Family Diversity

Question 1

What is the functionalist view?

Answer 1

Parsons: The nuclear family is best and all other family types are dysfunctional and less suited to perform the functions needed today

Question 2

Which functionalist commented?

Answer 2

Parsons

Question 3

What is the New Right view?

Answer 3

The nuclear family is best with traditional gender roles that are based on biological differences.
Lone parent families are harmful as they can’t provide for their children and don’t give them appropriate role models

Question 4

How do the New Right see cohabitation compared to marriage?

Answer 4

Marriage is more stable as it requires deliberate commitment
Family diversity undermines the conventional family
Benson: The state needs to encourage couples to marry

Question 5

What does Benson argue?

Answer 5

Family breakdown is highest before the baby is 3, less if the couple is married
The state needs to encourage couples to marry

Question 6

What kind of sociologist is Benson?

Answer 6

New Right

Question 7

How is the New Right comparision of cohabitation and marriage criticised?

Answer 7

Oakley: Roles not fixed by biology
Feminists: Nuclear family based on patriarchial opression
No evidence children in lone parent families are delinquant
Cohabitation depends on the meanings people give
Cohabitation breakdown higher in poor areas so poverty may cause it

Question 8

How does Oakley criticise the New Right comparision of cohabitation and marriage?

Answer 8

The roles of spouses are not fixed by biology and are socially constructed. It is a negative reaction to feminism

Question 9

How does feminists criticise the New Right comparision of cohabitation and marriage?

Answer 9

The nuclear family is based on patriarchial opression and keeps women financially dependant on men.

Question 10

Which sociologist identifyed the neo-conventional family?

Answer 10

Chester

Question 11

What is the neo-conventional family?

Answer 11

Due-earner married couple

Question 12

What patterns does Chester identify that show the nuclear family is still ideal?

Answer 12

Statistics are misleading
Young people have yet to marry
Most people live in a family headed by a married couple
Most children reared by their natural parents
Most people who are divorced get remarried
Cohabitation is a temporary phase before marriage
Children are still jointly registered

Question 13

What five types of diversity do the Rapoports identify?

Answer 13

Organisational
Cultural
Social class
Life stage
Generational

Question 14

What is organisational diversity?

Answer 14

Diversity in the way family roles are organised such as joint or seperate conjugal roles

Question 15

What is cultural diversity?

Answer 15

How different cultural and ethnic groups have different structures

Question 16

What is social class diversity?

Answer 16

How different classes have different structures due to income

Question 17

What is life stage diversity?

Answer 17

At different stages of life, family roles are organised differently. The nuclear family is less commn with older people as their spouse is dead

Question 18

What is generational diversity?

Answer 18

Older and younger people have different attitudes towards the family

Question 19

What is said about postmodernism and family diversity?

Answer 19

Chea says society is not orderly and predictable so there is no dominant family type. People have more freedom to plot their own life course but this also increases instability

Question 20

What does Stacey say about postmodern families?

Answer 20

It has benifited women and let them free themselves from patriarchial opression. Women have been the main agents of change.
Rise of divorce-extended families shows families change shape depending on needs
Morgan: Can’t generalise

Question 21

What does Morgan note about postmodern families?

Answer 21

It’s impossible to generalise

Question 22

Which sociologists came up with individualisation thesis?

Answer 22

Gidddens and Beck

Question 23

What is the individualisation thesis?

Answer 23

Giddens and Beck argue social structures have lost influance and there are fewer fixed rules for people to follow so they construct their own way.

Question 24

What does Giddens say about choice and equality?

Answer 24

There is more equality and greater choice for women due to the rise in contraception so intamacy is the main reason why relationships excist.
Less external forces on a relationship so there are more pure relationships