The Extended Family

• Lone parent families in black communities

  •Black African people have a higher proportion of lone-parent households compared to British White and Asian families.•Females tend to ‘head the house’ (matrifocal) – there is some research to suggest this pattern arises from slavery, as children would be sold with their mothers.
• Lone parent families in black communities

  •Poverty – higher rates of poverty and unemployment in black communities may contribute to higher rates of family breakdown, as men may be less able to provide for their families.Independence – Mirza argues that LPFs reflect the high value black women place on independence
• Lone parent families in black communities

  •Living apart together – Reynolds argues that many apparent ‘lone’ parents are actually in stable, supportive but non-cohabiting relationships.
• The decline of the classic extended family

  •Nickie Charles (2005/8)  - Her Swansea study found that the classic three generation family living under one roof is now all but extinct – with the only significant exception, the city’s Bangladeshi community.
• The dispersed extended family

  •Peter Wilmott (1988) - the extended family continues to exist as the ‘dispersed extended family’ where relatives are geographically separated but maintain contact through visits and phone calls.
• The dispersed extended family

  Mary Chamberlain’s (1999) study of Caribbean families in Britain found that despite being geographically dispersed they continue to provide support. She described them as multiple nuclear families, with frequent contact between siblings, uncles aunts and cousins who often make a big contribution to childrearing.
• Obligations to relatives

  •Despite changes in family structures, many people still feel a sense of obligation to help their wider extended kin.•However, there are differences in terms of what is expected of different relatives.
• Obligations To Relatives


  •Finch and Mason (1993) found that over 90% of people had given or received financial help and about half had cared for a sick relative.
• Colin Bell (1968)

  Bell’s study (also in Swansea) found…

  •mainly financial help from father to son in middle class families•mainly domestic help from mothers to daughters in working class families.•
• Obligations to relatives

  Cheal 2002

  •Where personal care for an elderly woman is needed a daughter or daughter in law is preferred if the husband is not available.
• Obligations to relatives

  •Sons are rarely chosen as caregivers for an elderly woman.•Daughters are rarely chosen as appropriate people to provide money.
• Mason 2011


  •Whilst daughters were more likely to be called on for caring responsibilities, their part varied.
• Mason 2011


  •This depended on the particular obligations they felt towards relative and what other responsibilities would give them legitimate excuses not to be involved.
• •Mason and Finch – principle of reciprocity and balance is important – people feel help received should be returned.