Interpreting Family Diversity

Question 1

How do New Rights interpret family diversity?

Answer 1

They are firmly opposed to family diversity and they believe in the nuclear family with distinctive gender roles.

Question 2

(New Right) Give an example of a perverse incentive?

Answer 2

Welfare payout rewards undesirable behaviour- for example unmarried mothers are given council flats.

Question 3

(New Right) What does Charles Murray state about lone mothers?

Answer 3

Single mothers can not raise sons adequately. Boys without role modes become delinquents and father abandoned children of their own . This results in a permanently unemployed underclass.

Question 4

Give 4 criticisms of the New Right?

Answer 4

1) It is an idealised view of the past
2) Feminist argue that the New Right is sexists
3) Simplistic and outdated
4) It is not really a theory

Question 5

What do post modernist believe that society is characterised by? (4)

Answer 5

1) globalisation
2) consumerism
3) choice
4) individualism

Question 6

What do post modernist believe when addressing family diversity?

Answer 6

1) There is wider range of living options today, such as flexibility is a good thing but does lead to a certain risk consciousness.
2) Adults negotiate their marital roles and change them to suit their individual needs
3) Modern people look for the perfect partner-the soulmate
4) Modern relationships are much less stable than they used to be

Question 7

What are the 6 different postmodernist who argue about family diversity?

Answer 7

1) The Rapoports
2) Anthony Giddens
3) Ulrich Beck
4) Judith Stacey
5) Jeffrey Weeks
6) Robert Chester

Question 8

What do the Rapoports says about diversity?

Answer 8

Diversity is the key to understanding the family today. Society is no longer dominated by the nuclear family structure. People are now free to choose the family structure that best suits their needs.

Question 9

What are the 5 types of diversity according to the Rapoports?

Answer 9

1) Organisational Diversity (joint/segregated conjugal roles)
2) Life stage diversity(newlywed, young family retired couple)
3) Cultural Diversity
4) Social class diversity
5) Generational diversity (attitudes changes between young an old)

Question 10

What did Anthony Giddens say about family and marriage?

Answer 10

They have both been transformed in recent years. Relationships are increasingly equal between partners mainly due to contraception and changes in the women’s independence. As a result, couples are now free to define their relationships as it suits them-whether to marry or cohabit,for example.

Question 11

What is a ‘pure relationship’ according to Anthony Giddens?

Answer 11

Relationships now only exists only so ong as they meet the needs of the couple. This is a pure relationship based on fulfilling the needs of the couple,not on tradition or duty.
-If people feel they are no longer happy or in love, the relationship will now end. ,modern relationships are therefore much less stable than they used to.

Question 12

Which sociologists said that ‘people have more choice now as tradition has a less influence’?

Answer 12

Ulrich Beck

Question 13

What is a ‘risk consciousness’ according to Ulrich Beck?

Answer 13

People make life choices by calculating the risks and rewards of different courses of action. This means the traditional family is being replaced by a negotiated family. Coupes decide what is best for themselves and negotiate the roles each will pay. This makes the family much more unstable than it used to be.

Question 14

Which sociologist talks about divorce-extended family-?

Answer 14

Judith Stacey

Question 15

What did Judith Stacey argue?

Answer 15

Women have been the main agents for social change in creating family diversity. By rejecting traditional housewife roles, progression in education and taking advantage of the changing job market,women have created family diversity.

Question 16

(Judith Stacey) What percentage of divorces are filed by women, yet women often maintain close relationships with ex-in laws, or creating new support networks with the new partners of their ex-husband.

Answer 16

70%

Question 17

Which sociologist states ‘Family diversity is here to stay . You can disagree with it as much as you like, but it is impossible to turn back tot he clock.’?

Answer 17

Jefrey Weeks

Question 18

What did Jefrey Weeks say about women becoming educated?

Answer 18

Women are now educated, independent and interested in having careers. They will never return to the poorly educated, financially dependent wives they have been through history.
-social attitudes have changed forever.

Question 19

What did Robert Chester state about family diversity?

Answer 19

He recognises that there has been some increased family diversity in recent
years. However, unlike the new right, he does not regard this as very significant, nor does he see it
in a negative light. Chester argues the only important change is a move from the dominance of the
traditional or conventional nuclear family, to what he describes as the ‘neo-conventional’ family.

Question 20

(Robert Chester)Give the definition of the conventional family and neo-conventional family

Answer 20

The Conventional Family – (declining) The Traditional nuclear family with ‘segregated
conjugal roles’ - Male breadwinner and female home-maker
The Neo-Conventional Family (the new norm) – a dual-earner family in which both spouses go
out to work – similar to the symmetrical family of Young and Wilmott

Question 21

(Robert Chester)He argues that many people living alone have been or one day will be part of
the nuclear family. Chester identifies a number of patterns that support his view, what are they?

Answer 21

1)Most children are still reared for most of their lives by their two natural parents
2) Most marriages still continue until death.
3)Cohabitation has increased, but for most couples it is a temporary phase before
marrying.
4) Some ethnic groups are very likely to live in nuclear family households – Pakistani and
Bangladeshi especially.

Question 22

Give 2 criticisms of Post Modernism

Answer 22

1) People don’t really choose to be divorced or a single parent family
2) Robert Chester argues that there is no real family diversity. People continue to live in new versions of the old favourites-the nuclear family. This is the new-conventional family.