Key Concepts - Family & Household ( Topic 1) Flashcards
What is a family?
Family is a social group characterised by common residence, economic co-operation and reproduction.
It includes adults of both sexes, one or more children. Co-habiting adults
What is a household?
Group of people who live together at the same address. (Does not need to be related)
What is a nuclear family?
One father, mother and one or more children. (Biological or adopted)
What is an extended family?
Families that include kin (relatives) beyond the nuclear family.
What are lone-parent families?
Where at least one child lives with just one parent.
What is a reconstituted family?
Where a couple come together and form a family including at least one child from partner from previous relationship
Number of reconstituted family
544,000 with dependent children
Describe Grant (2006) - Reconstituted families and stepfathers
More likely for men to be living with other men’s children while their own children grow up elsewhere
Same-sex families ONS (2013)
Same sex marriage legislation
8000 civil partnerships and 5000 same sex with children
Guasp (2010) - Children in same-sex families (Same-sex families)
A lot closer to their family than others
Tend not to see their families as being different to those of their peers
Number of households in the UK consisting of one person living alone
7.8 Million households (2013)
An increase from 7.2 million in 2003
Klinenberg (2013) - Living alone
3 Key characteristics
- Cult of the individual
- Individual focuses on themselves, doesn’t conform to what society expects such as having children - Communication revolution
- Achieve pleasures of a social life even when they are living alone. (email, technology) - Ageing population
- Likely to be divorced or widowed in old age. Elderly women ten to live alone because they have a longer life expectancy compared to men
Paul and Spencer (2013) - Living with friends (non-family households)
Importance of non-family households makes the concept of family obsolete
people more likely to be apart of personal communities
friendship networks and households now function as if they were families.
Roseneil and Budgeon (2004) - Breaking down the heteronorm
- Friends are replacing the family e.g. emotional relationships more common with friends than family
- Common for heterosexuals to have intimate relationship with gay people. e.g. gay people as ‘significant other’
(close bonds with people you don’t have sex with) - Breakdown of heteronorm - means the disappearance of living with the person of the opposite sex.
What does obsolete?
Not valid, Unnecessary, not relevant
