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Sociology unit 1 > Topic 3 Family diversity > Flashcards

Topic 3 Family diversity Flashcards

1
Q

give 10 family types examples

A
  • nuclear family
  • living apart
  • lone parent
  • same sex
  • creative single hood
  • beanpole family
  • donor conceived
  • extended
  • cohabitation
  • reconstituted
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2
Q

What is family diversity?

A
  • the idea that there is a range of different family types
  • it is associated with the postmodernist idea that in today’s society, increasing choice about relationships is creating greater family diversity

‘diversity and choice = post modernism’

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3
Q

What is the new right view on family diversity?

A
  • they firmly oppose family diversity and see the nuclear family as the only acceptable family type, as it is natural
  • Family diversity creates social problems (higher crime rates and education failure)
  • they disapprove of women doing paid work (must be carers)
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4
Q

Do the new right accept working women?

A
  • They disapprove of women doing paid work
  • They believe women should make caring for their family their priority
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5
Q

Do the new right believe society is broken?

A

They argue the family and subsequently society is broken - they want to return to ‘traditional values’ including the value of marriage to prevent damage to children

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6
Q

What is the new right view on cohabitation?

A
  • they believe cohabitation creates family instability as it makes it easier for adults to avoid commitment and responsibility
    which has a negative effect on children
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7
Q

What is the new right view on taxation and benefits?

A
  • they believe benefits are a perverse incentive (and reward people for doing bad things and punish responsible people)
  • they oppose to high levels of taxation that are spent on welfare benefits as they encourage dependency culture
  • benefits undermine the tradition family by discouraging men from working to support their families
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8
Q

What is the new right view on single parent families?

A
  • they are unnatural and harmful
  • lone parent mothers cannot discipline their children properly
  • they are a burden on the welfare state (benefits)
  • they leave males without a male role model to discipline them leading to criminality and education failure
  • believe single parent families are passed on in generations
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9
Q

What do new right believe about roles within the family?

A

New right have a similar view to functionalists of having instrumental and expressive roles.
Man is the breadwinner and the woman is the home maker.

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10
Q

What is Chester’s view on family diversity?

A
  • changes in family types are minor
  • basic features of family life have stayed the same since WW2
  • He also argues that we are all in a nuclear family at some point and a snapshot of household types does not provide a valid picture of society
  • life cycles make it inevitable that some people will not be a member of the nuclear family
  • however he does recognise some change, that the male is no longer the sole breadwinner
  • believes family are no longer conventional, they are neo-conventional
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11
Q

What is Chester’s view on cohabitation?

A
  • Chester believes cohabitation is a step for marriage
  • it’s a temporary stage before marriage
  • ‘try before you buy’
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12
Q

What is Chester’s neo-conventional family?

A
  • a dual earner family
  • chester recognised that men are no longer the sole breadwinner
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13
Q

What reasons does Chester give that oppose family diversity?

A
  • everyone experiences the nuclear family
  • people are still marrying
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14
Q

What are the Rappoports 5 types of family diversity?

A
  1. Organisational
  2. Cultural
  3. Social class
  4. Life-stage diversity
  5. Generational
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15
Q

What is the Post-modernist view on family diversity?

A
  • Families have become more diverse because there is greater diversity and choice in society
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16
Q

What did Judith Stacey (1998) discover in her study on women?

A
  • many of the own she interviewed rejected the traditional housewife-mother role.
  • they had worked, returned to education as adults, improve their job prospects, divorced and re-married.
  • these women created new family types that better suited their needs
  • 7 out of 10 divorces are initiated by a woman
17
Q

What does Judith Stacey (1998) argue?

A
  • She argues that grater choice has empowered own and enabled them to free themselves from the patriarchal oppression that existed.
  • Women are able to shape their family arrangements to meet their needs
18
Q

Why have women got more power in a postmodern society?

