Post modernism and the family

Question 1

Postmodernist view

Answer 1

Family life characterised by diversity and nuclear family is no longer the norm.

Question 2

Giddens 1

Answer 2

Reflexivity and family life:
Argues that life is based on reflexivity. This means that individuals are constantly questioning what they are doing in life and reflect on possible alternatives. As a result, individuals have greater choice about their lives in general and how they could construct their own domestic arrangements. The nuclear family has become another option rather than a social norm.

Question 3

Giddens 2

Answer 3

Confluent love – ‘pure’ relationship:
Giddens sees intimate relationships as more fluid and open.The idea of romantic love has been replaced by confluent love. This is based on a deep emotional intimacy, where partners reveal their needs and concerns to each other. Couples today seek what Giddens calls a ‘pure’ relationship. This means a relationship that is pursued for its own sake. Individuals only stay in relationships while their emotional needs are being fulfilled and will likely look for love elsewhere when they are no longer satisfied.

Question 4

Beck and Beck 1

Answer 4

Beck argues that we live in a risk society based on the construction of lifestyles and identities which are based on the avoidance of risk. Personal relationships reflect this, as for some people, the commitment of marriage or having children has presented too much risk and so they opt for less risky relationships such as cohabiting or living apart together or staying single.

Question 5

Beck and Beck 2

Answer 5

Individualisation: Individuals are no longer tied to fixed roles or identities as they were in the past and so are able to make choice and have more freedom in their lives which leads to diverse families and other alternatives.

Question 6

Bernardes:

Answer 6

Argues that families have a number of characteristics. There is choice, in which individuals can choose from a variety of family types and forms of personal relationships. There is freedom in which individuals are no longer constrained by traditional norms. There is diversity as families no longer conform to a single type. There is ambivalence as there is no longer any certainty about what is normal and correct and there is fluidity because families and relationships are not fixed but rather they are constantly changing.

Question 7

Evaluation

Answer 7

Chester - neo-conventional family:
Robert Chester argues that families that do not fit the nuclear model are only a minority. Most people still aspired to bring up children in a two-parent family. Many families that are not nuclear families are based on the nuclear model and there are many variations of the theme of the nuclear family.

Study 2: Gittins: Ideology of nuclear family still exists:
consensus that the nuclear family is the normal family type is only maintained through the powerful ideology of the nuclear family and so remains the norm.
Cereal packet family:

Edmund Leach (1967) called this image the cereal packet family as it portrays happy families where gender roles are present in advertisements for products. These families are not real but portray what family life should be like and so the reality of family may have changed but the ideology that supports the nuclear family as normal is still powerful.