Family diversity Flashcards
What family type does Parson like?
Nuclear family with a division of labour between husband and wife.
- other family types can be considered as dysfunctional, abnormal or even deviant > less able to perform the functions of nuclear family
What perspective do the New Right have on the family?
- Have a conservative and anti-feminist perspective on the family. They are firmly opposed to family diversity.
- Traditional conventional nuclear family: married couple, dependent children w a clear cut division of labour between the breadwinner husband and house maker wife
What do The New Right see the Traditional conventional nuclear family as?
- ‘Natural’ and based on fundamental biological differences between men and women. Family is the cornerstone of society.
What changes in family patterns do the New Right oppose?
Cohabitation, gay marriage and lone parenthood
What do they argue that the decline of the traditional nuclear family and the growth of family diversity are the cause of?
Many social problems.
Why are the New Right are concerned about the growth of lone-parent families?
They see as resulting from the breakdown of couple relationships
How do the New Right see lone-parent families as harmful to children?
They argue that:
- Lone mothers cannot discipline their children properly.
- Lone-parent families leave boys without an adult male role model, resulting in educational failure, delinquency and social instability.
- Such families are also likely to be poorer and thus a burden on the welfare state and taxpayers.
What do the The New Right claim that the main cause of lone-parent families is?
The collapse of relationships between cohabiting couple.
What did Benson (2006) find into his study of lone parent families?
He found that, over the first three years of the baby’s life, the rate of family breakdown was much higher among cohabiting couples.
- 20%, compared with only 6% among married couples. More stable when married.
In the New Right view what can only provide a stable environment in which to bring up children?
Marriage.
In Benson’s view why is marriage is more stable?
It requires a deliberate commitment to each other, whereas cohabitation allows partners to avoid commitment and responsibility.
What do the New Right thinkers argue that only a return to ‘traditional values’, including the value of marriage can prevent?
Social disintegration and damage to children.
What do the New Right thinkers regard laws and policies such as easy access to divorce, gay marriage and widespread availability of welfare benefits as?
Undermining the conventional family.
What does Benson therefore argues that government needs to do?
Encourage couples to marry by means of policies that support marriage
How does Oakley (1997) criticise the New Right?
- Oakley (1997) argues that the New Right wrongly assume that husbands and wives’ roles are fixed by biology.
- Cross-cultural studies show great variation in the roles men and women perform within the family.
-Oakley believes that the New Right view of the family is a negative reaction against the feminist campaign for women’s equality.
What do other critics of the New Right argue?
There is no evidence that children in lone-parent families are more likely to be delinquent than those brought up in a two-parent family of the same social class.
What is Chester (1985) view?
- Recognises that there has been some increased family diversity in recent years. Doesn’t regard this as very significant, nor does he see it in a negative light.
What does Chester (1985) we families are moving to?
- From the dominance of the traditional or conventional nuclear family, to what he describes as the ‘neo-conventional family’.
What does conventional family mean?
Division of labour between a male breadwinner and a female homemaker.
What does neo-conventional family mean?
- Neo-conventional family as a dual-earner family in which both spouses go out to work and not just the husband.
- This is similar to the symmetrical family described by Young and Willmott
What does Chester (1985) that people are doing now?
- He argues that most people are not choosing to live in alternatives to the nuclear family (such as lone-parent families) on a long-term basis, and the nuclear family remains the ideal to which most people aspire.
Why does Chester (1985) argue that people are not part of a nuclear family at any one time?
- Largely due to the life cycle.
- Many of the people who are currently living in a one-person household, such as elderly widows, divorced men or young people who have not yet married, were either part of a nuclear family in the past or will be in the future.
Why does Chester (1985) argue statistics on household composition are thus misleading?
They are merely a snapshot of a single moment in time. They don’t show us the fact that most people will spend a major part of their lives in a nuclear family.
What number of patterns does Chester as evidence of his view that little has changed?
- Most people live in a household headed by a married couple
- Most marriages continue until death, Divorce has increased, but most divorcees remarry.
- Cohabitation has increased, but for most couples it is a temporary phase before marrying or re-marrying. Most couples get married if they have children.
What family type does Chester see as dominant?
Nuclear family
What is the only important difference between Chester’s view and that of the functionalists?
Chester sees a change from a conventional to a neo-conventional nuclear family where both spouses play an ‘instrumental’ or breadwinner role.
What do the Rapoports (1982) argue about diversity?
Diversity is of central importance in understanding family life today.
What do the Rapoports believe?
- We have moved away from the traditional nuclear family as the dominant family type, to a range of different types.
What do the Rapoports argue that families in Britain have adapted to what society?
A pluralistic society - that is, one in which cultures and lifestyles are more diverse.
In the Rapoport’s view what does family diversity reflect?
Reflects greater freedom of choice and the widespread acceptance of different cultures and ways of life in today’s society.
Unlike the New Right, What do the Rapoports see diversity as?
A positive response to people’s different needs and wishes, and not as abnormal or a deviation from the assumed norm of a ‘proper nuclear family.
What are the five different types of family diversity in Britain today according to the Rapoports
- Organisational diversity
- Cultural diversity
- Social class diversity
- Life stage diversity
- Generational diversity
What is Organisational diversity?
- Differences in the ways family roles are organised.
- E.g. some couples have joint conjugal roles and two wage-earners, while others have segregated conjugal roles and one wage-earner.
What is Cultural diversity?
- Different cultural, religious and ethnic groups have different family structures.
E.g. there is a higher proportion of female-headed lone-parent families among African-Caribbean households and a higher proportion of extended families among Asian households.
What is Social class diversity?
- Differences in family structure are partly the result of income differences between households of different social classes. Likewise, there are class differences in child-rearing practices.
What is Life-stage diversity?
- Family structures differ according to the stage reached in the life cycle - E.g. young newlyweds, couples with dependent children, retired couples whose children have grown up and left home, and widows who are living alone.
