Oakley

• Oakley is a feminist
• Oakley addresses the idea of the conventional family (which Leach calls the 'Cereal Packet Family') which she defines as:

  • 'nuclear families composed of legally married couples, voluntarily choosing the parenthood of one or more children'
  • Couple is heterosexual
  • Male is breadwinner, female looks after housework/children and possibly part time work
• Her research looks into where this idea of a conventional family comes from and she examines the 'strains' of being conventional and social construct
• Her research was written before civil partnerships and same sex marriages; however, she concludes that: 'there are signs that official stereotypes are being felt to be increasingly archaic (old fashioned/out of date) and that...certain groups in the community may be moving toward a more open appraisal of other ways of living - both in and without families'
• Oakley is a feminist and looks at the idea of a CONVENTIONAL family which is a nuclear family. She looks as to where it has come from and looks at the difficulty of being conventional and social control. She wrote her research before same sex marriages and civil partnerships, but she concluded that stereotypes were out of date and old fashioned.
• Strengths:

  She recognised the strain of being trapped in a domestic lifestyle for women and how not all women fit in to live that way. She also improved Leach's' theories which gave her more credibility.
• Weaknesses:

  As she is a feminist it can be argued that she could be gender-focussed with her research and ignore the other differences in families. As her research was done in 1982 society has now changed and the attitudes towards divorce and marriage have changed.
• Feminist perspective
• Addresses the idea of a conventional 'cereal packet' family
• Stereotypes are now felt to be increasingly archaic (out of date)