After the Industrial Revolution, the society had changed and the economy had grown. Amongst the working calss, the family began to develop since its members were wage workers. Individuals were more independent in economy. Gradually, the extended family was no longer needed, it broke down with industrialisation. In the 1970s, Young and Willmott found that the extended family had been replaced by nuclear family. Men also are more involved in the family than before.
Husband and wife share the housework and the responsibility at home and spend most time with the family. Young and Willmott called this kind of family as the symmetrical family.
As a multicultural society, there are a number of different ethnic communities exist in mofern Britain.
However, there were some types of family newly appeared after the Industrial Revolution. They made an sharp increase in the diversity of the family type in Britain.
One of the most striking changes in family type over the last twenty years has been the increase of single-parent families. In this family there is only one parent in the household raising the children. Ninety percent of these families are headed bu women. According to British government statistics only 2per cent households in 1961 were single-parent families. By 1998 single-parent families accounted for 7 per cent of households. The percentage of children living in single-parents increased from 7 per cent in 1972 to 19 per cent in 1997.(Data source:Lecture notes" The Increase In Single Parenthood") According to Hantrais and Letabier(1996), British has the second highest rate of lone parenthood in Europe. The main causes of the single-parent family is due to high divoce rates and adults choosing not to marry, or the death of a spouse. It is claimed that the single-parent families were disadvantaged in comparison to other British families and grew fast with some serious problems. Many of the families have little income with low level of living standards, and the children in single-parent families were more likely to be involved in crime and drug abuse. They do less well at school.
Moreover, if the divorced people or these from single-parent family with their children from the previous marriage have made up a new family, this type of family is called the reconstituted or step family, and some may have one or more children of their own.Such families were on the increase because of the rise of divorce, and some people may be concern for their children. However, this often creates two homes for the children, by this I mean that the children may find that they had been put into two directions, and the relationships between the step-parent and the children may be tense.
Besides, the childless or child-free families were uncommon but increased. A childless family is simply a group of people who, for what ever reasons, have never had children. By 1990's marriage were more than 30 per cent childless. The increase of this type of family was because of that more and more couples decided not to have children. Most of them had thought long and hard about the parenthood and for various reasons, many felt that it really was not right for them. For instance, some families choose not to have children because they concentrate on their careers, or like traveling.
In adition, more family types were existed. These include: Cohabiting families, where unmarried men and women may or may not to be rising children; Gay and lesbian families, which is headed by gays or lesbians, children may not be included;
Even people who are unable to have children themselves, so they adopt or foster children.
Therefore, the traditional family has undergone various changes in the family diversity. After looking at these new types of family, it is clear that the number of family typy has been increased since the 1950s. Factors that have led to these changes include high rate of divorce, remarriage, teen pregnancy and change in social values. A good example for the changes in social values can be the cause of the cohabitation family. There were more and more people who believes that marriage put unnecessary stress on a relationship and if they really love each other then they had no need to consummate the relationship. By doing this, they formed the cohabitation families.
In addition, it is found that the creaction of one type of family was connected with the others, different types of families effected and been effected with each other. For instance, the divorce creats the single-parent family, and the parent in the single-parent family may think that it is better for their children to live in a stable and affectionate family environment, so they may be remarried in order to give their children a better family environment---that is the step family.
However, according to the Rapoports, they studied what they believed to be the five elements of family diversity in Britain.
Firstly, it is the organisational deversity. By this they mean there are variations in the form of family, types of household, patterns of kinship network, and difference in the domestic work and responsibilities, or what it is called the division of labour within the home. For example, there are the differences between nuclear family, single-parent family, and extended family.
Secondly, people religious beliefs and ethnic background was another element they believed to cause family diversity, that is what they called cultural diversity. People from different regions have different types of family lifestyle. It may also be an important element of diversity.
There are differences in the way that middle class and working calss people organise their families and rise their children. That was known as the class diversity. For example, the nuclear and the extended family have been perfeomaned differently in the working calss and the middle class.
The fourth element of diversity is the life cycle diversity. It refers to the age period, or the stage of a peron's life. People in different age period of life may have different thoughts about the family life, which can decide the family type they are in. A newly young married couple may like to have more freedom so thay decided not to have children, that is the childless family. But when they get older, they may feel that it is necessary for them to have children. When their child is born, the family changes into a nuclear family.
Finally, the fifth factor identified by the Rapoports as the cause of family diversity is cohort diversity. This means the stage at which the family has experienced through periods of time. The experience of families in different times may be different. In the 1950s, adult children can find a job easily and then leave home due to the high employment. In the 1980s, the rate of employment fall and therefore the adult children could not get job that easily, so they had to stay in the family longer.
In conclusion, as Britain is such a multi-cultural society with different religions, class and sexualities there is a great variety of family types. Although the nuclear family and extended family are still around and popular in modern Britain, the newly apeared types of family also grow fast after the Industrial Revolution. Diversity of family type began to increase sharply since the 1950s. Nowadays, most people accept the diverse family structures. Many different types of family are seen as normal and common. It is believed that the family types are uncertain and dynamic, they have been changed and will continue to change with time and contemporary idea.
Source: University of Missouri Outreach and Extension
