AQA Family and Households
- Created by: elshooper
- Created on: 29-04-19 09:34
Policies
The Welfare State 1948
People eligible for flate-rate pensions, sickness benefit, unemployment benefit and funeral benefit
- provided single parents the opportunity to provide for their children without needing a partner
Divorce Reform Act 1969
A marriage could end in a divorce if it was proved to have "irrevitably broken down"
- allowed people to escape bad marriages, led to increase of monoparental families
Equal Pay Act 1970
'the right to equal pay for equal work'
- allowed women to access the work place easier: women delayed having children for their careers and, in turn, had less children
Divorce
1901: 512 divorces in England and Wales
1993: 165,000 divorces
2013: 42% of all marriages ended in divorce
Divorce Acts
- 1857 Matrimonial Causes Act: allowed ordinary people to divorce but proof had to be provided
- 1970 Divorce Reform Act: allowed a divorce if couple had been separated for 2+ years
Reasons for Increase
- changes in laws
- reduced stigma and changin values
- secularisation
- ideology of romantic love
- economic imporvements
- feminism
Marriage
Rates at their lowest since the 1920s
'Marriage rate': number of married per 1,000 unmarried 16+
Higher proportion of re-marriages
2012: 1/3 of all marriaged were re-marriages
Average age of first marriage risen
1971: men 25, women 23
2012: men 32, women 30
Religion
1981: 60% had religious ceremonies
2010: only 30% involved religious ceremony
Cohabitation
Fastest growing type of family in the UK
1960s: less than 1 in 100 adults estimated to have been cohabiting
2010: 1 in 6
Meaning:
alternative to marriage or a preparation
Reasons for increase
- changing role of women
- reduced functions of the family
- changing attitudes/reduced stigma
- secularisation
- rising divorce rate
- reducing risk
Step-families
40% of mothers will experience being a lone parent
75% of lone mothers will form stepfamilies
90% of stepfamilies involve children living with mother + new male partner
Reasons for growth
- divorce and separation - increase
- increasing trend towards serial monogamy
Complexities of life
- women have to balance triple threat: paid employment, domestic labour and childcare, and emotional management
- sense of unity present in nuclear families (e.g. shared family history) not necessarily evident
Child-bearing
47% of children born outside of marriage --- 2 times as many as in 1986
Women are having children later: average age of first child is 28
Women having fewer children: average number decresed from 2.95 (1964) to 1.94 (2010)
Reasons
- decline in stigma: only 28% of 25-34 yo think marriage should come before parenthood
- increase in cohabitation
- increased opportunities for women: education, careers, finacial independence
Lone parenthood
The proportion of families in the UK headed by a single parent is around 1/4
Proportion of lone parent families
- never cohabited 18%
- widowed 5%
- divorced 25%
- previously cohabiting 37%
- separated 15%
Growth sincre the 1970s
1972: 7% of families were classified as lone parent families
Since 1996: 25% of families with children are headed by single parents
Functionalism
Murdock: 4 main functions
- Sexual
- Reproduction
- Socialisation
- Economic
Parsons: 2 main functions
- Primary socialisation
- Stabilisation of human personalities — sexual division of labour, expressive and instrumental roles
Nuclear family and modern society
Classic extended family replaced by privatised nuclear family/ modified extended family
Parsons: privatised nuclear family = structurally isolated
Functionalism
Reasons for decline of extended family
- Geographical mobility
- Social mobility
- Growth in wealth and income
- Growth in meritocracy
- Avoidance of conflict caused by economic/ status differences
- Strengthening bonds between married/ cohabiting partners
Functionalism
Changing functions
- Functions transferred to other specialised institutions
- Structural differentiation (Parsons): modern family only has 2 main functions
Case against the loss of function
Fletcher: family has more responsibilities — unit of consumption,
Feminists: unit of production — unpaid domestic labour
Traditional functions and how they’ve changed
Reproduction Increase outside of family
ProductionFamilies don’t produce goods — wages to buy
Maintenance of childrenReplaced by welfare services
Help & care Shared with welfare state
Primary socialisation No longer restricted to family
Social control‘’
EducationReplaced by the state
New Right
Welfare state: encourages a culture of dependency
Divorce: undermines nuclear family — creates underclass of female lone parents — lack of role models for boys
Single parent families: cause of crime
Decline of traditional family + growth of family diversity: cause of social problems
Evidence
- Children from broken homes 5x likely to develop behavioural issues
- Children with split parents 3x more likely to behave aggressively
- Lone parent families 2x more likely to be in poverty
- Children from broken homes 9x more likely to become young offenders
Criticisms
Accused of romanticising family: ignoring dark side
Feminism: divorce allows women an escape from detrimental marriages
Marxism
Family:
- Agency of social control
- Tool of the ruling class
- Keeps capitalism and inequality in place
Engelsinheritance of property
Althussersocialised to accept inequality
Zaretskyfamily source of profit
Benefits capitalism but not family members
'Personal life' Perspective
Interactionist perspective
Criticises structural perspectives:
- Assume nuclear family is dominant type
- Assume individuals are puppets manipulated by structure of society
Carol Smart: relationships
- Relationships with friends
- Fictive kin
- Gay and lesbian ‘chosen families’
- Dead relatives
- Pets
'Personal life' perspective
Donor-conceived children
Nordqvist and Smart
Found that the issue of blood and genes raised a range of feelings
Some parents emphasised the importance of social relationships over genetic ones
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