7-8f

• describe pre-modern society?


  a rural agricultural society where there were little social change a strong sense of community and religion dominated people view of the world.
• Describe modern society?


  an urban-industrialised society with social and technological change and a belief in progredss and science
• describe post-modern society


  a post-industrial society in which change is rapid but uneven - people have lost faith in science to bring about progress - so media and technology play a major role. Source of individual identity is becoming more diverse - we are no longer influenced by just our family but also the wider world and there culture.
• what do postmodernists society say about the family?


  the postmodernist family is more diverse, People construct their own family type and there are fewer rules and norms about what families should be like. This leads to increase in family variety e.g single parent hosueholds and same sex families
• how do some criticise the postmodernist view of the family?


  the change in soceity has been exaggerated and that we are still living in the modern rather than the post-modernist era. For example, Marxists argued class inequality still exists due to capatilism.
• describe and give examples of the modernist theory?


  -new right, feminists, marxist

  -they explain one family type (nuclear) in the modern society

  -they are structural perspectives, the family shapes it members
• what two key ideas of the modernist theories do post-modernists reject?


  that their is one family type - individuals now have more choice about our personal relationships so we can 'pick and mix' our families

  that the family shapes its members behaviour
• Hareven


  we need to do life course analysis - look at individual family members if we want to undertsand family life. #

  This involves studying the different types of families someones has lived in through the course of their life.

  it generally highlights the variation in peoples lives e.g when to come out as gay, when to have a child
• what are two strengths of the life course analysis


  -it focuses on what the members themselves find important rather than what sociologists consider important.

  -suitable for studying families in todays society
• what is a late modernist


  they believe we have not yet moved into the post modernist soceity but rather are in the late satges of the modernist period.

  they argue social structures like gender and class have less infleunce over us.
• giddens


  -family and marriage have been transformed through greater choice and men and women becoming equal

  -couples are free to define their own relationships rather than following roles defined by tradition

  -he calls it a 'pure relationsio' which solely meets the needs of the partners e.g love and sexual attraction rather than duty i.e to produce children
• what does Giddens say the negative side of a pure relationship is?

  relationships are more likely to become unstable as they can be ended by the partner with no reason to be restrained by the expectations of society.
• beck


  because tradition has ,less influence on people we now live in a risk society
• what does beck mean by a risk society?


  people are more aware of the risks as when making personal decisions we must weigh up the risks and rewards.

  we used to live in a patriarchal society and although it was oppressive it did provide stability
• negotiated family


  a family that varies accoording to the needs of its members - although its a more equal society it is more unstable as family memebrs can leave when they want.
• zombie family


  it appears to be alive but is really dead

  people want security in a world of insecurity but the family cant rpovide this due to its own instability
• stacey


  greater freedom of choice has benefited women - can free themselves from oppresion e.g divorce extended family
• descibe the personal life perspective


  to understand the family we need to look at the meanings people give to their relationships

  there are a range of relationships that people see as significant although they are not conventionally defined as family
• give an example of relationships the personal life perspective view as unconventional family


  -fictive kin

  -gay and lesbian

  -pets
• tipper


  found that many young children refer to their pets as family
• nordqvuist and smart


  donor concived children - who is classified as family in this case e.g is the donors parents grandaparents?