Family Diversity and Forms

• Family


  A group of people traditionally related by ties of blood or marriage
• The traditional definition of family ignores family diversity
• Family diversity


  Having a variety of different types of families in society, not just the nuclear family
• Marriage


  The legally recognized union of two partners in a relationship
• Monogamy


  The system of being married to one person at a time
• Polygamy


  Being married to more than one person at once, which is a crime in the UK called bigamy
• Cohabitation


  Two partners living together without being married
• Family types


  • Nuclear family
  • Lone parent family
  • Beanpole family
  • Reconstituted/blended/step family
  • Extended family
  • Same-sex family
• The majority of lone parent families in Britain are headed by a woman (matriarchal)
• Marriage rates have generally declined over the last 50-70 years
• Remarriage and serial monogamy (multiple marriages and divorces) have increased
• Same-sex marriage was legalised in 2013 in the UK
• Divorce rates have increased over the last 50 years
• The 1969 Divorce Reform Act enabled easier divorce
• Divorce rates were at their lowest in 2018 since 1971
• Divorce


  The legal dissolution of a marriage
• Divorce rates have increased while marriage rates have decreased over the last 50 years
• Divorce Reform Act of 1969


  A piece of legal policy that enabled people to get divorced far more easily
• Women now have on average just under 2 children, compared to nearly 3 children per woman in the 1960s
• Cohabiting families are the fastest growing type of family in the UK
• Lone parent families have grown massively in society
• Common/archetypal family types in different ethnic minorities

  • Asian households (1 in 5 are extended families, less than 1 in 20 are lone parent families)
  • Black households (less than 1 in 10 are extended families, 1 in 5 are lone parent families)
• Rates of marriage tend to be much higher amongst Asian households than Black households
• Polygamy


  Being married to more than one person at one time
• Polyandry


  Women having more than one husband or male partner
• Arranged marriage


  A couple are chosen to be together by their parents, often to do with social status
• China had a one-child policy for around 40 years due to overpopulation concerns, but higher social classes could pay a fine to have more children