Changes within the family

• Hareven (1978)

  family structures and organisations change as we go through our lives matching the time of life we are at and our needs at the time
• Changes in social attitudes

  society has moved foward and family structures such as lone parent, same sex and stay at home fathers are much more accepted now
• Changing role of women

  the rise in feminism and growing equality has given women more freedom and independence from men which has changed the structure and roles within the family, leading to more symmetrical families
• Parsons (1951) - Functional Fit Theory

  • it is not diversity but the changing of structures to meet the needs of society
  • the family structure is constantly changing and adapting to meet the needs of society at the present time
• Bernades (1997) - postmodernist

  as a result of postmodernity, contemporary postmodern families have a number of characteristics:

  • choice
  • freedom
  • diversity
  • ambivalence
  • fluidity
• family values - new right

  the declining popularity of marriage is seen as a part of a more general weakening of traditional family values
• Beck and Beck-Gernsheim (1995)

  • saw the rise of individualisation in late modernity
  • people are no longer bound by traditional norms
  • cohabitation, LAT, and singlehood is seen as more appealing and ’less risky’
• Giddens (1992) - ”confluent love”

  • argues there has been a transformation of intimacy
  • individuals no longer seek traditional romantic love with marriage
  • the quality of intimate relationships is improving
• Feminists - the changing role of women

  • see traditional marriage as a patriarchal institution
  • marriage has previously involved women passing the control of her father to her husband
• Sue Sharpe - Just like a Girl study

  found that girls’ priorities changed from 1970 to 1990

  • 1970s - marriage, husbands, and children
  • 1990s - education, careers, and financial independence from men
• Grant (2006) - reconstituted families

  men are increasingly likely to be living with other men’s children while their own grow up elsewhere
• Roseneil and Budegon (2004) - rejection of the heteronorm

  aspects of intimacy and emotional relationships are increasingly occurring outside of the family

  small scale study: 2 key changes

  1. friends are taking the place of the family
  2. the decentring of conjugal relationships
• Sommerville (2000) - liberalist feminist 


  the picture of the family painted by some feminists, of women being exploited by men in families, is outdated as progress has been made