SOCIOLOGICAL THEORIES AND FAMILY VARIETY
Sociologists have differed in their responses to the breakdown of
the traditional ‘nuclear’ family and the emergence of a variety of
different family types.
They can be divided into 2 broad ‘sides’ when looking at these
changes  MODERNISTS
 POSTMODERNISTS
MODERNISTS
What they all have in common
 They think that one type of family – the nuclear family –
‘goes with’ modern industrial society.
 They assume that the traditional nuclear family is the ‘best’
one suited to our kind of society.
DIFFERENT THEORIES UNDER MODERNIST UMBRELLA
(A)FUNCTIONALISTS
Functionalists like Talcott Parsons argue that -  Whereas an extended family was ‘right’ for a pre
industrial society, the nuclear family is ‘right’ for
a modern industrial society
 This is because it performs certain functions for
that society – creating a mobile workforce, socialising
children into the society and creating the stable adult
relationships needed in a modern society and economy.
 Any other kind of family is ‘wrong’ for a modern society.
(B)THE CONSERVATIVE NEW RIGHT
This is a right wing branch of the Conservative Party (which
dominated it in the 1980s and 90s under Mrs
Thatcher and those who supported her.
Their view is -  The traditional nuclear family is the only
correct and normal type of family – with a
mother, father and children and clear cut
roles between the male and female.
 This family type is the ‘natural’ one – others are not
 This family type is the foundation of society and is it
declines then society itself will be in danger.
 The modern decline of this traditional family is the cause of
social problems and social breakdown – drugs, crime,
disrespect for authority etc
 They see lone parent families as unnatural and harmful to
children who grow up usually without a father figure and are
more likely to ‘go off the rails’ as a result. It also leads to
welfare benefit dependency
 They value traditional marriage rather than cohabitation
because marriage leads to stability and a good environment
for bringing up children.
CAUSES OF FAMILY BREAKDOWN
The New Right mostly blame the welfare state and liberal divorce
laws. Welfare benefits –
(a)Encourage lone parent families – because the mother knows
they will be paid for by the state
(b)Encourages ‘dependency’ where people become reliant on
benefits and don’t have the incentive to work to provide for
themselves
(c)Makes it OK for the male not to work - and so damages the
traditional family.
CONSEQUENCES
 The New Right blame these changes for
many of our social problems
Eg the rate of family breakdown is much
higher among co-habiting couples (20%)
compared with married couples (6%)
proving the value of marriage.
 Their main concern is for the children of non traditional
families who have higher rates of crime and anti social
Ian Duncan Smith – a
behaviour than the children of ‘normal’ married
couples.
current New
Right A
study done in 2000 showed children in lonethinker
parent families
are
at much higher risk of poverty, failure at school, crime,
health problems.
SOLUTIONS
 Cut welfare for lone parents and families to reduce welfare
dependency
 Return to traditional values and the traditional nuclear
family.
CRITICS
 Feminists attack their views as right wing and anti female –
wanting a return to the traditional housewife and mother role
 Others challenge their claim that children of lone parents are
more prone to crime and poor behaviour – this depends on
other factors like neighbourhood and environment not on the
fact that the child has one parent.
(C)ROBERT CHESTER – THE SURVIVAL OF THE
NUCLEAR FAMILY
In his article – ‘The Rise of the Neo Conventional Family’ argues
that the traditional or ‘conventional’ nuclear family is not dead it
has just changed because today the
parents both tend to go out to work
rather than just the husband (he calls
this a neo or new conventional family).
He argues that –
 Most people still live in a nuclear
family headed by a married couple.
 Most people still marry and then have children
 Most marriages go on until one partner dies (ie do not end in
divorce)
 Even divorcees tend to re-marry and set up another nuclear
family
 Couples who co-habit usually intend to marry eventually –
and usually do when they have children
So the traditional nuclear family still dominates – family change
and variety has been exaggerated.
(D)RAPOPORT – FAMILIES HAVE BECOME MORE
DIVERSE.
They (Rhona and Robert Rapoport) argue that families ARE more
diverse – we live in a ‘pluralistic’ society in which there are a
range of different family types.
They claim that there are 5 types of family diversity in Britain
today -  ORGANISATIONAL DIVERSITY
– the many different ways in which
modern families are organised –
some have 2 wage earners, some
have one male wage earner, some
have a main female breadwinner etc
 CULTURAL DIVERSITY – Britain is now a ‘multi cultural
society’ with people from different ethnic and religious
backgrounds. Each one has a slightly different family
structure eg Asian families tend to have more extended
families, Caribbean families more female headed families.
 SOCIAL CLASS DIVERSITY – there are differences in
child rearing and work relationships between working class
and middle class families eg working class families tend to
be more traditional and male dominated, middle class ones
more equal.
 LIFE STAGE DIVERSITY – the family changes according
to the stage of the family in life eg couples with young
children are different to elderly couples whose children have
left home.
 GENERATIONAL DIVERSITY – younger people are more
likely to co-habit and accept same sex relationships than
older ones.
POSTMODERNISTS
 These sociologists reject the idea that the family performs a
‘function’ or role in society and this decided what kinds of
families we have
 Instead they emphasis the people have choices about how
they live their lives and the choices they make determines
the kinds of families we now have.
 In the ‘post-modern’ world we have more choices than ever
before so we are bound to have a variety of different kinds of
families.
THE IDEAS OF INDIVIDUAL POSTMODERN THINKERS
TAMARA HAREVEN - ‘Life Course Analysis’.
