Britain has changed in many ways in recent years; one of these ways is the diversity in types of culture. 50 years ago it would have been extremely unusual to have a divorced family, an un-cohabiting couple with children, or lone parent families. Now Britain has the highest divorce rate in Europe, and having illegitimate children is no longer a taboo.
‘Divorce is becoming more common as women become more economically independent; marriage is less of a necessary economic partnership than it used to be.’
(Anthony Giddons, Simon Griffith’s pg223)
There are many reasons for these changes in modern society. Secularization of Britain has resulted in a decline in the power and influence of religion, and is sometimes used to explain the break-up of families (through divorce for example). The basic idea here is that religion provides strong moral guidelines about family life and when they are absent people are more-likely to enter lightly into marriage, family responsibilities etc.
Primarily, marriage now tends to be a romantic union, rather than an economical necessity, which changes family roles and structure.
As people are living longer, we are seeing a change in family structure, with elderly relatives living with others as an extended family, or living alone.
‘By 2020 according to age concern, half the population will be over 50. This will affect the statistics of family structure’
(Carol Waugh, Viv Thompson pg145)
Contemporary Britain is a multi cultural society, and there are some significant differences in the families of ethnic minorities. Although a large group of individuals classed as ethnic minorities will have been born in the UK, they will likely be influenced by their older family members. People coming to live in Britain from other countries have helped create greater diversity in the family.
Sociologists attempt to explain why changes happen in society. Rhona and Robert Rapoport were the first contemporary British sociologists to seriously challenge the idea that we have a dominant family type. Their research showed that only 22% of households match the classic nuclear structure.
They identified five different types of diversity in contemporary Britain, organizational, cultural, class, life course, and cohort.
Chester’s (“The Rise of the Neo-conventional Family”, 1985) argues that although we can identify a range of apparently non-nuclear family forms we should be careful about how we label this in terms of diversity for two reasons. The majority of people in Britain still live at least part of their life within some form of nuclear family structure. Also many forms of diversity are variations on the nuclear family norm - reconstituted families, modified extended, gay etc, all to greater or lesser extents are based on nuclear units and therefore diversity is exhibited in the various different forms of a nuclear family.
One study on changing family patterns was carried out by Young and Willmott (1957) on working class communities in east London in the 1950’s. They found that the traditional extended family network weakened as younger members of the family moved from Bethnal Green to housing estates like Greenleigh in outer London and set up their own nuclear form of family.
‘The effect of increasing levels of occupational and geographical mobility was to erode close-knit networks. It brought the transition from the characteristic extended family to the smaller nuclear pattern.’
(Ian Marsh pg156)
Young and Willmott’s study showed that changes in the physical environment can have an impact on today’s family living.
The functionalist perspective sees society as a set of social institutions that perform specific functions to ensure continuity and consensus. The family performs important tasks that contribute towards society.
According to American sociologist Talcott parsons, the family’s two main functions of the family are primary socialization, and personality stabilization.
‘Primary socialization is the process by which children learn the cultural norms of the society into which they are born. Personality stabilization refers to the role that the family plays in assisting adult family members emotionally. ‘
(Anthony Giddons pg238)
Parsons regarded the nuclear family as the best type to support family living in the industrial age, as one parent (husband) could be the breadwinner and go out and earn a wage, whilst the wife stays at home and looks after the home and children. In modern society Parsons view of the family is outdated, with regards to the domestic division of labor between men and women, although predominantly women on average still do a larger share of domestic chores.
A recent article on channel 4 news based on a study by the children’s mutual, highlighted the slowly emerging changes of today’s conjugal roles.
‘Around 26% of fathers said they had switched to a part-time job, while 24% said they had taken up flexible working, a further 14% of fathers said they had stopped working outside of the home altogether after having children.’(www.channel4.com/news)
Murdoch (1949) was another functionalist, and he identified four functions of the nuclear family. Economic, educational, sexual and reproductive.
There are sociologists who take a New Right approach and believe in the traditional values of the nuclear family.
‘Like functionalism, the New Right sees the nuclear family as an ideal type and has an overly harmonious conception of this type of family.’(Carol Waugh, Viv Thompson pg140)
In contrast to the functionalist perspective, the post modern view supports the view that families in contemporary UK are diverse. That it is pointless talking only of an institution called the ‘family’ as people now live in an ever changing wide range of social relationships.
‘Post modernists believe that there are few of the social constraints on people that structuralist approaches identify, and society and social structures cease to exist; there is only a mass if individuals making individual choices’ (Ken Browne pg 23)
In consideration of the ever changing culture of Britain it would appear from the evidence presented that there is no one typical family type. Most sociologists believe that family types are becoming increasingly diverse.
References:
Ian Marsh. 2006, Sociology: Making Sense of Society. 3rd Ed. Pearson education ltd, London.
Anthony Giddons and Simon Griffiths, 2001, Sociology. Polity press, Cambridge.
Ken Browne Introducing Sociology for AS level, 2006 polity press, Cambridge.
Caroline Waugh Viv Thompson, 2008, AS Level Sociology for OCR, Heinemann Essex
http://www.channel4.com/news