PAPER 2 (Families - diversity of contemporary family THEORIES) Flashcards
Giddens
Identified 4 features of modernity:
- Capitalism
- Industrialism
- Surveillance by the state
- Military power
New Right’s concerns about changes in the family:
Think families today are ‘dysfunctional’ and ‘broken’.
Think lone mothers cannot discipline their children properly.
Rodger’s and Pryor (Support the New Right)
Associate divorce with bed wetting, teenage pregnancy, being homeless, etc…
Heatherington
25% of kids in divorced families have serious problems compared with 10% of kids in non-divorced families. However, these are exaggerated.
Robert Chester (Neo-conventional family)
New normal. It is remarkably similar to the old normal. The only difference is now we have a dual earner family.
There isn’t as much diversity as the New Right claims, most people live in a nuclear family.
Harewood
Life-course analysis. Look at the past and future. Most people will live in a nuclear family at some point in their lives.
Organisational diversity (Rapoports)
Difference in ways family roles are organised. E.g. some couples have joint conjugal roles.
Cultural diversity (Rapoports)
Different ethnicities have different family structures. E.g. different attitudes to contraception.
Social class diversity (Rapoports)
Differences in family structure are partly the result of income differences between houses of different social classes.
Laurie & Gershuny (rich families are more equal)
Life-stage diversity (Rapoports)
At different points in your life, your life is organised differently.
Generational diversity (Rapoports)
Attitudes change as to what is ‘normal’ in society.
Stacey (postmodern families)
The traditional nuclear family was oppressive to women. now it’s gone they have more freedom.
Giddens (Postmodernist) - Choice and equality.
Family and marriage have been transformed by greater choice and more equal relationships. Contraception has allowed sex and intimacy rather than reproduction to become the main reason for relationships. Women have gained independence because of feminism and education.
Beck (Postmodernist) - The negotiated family.
Originally, we had traditional family roles, the instrumental and expressive role. Now families vary according to the wishes of the family. The negotiated family is less stable than a patriarchal family because individuals are free to leave if their needs are not met causing diversity e.g. lone parent.
Neo-liberalism
Molly Mae - “we all have the same 24 hours”. Believe you can be what you want.
