Identify and explain two reasons for the growth in single parent families in the contemporary UK Flashcards
point 1
Postmodernist argue that a reason for the growth in single parent families is the increase in choice and opportunities individuals have within late modernity.
example 1
Giddens argues that we live in an era called late modernity where people can tailor their partnerships and their families to meet their individual needs and to reflect their own identities. This has lead to an increase in different family types such as single parent families as people now favour them over an unsatisfactory relationship.
explain 1
This shows that there is a growth in single parent families as before late modernity individuals would have less choice so they wouldn’t want to be associated with a single parent family as that wasn’t a norm.
point 2
Now that family options are no longer being constrained by social convention and economic need individuals are more free to decide which family types they want to associate with, which has lead to more people being in single parent families.
example 2
Allan and crow argue there is now ‘far greater diversity in people’s domestic arrangements’, so that there is no longer a clear ‘family cycle’ through which most people pass, they believe this has led to Individuals and families being more able to exercise choice and personal volition over domestic and familial arrangements which has led to more family diversity including an increase in single parent families.
explain 2
This shows that there is a growth in single parent families as people now feel less pressure to be in a normal nuclear family because it’s no longer the social convention.
intro
Single parent families are families consisting of only the mother or the father and one or more dependent children, in recent years there has been an increase in the number of them and now there are approximately 1.75 million single parent families in Britain making up about 25% of all families.
