They also believe that the family is declining and ‘under threat’ and the changes in society have changed people attitude on the traditional norms of family life. These changes in views and attitudes have lead to more sexual permissiveness, which has automatically leaded to couples living outside the wedlock. The meaning for marriage has changed for people and so have the reasons for getting married. Now there is an alternative of getting married (cohabitation) people prefer this to the traditional wedding. I feel this has been increasing because the society around doesn’t mind this. If society was to reject the idea, people would think more seriously bout marriage and so there would be less lone-parent families. However, if the marriage was not to work, the divorce rate would increase.
They do claim that in the Victorian times, there was a lower divorce rate and crime rate and they blame this on ‘modern society,’ although things like single parenthood, sexual relations outside marriage and working wives were not common, so what do they mean by modern society?
However, New Right sociologists do give solutions to how these problems can be solved.
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“The traditional family should be encouraged and strengthened, since the best solution for children is to be raised by two loving, heterosexual married parents.”- However, they don’t se the reason behind the parent’s separation. Some may argue that if the situation between the parents is not pleasant, then it is best for the child to be with 1 loving parent rather then 2 unpleasant parents.
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“Welfare benefits should not be so high as to be a disincentive to work.”- For people who need the welfare state, the amount of money given is just about sufficient and if decreased can cause financial stress within the family.
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“The male breadwinner role should be reinforced and supported so that young men develop a sense of pride and responsibility.” – it’s good that young men should develop a sense of responsibility, but shouldn’t women also have that sense of pride and responsibility? Some might say women have more responsibilities then men, as they tend to manage the house and a job, so shouldn’t these be reinforced too?
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“Women should recognise this and take this as their sole or main responsibility the care of their home and families, particularly when they have young children.”- Looking at the expenses in society, for many families it is now a necessity for women to work, so if they grow up with the attitude that they will become housekeepers, do u think that they will be interested in education? What is to happen if in the future the ‘social norm’ is reversed, so women are the ‘breadwinners’ and men are ‘housekeepers’? This may happen as statistically young women are still doing better in exams then young men.
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“Community spirit and neighbourliness should be fostered as support mechanisms for the family”- moral support is good to have, however people should try to be independent and not depend on anyone to get further in life. The New Right feel people should not try to get alternatives for the family as this causes side effects such as illegitimacy and under-achieving children.
Charles Murray did a study on illegitimacy (children born out of wedlock) and discovered that there was a relationship between them and many social problems like underachieving children at school, crime, drugs and unemployment.
Dennis & Halsey agree with Murray too.
Although functionalists express similar views to the New Right, feminists disagree with them.
- Marxist-feminists suggest that the family is an obstacle to women’s freedom and the family as an institution in keep the capital system going. They see this as a patriarchal institute where women are a vital part of reproducing labour power. They suffer in many ways because of the family, one being because they have responsibilities towards the domestic and childcare side of the family.
