postmodernism

• argue society is rapidly changing

  people are rejecting traditional family structure
• main features of postmodernism society

  • diversity
  • individualism
  • consumer choice
• there is now:

  • disintegration of the traditional family
  • growing diversity of households - cohabitation, stepfamilies, gay couple
  • more personal relationships which people can choose
  • rising divorce rates
  • births outside marriage
• postmodernist theorists

  • stacey - divorce extended family
  • cheal
  • giddens and beck - individualisation thesis
  • hareven- life course analysis
  • giddens - confluent love
  • beck - risk society
  • smart - personal life perspective
• beck - risk society

  • live in a risk society where tradition has less influence and people have more choice
  • due to this we are more aware of risks
  • because making choice means we also calculate risk
• beck and beck-gernsheim - negotiated family

  • do not conform to traditional family norm
  • vary according to wishes and expectations of their members
  • decide what is best for themselves by negotiation
  • e.g living apart together, stepfamilies
• stacey - divorce extended families

  • argues freedom and choice has benefitted women
  • enabled them to free themselves from patriarchal oppression
  • used life histories interviews to construct a series of case studies of postmodern families
  • found women rejected the traditional housewife role
  • increase in divorce extended families - members connected by divorce
• gidden and beck - individualisation thesis

  • increasing individual choice in relationships
  • traditional structures have lost influence over us
  • we are now disembodied from traditional roles
• hareven - life course analysis

  • used in-depth unstructured interviews to explore meaning individual families give to relationships
  • focuses on what family members themselves consider important
  • more choice about personal relationships and more family diversity
• giddens - confluent love

  •  which argues that individuals are now looking to create meaningful relationships that are based on love and respect.
• giddens - pure relationship

  • relationships no longer bound by traditional norms
  • couples stay together because of love, happiness, sexual attraction rather than tradition, sense of duty