Theories on Family Diversity Flashcards
Functionalist [Family Diversity]
OPPOSE
Parsons - only nuclear family is functionally fit for society
New Right [Family Diversity]
OPPOSE
Nuclear family is the only natural family type.
Based on biological differences between men and women. It’s a place of contentment, refuge and harmony.
Damaging for society. Causes social problems such as anti-social behaviour, crime and educational failure.
Lone parent families are harmful. A burden on the welfare state, single mothers lack control over their children and the absence of fathers means a lack of male role models.
Marriage is essential for creating stability, while divorce undermines family stability.
Chester [Family Diversity]
OPPOSES
Nuclear family is the most typical family type.
There is family diversity but it’s exaggerated.
Most people live in a nuclear family and other types are temporary due to the family life cycle.
Statistics show the type of family people live in at one given time but doesn’t show us that most people have or will live in a nuclear family.
The most important change in family life is the move from the conventional nuclear family to the neo-conventional family.
The conventional family – 1950s traditional nuclear family made up of a husband and wife with a segregated division of labour (breadwinner and housewife) and their children.
The neo-conventional family is the modern dual worker family in which both partners work in paid employment.
Individualisation Thesis [Family Diversity]
FOR Giddens and Beck - importance of individual choice on family and relationships. Before, family life and roles were influenced by social factors such as class and gender. [EX, women were expected to marry and become housewives]. Today, greater freedom. People choose how they organise their family life – marriage, children, work, etc. Disembedded from traditional roles. Beck says that standard biography, the pre-set life course people used to follow, has been replaced by do-it-yourself biography where people have a choice of how to live their lives.
Postmodernist - Rapoport & Rapoport [Family Diversity]
FOR
Nuclear family is no longer the main family type in Britain, a range of family types exists. No family is the ‘right’ type, all should be accepted. Increasing family diversity represents freedom of choice and widespread acceptance of different cultures.
There are 5 types of diversity
5 types of diversity
1) Organisational diversity – there are variations in family structure, household type, patterns of kinship and differences in the division of labour in the household.
2) Cultural diversity – different cultural, religious and ethnic groups have different family structures. There are differences in the lifestyles of families of different ethnic origins and religious beliefs.
3) Social class diversity - there are differences between middle and working class families in relation to child-rearing and adult relationships. These are a result of differences in income.
4) Life stage diversity – life cycles. Differences result from the stage at which the family is. For example, newly married couples without children may have a different family life from those with dependent children.
5) Generational diversity - older and younger generations have different attitudes and experiences of family diversity.
Postmodernist - Stacey [Family Diversity]
FOR
Changes in family have been instigated by women. They have taken the advantage of increased equality with men and pursued education and careers.
Also arranged their family life to suit them. EX, choose career over family, choose never to marry, choose to divorce, etc. These choices made by women have lead to family diversity.
New type of family to emerge is the divorce-extended family in which members are connected to each other by divorce, e.g. former daughter and mother in law.
Postmodernist - Giddens [Family Diversity]
FOR
Family transformed by greater choice and equality between men and women.
Result of:
- contraception – intimacy, rather than reproduction, has become the main reason for relationships
- women have greater equality with men due to the feminist movement and opportunities in education and employment.
Pure relationship - couple choose own family structure based on needs and wants. Stay together as long as those are met, rather than due to tradition.
Family diversity leads to freedom of choice, but also to greater instability
Generational diversity - older and younger generations have different attitudes and experiences of family diversity.
Who backs up Giddens?
Watson
same-sex couples create supportive families of choice from their friends, former lovers and biological kin and that these function in the same way as traditional kinship networks
Postmodernist - Beck [Family Diversity]
FOR
Risk society as people have more choice, also face more risks. In the past people knew what to expect from family life.
Family diversity has been caused by:
- greater gender equality
- greater individualism, people are motivated by self-interest rather than a sense of obligation to others
New type of family – the negotiated family – gender equality and the wishes of the couple.
Facing more risks, we turn to family for security, but even the family is not guaranteed as relationships can easily end. Refers to the family as a zombie – it appears to be alive, but is in fact dead as it can’t provide security because it is unstable.
How do Smart and May criticise Postmodernist Individualists Thesis?
1) exaggerates amount of choice individuals have in relation to family life.
2) wrong to see individuals as disembedded and totally free to make choices independently from the influence of wider social norms.
3) fails to take into account the extent to which social factors such as class, gender and ethnicity can limit the choices individuals have when it comes to family life.
Personal Life Perspective - Smart and May [Family Diversity]
Their own explanation for the increase in family diversity and it is called the connectedness thesis.
Smart argues that people are social beings who make their decisions within a web of connectedness. We live within networks of existing relationships and these can influence our choices and options.
The factors that affect our choices, in particular, are class and gender.
