Family Diversity

• New right view


  Nuclear best ‘fits‘ society - is under threat from policies embracing family diversity

  Eg civil partnerships, divorce law, benefits

  Dennis and Erdos - boys from lone parent families rebel and are inadequately socialised

  Murray - lone parent families lead to underclass of welfare dependency = perverse incentive
• Radical feminist view


  Nuclear remains dominant = patriarchal

  Women financially dependent on men as men have the power in heterosexual relationships - women forced into heterosexuality as seen as the only acceptable form

  Solutions = Separatism and political lesbianism
• Functionalist view


  Nuclear is best as it fits society

  Murdock - 4 functions (RESS)

  Parsons - Primary socialisation and stabilisation of adult personalities
• Young and Willmott


  Symmetrical family

  > still nuclear, just domestic division of labour = more equal
• Chester


  Neo-conventional family (still nuclear, just dual-working)

  > Nuclear still remains the ideal for people

  > Dual earner families are becoming more popular

  Lifecycles - at one point or another most people will be part of a nuclear family at some stage

  Cohabitation most common as seen as a ‘trial marriage‘
• Ethnic differences

  Matriarchal v Patriarchal families
• Barrow (ethnic differences)


  Afro-Caribbean have matriarchal families

  > Men contribute to childcare

  Black = higher proportion of lone parent households

  Male unemployment, poverty - black men less able to provide for families
• Ballard (ethnic differences)


  South Asian families tend to be patriarchal

  Traditionally extended

  When migrated, women needed paid work - extended families split into nuclear units but relatives still close by
• More recent research into South Asian families

  > marriage rates are falling (postponing getting married)

  > women are primary caregivers for husbands, children and ageing parents
• Examples of family diversity

  > same sex

  > lone parent

  > extended

  > living apart together

  > beanpole
• Evidence proving nuclear family is under threat

  > Divorce rates increasing

  > Men and women living alone

  > More births outside marriage

  > Cohabitation

  > Marriage rates decreasing

  > Alternative family types

  > Remarriages

  > Ethnic diversity
• Family diversity today…

  > Cohabitation

  > More lone parent families

  > One person households

  > Same sex relationships

  > Ethnicity and diversity