elderly people who live with their relatives.
:( School hours and school holidays may make it difficult for women to find compatible employment outside the home.
:( The best and most desirable council and private housing is designed for two parent families.
Family diversity and the Labour movement…
The Labour government of 1997–2010 recognised that there are few families in the twenty-first century which have exclusively a male breadwinner. Most families rely on two incomes and most women work (albeit often part-time). Lewis notes that Labour:
> invested in subsidies for nursery child-care
> lengthened maternity care from 14 weeks to nine months
> almost doubled maternity pay
> introduced the right for parents of young children to ask for flexible working patterns from their employers.
However, this explicit family policy has attracted New Right criticism that Labour had constructed a nanny state which over-interferes in personal living arrangements. Feminists too were critical of Labour social policy which they felt emphasised motherhood, rather than fatherhood or parenting in general.
Feminists…
Many prominent feminists, such as de Beauvoir (1953) and Greer (1971), have claimed that nuclear family ideology is merely patriarchal ideology – a set of ideas deliberately encouraged by men because it ensures their dominance in the fields of work, economics and politics. Family ideology is used to tie women to men, marriage and children and consequently females do not enjoy the same opportunities as men.
