Family Diverstiy 10F Flashcards
What is the dominant/ typical family type
Nuclear family
What does the official social trends from 2013 show ?
Between 1971 and 2013 (40 years) the average British nuclear family, has become smaller and there has been a decreased on the number of nuclear families
What does Rapoports study show ?
- Brought attention to the steady decline of the nuclear family, as well as the idea of family diversity
- the conventional family no longer makes up a majority of households
- identified 5 distinct elements of family diversity:
1) organisational diversity - how roles are organised Eg: who earns a wage
2) cultural diversity - different structure for cultural, religious, ethnic groups
3) social class diversity - different classes have different family structures, roles
4) life course diversity - experience living in different family structures throughout life
5) generational diversity - older and younger generations have different attitudes and experiences
How has decline in birth and death rates increased family diversity ?
- Leads to more ‘child free’ individuals and couples.
- creates smaller families
- larger extended families as people are living longer
- creates a beanpole family
How has the effects of changing social attitudes and norms increased family diversity ?
More liberal attitudes to sex outside of marriage
Divorce and remaining single more normalised
How has secularisation caused an increase in family diversity?
The churches views hold less significance to the population meaning there is more divorce, single parents, reconstituted families
How has welfare support from the state increased family diversity ?
- Now more benefits and support for single parents, allowing for this family type
- however the new right believes this encourages family breakdown
Whyat are the different types of family diversity ?
- ethnic and cultural diversity
- reconstituted family
- lone parent families
- single person households
- extended families today
- beanpole family
- dual income families
- living apart together
- same sex families
- social class diversity
Explain south Asian families
- Bangladeshi, Pakistani, and Indian households tend to be larger than those from other ethnic groups
- some contain extended kin but most are nuclear families
- large households are a result of the younger age profile of British Asians, since a higher proportion are in the childbearing age groups compared to the population as a whole
What did Ballard find?
- Extended family ties provide an important source of support among Asian migrants during the 1950’s and 60’s
- extended family is often more highly valued in these communities and relatives often live nearby
Explain African-Caribbean families
- Black Caribbean and Black African communities have a higher proportion of lone parent families
- Mirza: the high rate of lone parents reflect the high value that black women place on independence
Explain reconstituted families
- When families contain children from previous relationships, usually result of death or divorce
- these family types are on the increase as the rate of divorce and remarriage are increasing. Known to have several long term partners within one lifetime ‘serial monogomy’
- whilst there may be tensions between the new families combining, the merge could teach any children a new cultural way of living and may benefit them intellectually
Explain lone parent families
- one parent and their child/children
- parent is normally female ~ owing to the rise in divorce and single by choice mothers
- male headed families are now increasing, although it is still usual for courts to give custody to mothers for many reasons: greater belief women are more suited to the nurturing role, men may be less willing to give up work to care for children
- approx 15% of families are lone parents
What effects do lone parent families have on society and children
- Children in single parent families are more likely to have their own marriages end in divorce/separation
- after divorce mothers income tends to drop to 1/3 of that of a married couple, meaning they can’t sufficiently provide
- new right & Murray critical of single parent families saying they lead to problems in society such as educational failure and crime
Explain single person households
- Growing household type in the UK
- Most common amongst the elderly, but now being found in younger age groups
Causes of single parent households
- growing independence of women
-increase life expectancy/ ageing population - increase in those going to university
- people marry later
- fear of marriage
- increase in divorce/separation
- change in values and perception
What does Jon Bernades say about single person households
There are strong social pressures discouraging people from remaining single because society portrays marriage as the ideal state
Explain extended families
- Extended family decline during industrialisation
- provide childcare for working parents
- Charles found that in the Swansea area was ‘all but extinct’ with the only exception of the Bangladeshi community
What does Willmott say about the extended family
This family type DOES continue to exist as a ‘dispersed extended family’ where members do not live together but have frequent contact
What does Mason say about extended families
Found that women who gave help to care for elderly relatives depended on obligations the women felt towards the relatives and what other responsibilities they have that would give them ‘legitimate excuses’ not to be involved
Explain the beanpole family
- long and thin, extended vertically through three or more generations (grandparents, parents, children) but isn’t extended horizontally (doesn’t include aunts, uncles)
- this is because people are living longer and are having smaller family sizes (fewer brothers and sisters)
Explain dual income families
- Couples who both work full time therefore increase their standard of living
- different from the traditional model of the family where the male is the breadwinner
Explain Living Apart Together
- couple is together but live separately from each other
- 1/10 people are LATs
- suggests a trend towards less formalised relationships and “families of choice”
Explain same sex families
- increasing number of households
- more likely to have equal roles in the family compared to straight couples
- increasing number of these families are now having children
- civil partnerships were legalised in 2004, marriage in 2014
- Weeks says same sex couples create families based on ‘kin’s of friendship’ where friendships become your family
Explain social class diversity
- low income families more likely to live in overcrowded or substandard housing, less likely to own a car or take holidays
- lower class families more likely to divorce due to stresses caused by things like money worries
- middle class families more likely to have balanced between husbands and wives , than working class who may have traditional roles
What do functionalists say about family diversity
- See the nuclear family as natural and ideal as it fits the needs of a modern society
- the expressive and instrumental roles are natural ones
What do feminists say about family diversity ?
- Liberating force for women, opens up choice (Gittins)
- creates new opportunities for men Eg: being a househusband
- diversity allows us to criticise the “family ideology” that one type of family is better or superior
What do the new right say about family diversity ?
- threat to society as it undermines the traditional nuclear family
- family is in a state of crisis: too much divorce, cohabitation and children born out of wedlock. Causing welfare dependency which leads to crime and educational failure