She uses an idea called ‘life course analysis’ - -  She means that at different stages in their life people have
different choices to make – the choices they make then
decided the kinds of families we have eg at a certain stage
they might decide to get married or not, decide to have
children or not, decide to leave their partner or not and so on.
Each decisions will lead to a different kind of life and a
different kind of family situation.
 This view is supported by other sociologists like Holdsworth
and Morgan. Their view is that - -
 The way to really understand families is to examine how
family members themselves see their situation and how they
react to it ‘from the inside’. For example, if you want to
understand why there is a rise in divorce or a rise in women
wanting to remain single you need to find out their reasons
and feelings - not simply see this as evidence of social
breakdown or dysfunctionality. The real reasons will be
found in their values and attitudes and how they see their
relationships with other members of the family.
 The family and society are not functional ‘machines’ like a
car engine in which the family is a part which performs a
‘function. Human beings decide their own future and have
free will to make choices. So to understand what they do you
have to understand their ideas, beliefs and experiences.
DAVID MORGAN - ‘Family Practices’
 Morgan agrees and argues that if you want to understand
‘family practices’ – the way family members behave towards
each other – you need to understand their beliefs about what
a family is fort and what the different roles of family
members should be
Eg if the male partner believes that it is the role of the woman
to do the housework and look after the children – and the
woman believes that these things should be shared because her
values are different – then there will be conflict in the family.
 However, Morgan does accept that a lot of these values
come form the wider society around us –if the dominant
view is that men and women should now be equal then this
will be reflected in the family relationships.
 The important point is that what people believe about the
family and how it should be is what decides the kinds of
families we have.
CHEAL AND FAMILY DIVERSITY
 Cheal agrees that the kinds of
families we now live in comes
from our values and personal
choices.
 He then goes on to say that we
live in a ‘post-modern’ world
which means that our society is
now far more diverse than ever
before – with different cultures, lifestyles, values and beliefs.
 This gives people more choices about how they live their
lives than ever before – and so people increasingly freely
CHOOSE the kinds of relationships and families they wish
to live in.
 This in turn leads to much greater diversity in family types –
the traditional nuclear family is no longer dominant.
Freedom of choice rules.
ANTHONY GIDDENS ‘Choice and Equality’
The prominent sociologists Giddens also agrees that the family
has changed in recent years because of greater choices and also
because attitudes have changed to make men and women more
equal. He argues that –
 The main reason why men and women have relationships
today is not simply to reproduce (have children) but it is
based more on love and intimacy (made possible by
contraception)
 Women have become more independent because of work,
education and feminists values.
 Both mean that the reasons for marriage and having families
have changed from ‘doing what society expects’ to ‘doing
what you want and like’. You can now choose to live
together, to break up, to have or not have children as you
please and not have the pressures of tradition or social
expectation.
 This means that we now have ‘pure relationships’ based on
genuine affection and happiness – not just ‘doing our duty’.
 The downside – relationships are now less stable because
people demand so much more from them than they used to.
ULRICH BECK ‘RISK SOCIETY AND THE NEGOTIATED
FAMILY’.
He agrees with Giddens that in our society we are less bound by
traditional values and expectations - and more free to choose.
This means that we now weigh up the ‘risks’ – calculate the
possible outcomes – before we enter into any relationship.
He argues that -  In the past social expectations and traditions pretty well
determined your life for you –you were expected to get
marries, have children, stay married.
 Today these expectations have gone and we have more
freedom of choice in our lives
 The rise of female equality and individualism – people
wanting what’s best for themselves and not society – means
that all our family relationships now are not based on
tradition but ‘negotiated’ – in others words partners now
come to their own arrangements about how they will live
and organise their family.
 The downside is that we are also now freer to break up these
relationships and family ties – so families are now more
unstable.
JUDITH STACEY AND THE ‘DIVORCE EXTENDED
FAMILY’.
She argues -  Equality has particularly give more choice to women – they
are no longer simply the junior partner in the family. It is
mainly women who have changed the family and rejected
the traditional housewife and
child carer roles
 Because their expectations are
so much greater they are more
willing to divorce if they are
unsatisfied – and often remarry.
 This leads to a new kind of
family – the ‘divorce extended
family’ whose members relate to each other - divorce is
now so common that the way the post marriage
arrangements are made gives rise to all kinds of new family
structures – step families, different arrangements for the
children of related marriages – increasing family complexity.
JEFFREY WEEKS – GROWING ACCEPTANCE OF
DIVERSITY
He argues that there has been a long term change in our attitudes
since the 50s or 60s –
(a)Sexual behaviour is now a matter of personal choice – not of
social values and expectations
(b)A more secular society has developed which has removed the
moral power of religion
(c)As a result there is acceptance or more family diversity- things
like co-habitation and homosexual relationships are now widely
accepted .
This is a long term but permanent change.
SUMMARY - FAMILY DIVERSITY – FOR OR AGAINST?
ARGUMENTS AGAINST DIVERSITY
 Functionalists argue that the traditional nuclear family
performs vital functions in a modern society and any
departure from it is harmful.
 The New Right agree that any other type of family is
‘unnatural’ and harmful for families and especially children
 Other types of family or ‘dysfunctional’ – meaning harmful
to the well being of society.
FOR DIVERSITY
 Postmodernists argue that there is no ‘natural’ family –
people are simply free to choose the kinds of relationships
and family arrangements they like.
 This choice leads to diversity – but because it is freely
chosen it is a good thing not a bad thing (people should not
be forced to accept only one kind of family as ‘right’)
 This may lead to less stable families – because people who
are dissatisfied will break up their families and relationships
and seek new ones. This is not bad but an expression of
personal choicer and preference.