Family Diversity Flashcards
1
Q
What do post modernists say about social class and family diversity?
A
- social class no longer shapes family life and personal relationships
- individuals have more freedom of choice about how they organise their personal lives
2
Q
What did Crompton (2005) say about social class and family diversity?
A
- the family ensures the process of class reproduction
- this is the idea that most children follow their parents into a similar class position in society
- wealthier parents can pass on money, family businesses or invest in their children’s education, giving them an advantage
- cultural differences are also important as middle class parents often possess what Bourdieu (1973) calls cultural capital - which is forms of cultural knowledge that can help children to do well in education and fit in better in the higher levels of society
3
Q
Why are children living in poverty likely to be disadvantaged?
A
- insufficient income to ensure a decent standard of housing, diet and access to leisure activities
- Katz et al (2007) suggests the stress of living in poverty may make it more difficult for parents living in poverty to bring up children effectively
- however, there is also evidence to show most parents living in poverty are remarkably resilient and have strong coping skills
4
Q
What is ethnicity and family diversity?
A
- ethnicity can be seen as another way in which family life is structured by individuals belonging to social groups as family life is not determined by etgnicity
- this questions the view that personal relationships are based on total freedom of choice
- however, there is also evidence that the cultural values associated within different ethnic minorities in the UK influence the way people within them organise their families
5
Q
What are south Asian families?
A
- comprises a diverse set of ethnic groups with most Indians being Hindu or Sikh and most Pakistanis and Bangladeshis identifying as Muslims
- languages such as Urdu and Punjabi being spoken in many different British Pakistani homes and Gujarati and Hindi in British Indian homes
6
Q
What did Ballard (1990) say about South Asian family values?
A
- when south Asian migrants first settled in the UK in large numbers from the 1950s onwards, they tended to bring traditions of family life from their countries
- like a preference for large multi generational households based around a man and his sons and grandsons with their wives and unmarried daughters
- traditional gender roles, with men being the main wage earners and women focusing on work domestically
- a strong sense of obligation towards other family members which should override the personal needs of individuals
- a sense of family honour, whereby the behaviour of individuals reflects on the family as a whole
- a preference for marriages to be arranged or at least approved by parents, as marriage involves not just a relationship between two individuals but between two families
7
Q
How are south Asian families changing?
A
- younger generations expect more choice in their marriage partners and most south Asian households are now based around nuclear families rather than extended families
- levels of divorce and lone parenthood are starting to increase
8
Q
What are African-Caribbean families?
A
- Caribbean immigrants brought very different traditions of family life when they migrated to Britain from the 1950s onwards
- in some of the Caribbean islands, such as Jamaica, the nuclear family is the norm but there is also a strong traction of mother-centred families
- these are often lone-parent families headed by women, but they also often entail mothers bringing up children with assistance from grandmothers and aunts
- while cohabitation has become more acceptable in the British white population in recent decades, common-law families that involve couples cohabiting and bringing up children who may or may not be their own biological offspring have been a long established pattern in many parts of the Caribbean
9
Q
What did Beeston (1997) say about the patterns of African-Caribbean families and households?
A
- they found much lower rates of formal marriage among British African-Caribbeans and higher rates of divorce and separation
- this means that lone-parent families are separation
- this means that lone-parent families are more common among African-Caribbeans than other ethnic groups
- also while rates of employment are lower among Pakistani and Asian mothers than whites, they are higher among African-Caribbean mothers, reflecting a tradition of female independence in the black community
10
Q
What does Chamberlain (1999) say about lone parenthood in British African-Caribbean families?
A
-she found that extended family members, especially brothers and sisters, often provide support to lone parents
11
Q
What did Berthoud (2001) say about patterns of diversity?
A
- he suggested that families in the UK can be placed on a scale ranging from old fashioned values to modern individualism
- Berthoud argues that when considering the main ethnic groups in the UK African-Caribbean communities are furthest along the road to individualism, even more so than whites, while south Asian communities - especially Pakistanis and Bangladeshis - tend to maintain more traditional family values
12
Q
What does Mann (2009) say about patterns of ethnicity?
A
- he criticises Berthounds argument
- he argues that aspects of British African-Caribbean family life such as lone parenthood, cohabitation and childbearing outside marriage actually reflect patterns that are traditional in many parts of the Caribbean
- this tends to question the idea that African-Caribbean families represent a form of modern individualism
13
Q
What does Giddens say about sexuality and family diversity?
A
- same sex relationships has lead to the emergence of new types of families and intimate relationships
- this is seen as part of a transformation of intimacy whereby individuals have much greater freedom to choose what kinds of intimate relationships they engage in
14
Q
What does Weeks et al (1999) say about sexuality and family diversity?
A
-they observe that many gay and lesbian people describe their households and even friendship networks as chosen families because, rather than following traditional heterosexual norms, that are able to choose who to include their families and negotiate much more egalitarian relationships
15
Q
What does the feminist sociologist Calhoun (1997) say about sexuality and family diversity?
A
- Calhoun argues that gay men and lesbians have traditionally been treated as family outlaws who threaten family life
- she argues that as modern life has come to be characterised by greater choice, so gay and lesbian lifestyles have become more accepted
- in fact she goes further and suggests that lesbian marriage and mothering avoids the exploitative relationships typical of heterosexual marriage
- in developing new forms of chosen and egalitarian domestic relationships, lesbian families may be pointing thaw way for other types of families in the future