A
  • more freedom of choice
  • stigmas are changing to accept women’s choice
  • legalisation is giving women more freedom
  • women have more power within the family don’t feel obliged to stay in a relationship
  • work gives them economic independence
19
Q

What is the divorce-extended family?

A
  • a family type created by women when they were given choice and freedom
  • members are connected by divorce rather than marriage
20
Q

what is the power of structures?

A
  • may argues that structures such as class and gender are not disappearing they are simply being re-structured
  • for example, while women have gained rights in voting, they do not have it all.
    They are still expected to be heterosexual
21
Q

What do functionalists see the nuclear family as the best type?

A
  • it helps to maintain the structure of society by carrying out particular functions
22
Q

According to functionalists, what are the two functions the nuclear family carries out?

A
  • primary socialisation of children
  • stabilisation of adult personalities (warm bath)
23
Q

What are the features of a modern society?
(beginning stage)

A
  • nuclear family
  • structured
  • identity is fixed by class, gender, social norms
  • fixed life chances
  • industrial revolution
  • meta-narratives tell big stories of the world
24
Q

What is involved with globalisation? What happened during it?

A
  • technology
  • trade
  • travel (migration)
  • companies having more power than one country
  • global networks
  • geographically mobile
25
Q

What does Weeks discuss about the attitudes towards family diversity?

A
  • there has been a shit in attitudes since the 1950s
  • sexual mortality has became a matter of personal choice
  • the church and state have lost their power to influence morality
  • growing acceptance of family diversity
  • attitudes are more favourable towards cohabitation and homosexuality
  • Weeks sees the New Right as fighting a losing battle against diversity
26
Q

How has secularisation impacted the family?

A
  • less religion allows for cohabitation, same sex relationships and divorce as they’re no longer seen as a sin as people have become less religious
27
Q

How many divorces are initiated by a woman?

A

7 out of 10

28
Q

What does the individualisation thesis argue about family diversity?

A
  • The individualisation thesis argues that traditional structures such as class gender and family have lost their influence over us
  • individuals today have fewer certainties or fixed role to follow
29
Q

What does Giddens argue about pure relationships?

A

Giddens argues that in recent decades the family and marriage have been transformed by greater choice and a more equal relationship between men and women
- they exists solely to meet each partner’s needs where couples stay together because of love and happiness rather than a sense of duty
- more choice leads to unstable personal relationships

30
Q

According to Giddens, why have pure relationships formed?

A
  • contraception has allowed for sex and intimacy rather than reproduction to become the main reason for the relationships’ existence - he calls this plastic sexuality
  • women have gained independence as a result of feminists and greater opportunities in education and work
31
Q

How can Giddens theory because evaluated using modern perspectives?

A

Chester argues that changes in the family have only been minor and the nuclear family is still dominant and there hasn’t been a transformation

32
Q

What does Beck argue about the risk society?

A

He argues we now live in a risk society where tradition has less influence and people have more choice. As a result, we’re more aware of our risks, because making choices involves calculating the risks and rewards of the different courses of action

33
Q

According to Beck, how has the patriarchal family been undermined?

A

Patriarchal family has been undermined by
- greater gender equality - challenged male domination in all spheres of life
- greater individualism - people’s actions are influenced more by calculations of their own self-interest rather than an obligation to others (selfishness)

34
Q

According to Beck, what is the negotiated family?

A

a family that varies according to the wishes and expectation of its members. There is more equality but less stability

35
Q

Why does Beck describe the family as ‘zombie category’?

A

it appears to be alive but in reality it is dead, people want it to be a haven of security in an insecure world, but today’s family cannot provide this because of its own instability, so relationships are likely to break down

36
Q

What is the connectedness thesis?

A
  • Smart argues we are social beings whose choices are always made within a web of connectedness
  • We live within networks of existing relationships and interwoven personal histories, and these strongly influence our range of options and choices in relationships

Sociology unit 1 (12 decks)

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