Modernism

• Chester

  THE NEO-CONVENTIONAL FAMILY

  -Highlights family diversity over the years – although does not perceive this as negative!Suggests people don’t ‘choose’ to live in alternative families (lone parent / blended
• Chester


  -Most people’s expectations of families is still the conventional ‘nuclear family’-As people progress through life, people naturally change family types
• Chester's Findings


  •Most people live in a household headed by a married couple•Most adults marry, THEN have children•Most marriages continue until death•Cohabitation has increased – but only temporarily before marriage•Children born outside of wedlock are now usually jointly registered
• Raports


  •Argue that diversity is of central importance in understanding of family life today.•Argue that the family has shifted from the traditional and dominant nuclear family to a range of different family types.•Families in Britain have adapted to a pluralistic society which is where cultures and lifestyles are more diverse
• Rapports A03

  A03 – Unlike the New Right, the Rapoports see diversity as a response to peoples different needs and wishes and not as abnormal or a deviation from the assumed norm of a nuclear family!
• Rapoports (1982) – 5 types of family diversity

  • Organisation diversity
  • Cultural diversity
  • Social class diversity
  • Life stage diversity
  • Generational diversity
• Organisation diversity


  Differences in ways family roles are organised. Some families have dual earners, whilst others have single earners.
• Cultural diversity


  Because of different cultural, religious and ethnic groups family types are already predicted. For example, most lone parent families are African-Caribbean.
• Social class diversity


  Family structure and practices may be different based on incomes
• Life stage diversity


  Life cycle. Individuals will 'switch' family type as they progress the life stages.
• Generational diversity


  Different generations have different attitudes and experience towards family life e.g. younger age = prefer nuclear families
• A03

  •Chester’s theory is useful in that it reminds that the decline of the nuclear family is not as drastic as the New Right claims. His theory is supported by evidence from 2017 that almost 70% of families contain a couple in a marriage or civil partnership.••The Rapoports theory is also useful as it reminds us that family diversity is often a response to changing needs and circumstances rather than something abnormal or deviant.
• Modernists Theory

  Perspectives like functionalism and the New Right have been described as modernist theories – they see society as having a fairly fixed, clear cut and predictable structure.

   They see one family type – the nuclear family – as slotting into this structure and helping to maintain it by performing certain essential functions
• Modernists Theorists

  FUNCTIONALISM:

  -Based on Parson’s functional fit theory-Nuclear families are best suited to a modern society-We are geographically & socially more mobile-Offers stabalisation of adult personalities
• Modernists Theorists

  NEW RIGHT:

  -Nuclear families are based on ‘biological’ differences between men and women-Prefer ‘traditional’ values-Blame family diversity for social problems (nanny state)-Lone mothers cannot discipline children-Lone families mean lack of male role model-Reliance on welfare
• Benson stated families who were married were more ‘stable’, as it requires deliberate commitment to one another
• This has influenced many conservative views on society. It suggests that a return to traditional values is needed, and laws regarding ‘easy divorce’ and welfare are are growing concern
• Giddens argues that the family has been transformed by greater choice and a more equal relationship between men and women.

  This has occurred because:

  •Contraception easily available•Women have greater independence and choice
• As a result of this, the basis of marriage and the family has changed into one where individuals are free to define their relationships themselves.
• Beck has a similar view to Giddens however, he argues that we now live in a ‘risk society’ where tradition has less influence and people have more choice. Because of this, we have to weigh up the risk of our choices.
• New ‘Risk’ Society has led to an end of the ‘nuclear’ family with its stereotypical roles and a rise in the ‘negotiated’ family.
• Negotiated Family:

  • does not conform to traditional expectations•males and females enter on equal grounds•Less stable than the nuclear family
• •Giddens and Beck highlight the importance of INDIVIDUAL CHOICE = hence the ‘individuation thesis’
• •Within history, humans have been dictated to in relation to societal expectations (to get married and fulfil the gender roles)
• •However today we have much more flexibility in our own choices, due to reduced expectations
• •Beck (1992) stated the ‘standard biography’ (life course) people have previously been restricted by, has now been replaced by a ‘do-it-yourself biography’
• Stacey argues that greater choice in today's society has benefited women. It has enabled them to free themselves from oppression from males.
• Stacey used interviews to question people in California and she found that many women rejected the traditional house wife mother role. They had worked hard to return to education or improve their careers.
• Stacey talks about divorce extended families – whose members are connected by divorce rather than marriage
• Weeks (2000) identifies a change in attitudes to diversity. For Example, the church has some of the power in influencing sexuality – gay couples are now recognised as a family type and are legally allowed to marry.

  We now have a growing acceptance of diversity in postmodern society unlike before (modernity).
• To understand a Post Modern Family, Hareven (1978) argues that we need to focus on individual members rather than the family as a whole.

  To understand individuals, Hareven uses an approach known as the Life Course analysis – this will be given in the form of in-depth interview to family members.
• It looks at why people make certain choices in their life such as moving out or having a baby and the meanings behind these events.