Family diversity

• Nuclear family


  The traditional family type consisting of a married couple and their children
• Modernist approaches to the family


  • Functionalism
  • The New Right
• Modernist approaches

  • See modern society as having a fairly fixed, clear-cut and predictable structure
  • See the nuclear family as the 'best' family type that slots into this structure and helps to maintain it
• Functionalism

  The nuclear family is uniquely suited to meeting the needs of modern society and performing essential functions like primary socialisation of children and stabilisation of adult personalities
• The nuclear family's ability to perform essential functions

  Allows functionalists to generalise that this is the type of family found in modern society
• The New Right

  Have a conservative and anti-feminist perspective on the family<|>Believe there is only one correct or normal family type - the traditional married couple with a clear division of labour between husband and wife
• The New Right's view of the traditional nuclear family

  They see it as natural and based on fundamental biological differences between men and women, and as the cornerstone of a stable society
• The New Right's view of family diversity

  They argue it is the cause of many social problems, particularly the growth of lone-parent families which they see as harmful to children
• The New Right's view of cohabitation versus marriage

  They claim cohabitation is a major cause of lone-parent families due to the higher rate of relationship breakdown, and that only marriage can provide a stable environment for raising children
• The New Right view has been criticised by feminists who argue it is based on the oppression of women and gender inequality
• Critics argue there is no evidence that children in lone-parent families are more likely to be delinquent than those in two-parent families of the same social class
• Chester's 'neo-conventional family'


  A dual-earner family in which both spouses go out to work, unlike the traditional nuclear family with a male breadwinner and female homemaker
• Chester argues the nuclear family remains the ideal to which most people aspire, despite increased family diversity
• Types of family diversity identified by the Rapoports

  • Organisational diversity
  • Cultural diversity
  • Social class diversity
  • Life cycle diversity
  • Generational diversity
• Postmodernist view of family

  • Rejects the idea of a single dominant family structure
  • Sees family life as much more diverse and unstable, with individuals having greater choice in their personal relationships and lifestyles
• Postmodernist sociologists like Judith Stacey argue that greater freedom of choice has benefited women by enabling them to free themselves from patriarchal oppression and create new family arrangements
• Individualisation thesis


  The idea that in modern society, individuals have increasing freedom to choose their own family lives and practices, rather than being constrained by fixed family structures
• Active choices


  Choices people make about how to live their lives - e.g. whether to get divorced, cohabit, come out as gay etc.
• David Morgan (1996, 2011) argues it is pointless to make large-scale generalisations about the family as a single thing, as functionalists do
• Family


  Whatever arrangements those involved have done to call their family
• Sociologists should pay more attention to how people create their own idea of a family, its lives and practices
• Life course analysis

  A method of research that explores the meanings that individual family members give to the relationships they have and the choices they make at key points in their lives
• Life course analysis focuses on what family members themselves see as important, rather than what sociologists may read as important
• Life course analysis is particularly useful for studying family relationships and choices in today's postmodern or late modern society
• Individualisation thesis

  The view that traditional social structures such as class, gender and family have lost much of their influence over us, leaving us with more freedom to choose how we lead our lives
• According to the individualisation thesis, the 'standard biography or life course' that people followed in the past has been replaced by the 'do-it-yourself biography' that individuals today must construct for themselves
• Pure relationship


  A relationship that exists solely to satisfy each partner's needs and is likely to survive only as long as both partners think it is in their own interest to do so
• With more choice, personal relationships inevitably become less stable under the pure relationship model
• Giddens sees same-sex relationships as leading the way towards new family types and caring, equal relationships
• Negotiated family


  A family that does not conform to the traditional family norm, but varies according to the wishes and expectations of its members, who decide what is best for themselves by negotiation
• The negotiated family is more equal than the patriarchal family, but less stable, as individuals are free to leave if their needs are not met
• Connectedness thesis


  The view that we are fundamentally social beings whose choices about personal relationships are always made within a web of connectedness and existing relationships and obligations
• The connectedness thesis challenges the notion of the 'pure relationship', as families usually include more than just the couple and even couple relationships are not always ones we can walk away from at will
• The connectedness thesis emphasises the role of class and gender structures in limiting the choices people can make about the kinds of relationships, identities and families they can create
• While there is a trend towards greater gender equality and choice, the personal life perspective emphasises the continuing importance of structural factors such as patriarchy and class inequality in restricting people's choices and shaping their family lives