Family: Postmodernism Flashcards
Ulrich Beck
Indiviudalisaton - people make up the rules of family life as they go
negotiated family - lot more freedom to negtiate what you want the family to be
Risk society - so many choices in our relationships that we weigh up the risk and make our own decisons. we dont have to follow traditions anymore
Giddens - Plastic sexuality
sex has become less associated with child-rearing and marriage. Changed from a duty and obligation to a pleasure. Sex has become a type of leisure pursuit, people fulful their own desires for sex, pleasure
Giddens - Pure relationship
romantic love replaced by Confluent love - love only lasts as long as it works for both people, and once the honeymoon phase is over you move on to a new relationsuop.
Pure relationshops based on active choice of partners, until furhter notice.
giddens argyes this is more equal than previous relationships but also acknowledges abuse can occur
Fisher
argues serial monogamy is the new norm
Jamieson
Disagrees with Giddens - little evidence the pure relaitonship is widespread. Gender inequality still makes it difficult or women to gain equality in sexual relationships with men
Beck and Beck-Gernsheim
Normal Chaos of Love - love is increasingly desired to provide security in an unstable world, but it is increasily harder to find and sustain.
The desire to fulfil our individual needs and wants makes it hard to find common ground in a relationshop
Relationshops and marriage are now based on risk and uncertainty - risk society
Stacey
No longer one dominant family type - famlies have become so diverse. we need to accept this and not force people to fit a mold
Greater choice has freed women from patriarchal opression
Stacey - Silicon valley
Through case studies conducted in Silicon Valley, California she found that women rather than men are the driving force behind changes in the family.
She discovered that many women rejected the traditional housewife role and had chosen extremely varied life paths (some choosing to return to education, becoming career women, divorcing and remarrying).
Stacey - Divorce extended family
Divorce extended family - connected by divorce rather than marriage, eg ex in laws, step family
Sue Sharpe study
interviewed girls in the 70s and the 90s, and compared how their attitudes to education and their priorities in work and marriage changed.
1976: ‘love, marriage, husbands and career, more or less in that order
But by 1996: ‘Job, career and being able to support themselves’. Girls became more confident, assertive, ambitious and more committed to gender equality.
Girl Guide study
found women were more likely to define success as being confident and independent (56%) rather than being married (21%).
Stacey - Gay families
Children raised in gay/lesbian families less likely to be bigoted, homophobic. Disocurages intolerance of different families.
Rich
Gay and lesbian families allow people more freedom to develop their sexuality free from compulsory heterosexuality
Fitzgerald
Found that relationship between parent and child is more important than parents’ sexuality.
Redwood
New right disagrees, reactionary, traditonal values are undermined by gay marriage.
Redwood: Natural state is husband, wife and children
Cheal
Individuals can choose their own course in life. Family diversity has increased.
Society is no longer predictable
Secularisation of society
Pro same sex parenting.
Chester
disagrees with Cheal: most people still choose the nuclear family. argues postmodern sociologists exaggerate family diversity - nuclear family is still domonant and aspirational
only change has been the Neo-conventional family - both spouses play the instrumental role
Weeks
highlights increased diversity and difference in the family
pro same sex parenting
family is socially constructed - idea created and given meaning by society
Morgan
It is pointless to make large scale generalisations about family, as evrone’’s expeirence is different
Murdock
Disagrees with diversity - Studied 250 society of various types and concluded the nuclear family was a universal social unit
Robert and Rhona Rapaport
5 tupes of family diversity:
ORGANISATIONAL DIVERSITY - the many different ways in which modern families are organised - instrumental/expressive role, who is the breadwinner
CULTURAL DIVERSITY - different cultures have different family structure eg Asian families tend to have more extended families, Caribbean families more female headed families.
SOCIAL CLASS DIVERSITY - class diffeences in raising children and family: eg working class families tend to be more traditional and male dominated, middle class ones more equal.
LIFE STAGE DIVERSITY - the family changes according to the stage of the family in life eg couples with young children are different to elderly couples whose children have left home.
GENERATIONAL DIVERSITY - younger people are more likely to cohabit and accept same sex relationships than older ones.