G672 Topic 1 studys

Cereal packet family. The image of the cereal packet family implies familys shoould be..

1. Small and compact

2. hetrosexual marriage- children are seen as the "outcome of love" procreation is an essentional ellement in the reproduction of society

3. The cereal packet family is reinforced by marriage it assumes marriage encourages faithfulness and so gives the family stability.

4. There is a clear division of labour women at home men at work.

Although there is much familydiversity in the u.k the tradit nuc is still seen as best. "Familial ideology" refers to the idea that a particular type of family and living arangment is something to aspire to.

Even though the tradit nuc fam is small in number it doesn't represent the "death of the family" though many familys are no longer conventional in the sense that both  the man and the woman may work or there may be a step parent these changes are superficial. 

He calls this new type of family the neo conventional family

He shows that through a persons lifecycle the vast magority will at some point live in a parent child household.

36% of the population live in a neo conventional fam

The modified dispersed extended family consists of related nuclear familiys that may life far apart from one another but maintain regular contact through visits, phone, email etc. Members of the dispersed extended family do not rely on each other on a daily basis.

He argues that the family has chnaged in structure over timepre industrial society the extended family carried out a wide range of functions since a larger pool of kin was avalible i.e gradparents care for children and grown children cared for the sick members of the family.

However post industrial family's killed the extended family leaving the traditional nuclear in its place. As it alowed for geographic mobility, acheived status, loving relationships becoming key to the familys stability.

The family is more specialised due to structural differentation which means institutions have taken some of the familys functions on as they are specialised in them and so the family itself becomes more specialised in a few areas allowing the other institutions to specialise elsewhere

Extended family networks were still in existence in the traditional working class comunities in the 1950's However they found that families who had been rehoused in a new council estate in essex thirty miles away from bethernal green had become privitised.

Wives lost regular contact with their mothers and became more dependent on their husbands for emotional support. Husbands lost social contact with thier work mates and so spean less time in the pub and so spent more time doing domestic activities such as gardening.

This was the birth of the symetrical family where roles were similar but not equel. Many women felt isolated in the home.

They argue that the changes that have taken place in the family have occured through a process of strattified diffusion where changes to the upper class have trickled down. As working hours have shortened and the standard of living has risen there isn't the same need for the extended fam network making family life increaingly privatised and nuclear.

Criticism- march of progress theory

There is no historical evidence that the extended family ever existed in large numbers

Disputes the idea that the family has lost some of its functions arguing that that the family is still as important as ever and their functions have increased in detail and importance.

Children are expected to be socialised to a higher standard in conjunction to schools

welfair for family members. The family still rely on eachother emotionally, financially and practically.

Economically the family is a huge unit of consumption.

The degree to which privatisation has occured has been exagerated

Couples maintained regular contact with kin and grown children. Geographic mobility meant that cars and telelphones could be used to keep in touch with eachother. Moreover they relied on eachother as a source of contacts in finding jobs and housing.

The family is still very in mortant in britian. They are still a source of help and support and family contacts are still maintained though family members are likely to live far apart. They beleive that the core of the family goes beyond the nuclear family but also includes grandparents. 

They also found the differences between social classes remained the same the working class are more likely to have frequent contact than the middle class. Despite all the social changes affecting families kinship networks beyond the nuclear family are still important

found evidence that the classic working class extended family still existed in the east end.

She found that adults were quite happy to live only a few streets away from their parents an close relatives and visited them regularaly. Ties between mothers and children were particularaly strong and contact between mother and married daughter was frequent. Close kinship networks also formed magor material and emotional suport.

Women expect more from marriage than men. They expect friendship and emotional gratification which they may not find and as a result they found 2/3rds of women were disapointed in their husbands by the third year of marriage.

Fletcher, tallcott and parsons agree saying that the rise in maritial break down is because both men and women have higher standards of marriage.

Women are dissapointed in marriage because of the disproportionate amount of work they take on they seek divorce because they are being treated as domestic slaves

Both men and women expect more from marriage.

Marriage is no longer sacred. It can be abandoned if it fails. 60% of marriages no longer are a religeous ceremony the church now takes a much less rigid veiw on divorce and their isn't much religeous significance to marriage for most people.

Children in reconstituted familys often feel that they are being pulled in different directions especially if the relationship between their natural parents continues to be strained they may have tense relationships with step parents and how far the child accepts them as "mother" or "father" this can strain the new marriage especially if they have new children together which may cause envy.