Family Diversity

• Judith Stacey - Postmodern families

  Economic, technological, and social changes have enabled women to free themselves from the traditional nuclear family.

  one of these new structures was the divorce-extended family, whose members were connected by divorce rather than marriage. The key members are usually female
• Giddens - Individualisation Thesis 


  In our postmodern society we have more freedom to choose how to live our lives.

  The family has been transformed by choice and equality, this is due to - Contraception and Women in work
• Giddens - Pure Relationship 


  Couples stay together for their own reasons, rather than acting out laws and roles imposed on them, they exist solely to meet each partners needs.

  As a result the relationship will only survive as long as both partners feel it is in their interest to continue with it
• Giddens - Same sex relationships 


  Leading the way towards more equal relationships
• Ulrich Beck - Risk Society 


  Tradition has less influence and people have more choice
• Ulrich Beck - Negotiated Family 


  Do not conform to traditional family norms. Vary according to wishes and expectations of their members who decide what is best for them. However it is more unstable = Individualism
• Ulrich Beck - Zombie Family 


  It appears to be alive, but in reality it is dead. People want family to be a haven of security in an insecure world, but today's family can't provide this because of its own instability
• The Connectedness Thesis 


  We are not 'disembedded individual' we make decisions based within a social context and our existing relationships and personal history
• Chester 


  Argues that there has not been a significant increase in family diversity. Most people will be a member of a nuclear family for a large part of their life. The nuclear family is still the family type most people aspire to be
• The Rapports - 5 Types of Family Diversity

  Society has moved away from the nuclear family as the dominant type. The main cause of this is the life-cycle and social change, not a decline in morality.

  • Organisational
  • Cultural
  • Social Class
  • Life stage
  • Generational