Evaluate Sociological Contributions To Our Understanding Of Family Diversity
by
medinafaithrobertsgmailcom (student)
Medina Roberts
25th January 2022
Y12 Sociology
Applying Material From Item A And Your Knowledge Evaluate Sociological Contributions To Our Understanding Of Family Diversity.
(20 Marks)
Item A – Recent Decades Have Seen A Move To A More Diverse Range Of Family Arrangements. While Some Sociologists See This As Harmful For Society, Others Welcome It Because They See It As Bringing Grater Individual Choice About Relationships.
The nuclear family is portrayed as the perfect family in most advertising. The ‘cereal packet’ family, dad, mum and 2 kids all perfecting bronzed and all smiles. However, the query remains on whether the nuclear family still the norm in our society today as family diversity is increasing.
Item A states that ‘recent decades have seen a move to a more diverse range of family arrangements’. Sociologists such as Chester (1985) would agree with this point as he recognised the same thing that there has been an increase in family diversity in recent years. However, he doesn’t regard the change as a negative thing either. He argues that the only important change is from the predominance of the conventional nuclear family to what he calls the ‘neo-conventional family’ (a dual earner family in which both spouses go out to work). Chester argues that most people are not choosing to live in alternatives to the nuclear family on a long-term basis and the nuclear family is still an ideal that most people are aspiring to. This was and is an enormous contribution to our understanding of family diversity.
