Family Diversity

• Family

  There is not one clear single definition of “family”. It tends to be used either in a broad sense (as in a “family tree”) or in a narrower sense, of parents living together with their children as a “unit”.
• Functionalist view on Family Diversity

  States that family diversity has increased, and there has been a shift away from the traditional nuclear family.

  
  

  Nowadays, it is more common for reconstituted, lone-parent and cohabiting families to exist.

  
  

  However, functionalists and the new right reject this in arguing the nuclear family is the only family type functional for society (sees any family apart from nuclear as deviant).
• New Right on Family Diversity (Murray)


  The New Right believe that the nuclear family as the only ‘natural’ family type.

  
  

  Other family types produce social problems, causing a break down in society (E.g. lone parent families lead to a dependency culture).

  
  

  Generous welfare benefits have encouraged such family types
• The Rapoports on Family Diversity

  Believe we have moved away from the nuclear family into a range of different family types.

  
  

  Rapports see diversity as a positive response to people's needs and wishes.

  
  

  Their 5 types of family diversity include:

  
  

  Organisational diversity

  Cultural diversity

  Social class diversity

  Life-stage diversity

  Generational diversity.
• Chester on Family Diversity

  States that although there has been some increase in diversity, the nuclear family remains dominant.

  
  

  There has been an important change from the conventional family (segregated conjugal roles) to the neo-conventional family, which adopts a symmetrical family structure
• Carol Smart on Family Diversity

  Believes that we are not detached individuals, but we make decisions about relationships within a ‘web of connectedness’.
• Postmodernist view on Family Diversity (Beck)


  States that Equality and individualism have created the ‘negotiated family’ which varied according to the members' wants.

  
  

  However, this creates a ‘risk society’, producing less stability within the family as members can leave whenever they like
• Postmodernist view on Family Diversity (Giddens)


  Believes that Society has become ‘detached’ from traditional family structures, leaving us free to choose how we live our lives.

  
  

  This has led to the ‘pure relationship’ - one that exists solely to satisfy each partner's needs. With the help of contraception, intimate relationships are not solely based on childbearing
• The number of people living alone in the UK in 2022 was 8.3 million, this represents 30% of all households; the majority (53%) of these households

  were women living alone.
• Causes of Family Diversity

  • Changing Pattern
  • Post Modernity
  • Economic Changes
  • Policies
  • Changing Roles
  • Late Modernism
• Changing Patterns


  As a result of Divorce - more single parent and reconstituted families; relationship breakdown more common when cohabiting
• Postmodernity


  Family Diversity is a reflection of a more diverse society
• Economic Factors

  Increasing wealth means more people can live alone, but those who cant afford this have multigenerational families
• Changing Roles

  
  

  Women having careers means they are having less children - single person or beanpole households
• Postmodernist


  Diversity is the new norm in society and people are given more freedom and only have to remain in a relationship as long as their needs are met
• Chester


  A change has been made to a neo-conventional family where the couple are dual-earners and involves conjugal roles
• Postmodernist: Stacey (1998)


  Women can now create families to suit their needs, including the new divorce-extended families
• Cultural Diversity 


  Differences arise from those who come from different cultures with varying norms and values
• Life Course Diversity


  Diversity caused by the different stages that people have reached in life
• Organisational Diversity


  Differences in the way families are structured
• Generational Diversity

  
  

  Differences created by historical periods that families have lived 

  through
• Social Class Diversity 


  Different views of families are held in different parts of society
• Functionalist: Parsons


  Functional fit theory - as society changes, the type of family and its function change to suit society
• Causes of trends in cohabitation, marriage and divorce:

  • Changing roles of women
  • Secularisation
  • Changes in society's norms
  • Legal changes
  • Economic causes
  • Postmodern reasons - no longer a single family structure in society
  • Changes in the family makes it less essential for society to function properly

  Positive impacts: greater gender equality

  Negative impacts: family is still just as important for child development
• Benson (2006): New Right

  analysed data on theparents of over 15,000 babies. Found that over the first three years, rate of family breakdown is much higher among cohabiting couples; 20% compared to 6% in married couples
• Benson (2010): New Right


  argues that couples are more stable when they are married. For example, the rate of divorce among married couples is lower than the rate of break up in cohabiting couples
• Criticisms of the New Right

  • The feminist Ann Oakley (1997) argues that the New Right wrongly assume that husbands and wives' roles are fixed by biology
  • Cross-cultural studies show variation in the roles men and women perform within the family
  • Oakley believes that the New Right view of the family is a negative reaction against the feminist campaign for women's equality
• Feminist criticisms of the New Right

  • The conventional nuclear family favoured by the New Right is based on the patriarchal oppression of women and is a fundamental cause of gender inequality
  • It prevents women working, keeps them financially dependent on men, and denies them an equal say in decision-making
• Critics of the New Right argue that there is no evidence that children in lone-parent families are more likely to be delinquent than those brought up in a two-parent family of the same social class
• Beck: The Negotiated Family 


  Negotiated families do not conform to the traditional family norm, but vary according to the wishes and expectations of their members, who decided what is best for them by discussion. We now live in a ‘risk society’
• Giddens: Pure Relationship 


  A pure relationship is when individuals decide to carry on maintaining their relationship because it meets their emotional and sexual needs. The relationship will only carry on being successful as long as the relationship carries on meeting the individual’s partner’s needs and they benefit from it.
• The individualisation thesis was created by Chambers who argues that traditional relationships, roles and beliefs have lost their influence over individuals.

  
  

  
  

  As a result of increased individualisation, individuals have become increasingly inwardly focused and concerned about how society and networks can be used to provide instant gratification for them.
• Asian adults are about 2.5 times more likely to be married than Black adults, and half as likely to be divorced 
• • Asian households are three times less likely to be cohabiting, and have higher rates of marriage
  • Asian households have half the rate of Lone Person households compared to white households.
  • Black and mixed households have twice the rate of lone parent households.
• • 47% of Asian households are married compared to just 22% of Black households and 33% of White households.