Sociology: Diversity (1.6)

• Fuctionalism and New right are modernists.
• Modern society is fixed.
• Nuclear family helps peform functions.
• E.g. Primary socialisation of children and stable adult personas.
• E.g. Parsons: Functional fit in modern society. Nuclear family helps a sociallygeographical work force.
• Other families are abnormal, can't peform functions.

NEW RIGHT:

• Anti-femenists and oppose diversity.
• Agree with functionalists, one family type.
• Support patriarchal, separated nuclear family.
• See all this as natural/biological differences.
• See family diversity reason for social problems.
• E.g. Crime and educational failure.

• Lone-Parent families - Unnatural, harms children. Mothers can't discipline children, burden welfare state, no male role model.
• Mothers shouldn't work but nurture family.
• Marriage is vital for child stablility, cohabitation and divorce ruins this.

• Family breakdowns in marriage is less than cohabitation.
• New right say breakdwons effect child into poverty, education failure and crime.
• Say traditional values like marriage will help the damage to children.
• Critics say marriage isn't only solution but commitment.

• Oppose welfare state.
• Burdens working populations.
• It goes against traditional values of man working to support family.
• Encourage dependency culture.

CRITICS:

• Femenists oppose biological differences theory. Cross cultural differences show variation in roles.
• Femenists say Nuclear family is oppressive and keeps them financially dependent.
• Little evidence for lone parents being in dependency culture and child differences.

• Knows increase in diversity
• Not big or negative.
• Change from Conventional/traditional to Neo-Conventional family.
• Conventional = Nuclear family with it's inequality.
• Neo-Conventional = dual earning/working couples and equality.
• Many divorced, widows, Unmarried may have once been part of Nuclear family.
• Statistics are misleading, people may change all the time.

EVIDENCE:

• Many live in a household headed by married couple.
• Adults still marry and have children.
• Marriage continues till death, divorcees remarry.
• Cohabitation increase = root to marriage.
• Birth out of marriage have increased but both partners are committed.
• Many still aspire to have nuclear family.

• Family diversity extent is exaggerated.
• Both spouses are breadwinners and instrumental.

• Say society is more plural/more diverse with different needs and wishes.
• Says Diversity is important for understanding family life today, there are different types of diversity.
• ORGANISATIONAL DIVERSITY:
  • Ways in which families are organised, e.g. some are joint conjugal/segregating.
• CULTURAL DIVERSITY:
  • Relgion and ethnicity, e.g. Afro-carribeans families are female headed.
• SOCIAL CLASS DIVERSITY:
  • Income differences.
• LIFE STAGE DIVERSITY:
  • Reached a certain life cycle, e.g. Newlywed, just had child, widows etc.
• GENERATIONAL DIVERSITY:
  • Older/young differ in attitudes, e.g. diff views on divorce/cohabitation.

THE PURE RELATIONSHIP:

• This is what holds families together, today this isn't law, relgion or tradition but instead individual choice and equality. It exists in society to satisfy each partners' needs.

• Reject Modernist structural and one family dominance.
• Femenists and Personal life.
• Modernists ignore individual social actors thinking, needs are dictated by society and the fact were have more choice of relationship. Too much diversity means there's no 'best' type.
• Diversity is a good thing with freedom of choice.
• More self interest than duty to others.
• Contraception = Sex and intimacy instead of reproduction.
• Couples stay together regardless of reproduction.
• Individuals have more freedom and can choose own life course.
• But these relationships may break up due to instability.

GIDDENS: CHOICE AND EQUALITY:

• More choice and equality between men and women because of contraception and more women independence through femenism.
• We now live in a risk society, more fluid and free.
• Supports the individualisation thesis, which says social structures such as class, gendder and family has lost their influence over us and people lives used to be based on fixed roles.
• Now people have free roles.

BECK: NEGOTIATED FAMILY:

• We live in a risk society with less tradition and more choice.
• But this is risky, as families maybe unstable compared to the nuclear, instrumental and breadwinner family.
• The Patriarchal family has been undermined by 2 reasons.
  • Greater gender equality - Challenged male domination in everything, women now equal at home and work.
  • Greater individualism - Peoples actions are influenced by calculations of their own self interest than by a sense of obligations.
• These trends have replaced the Patriarchal nuclear family.
• But the negotiated family in unstable, people can leave, increasing lone-parent families.

STACEY: POST MODERN FAMILIES:

• More freedom has benefitted women. 
• Free from oppression.
• Women have major impacted family than men.
• Women created new types of family compared to their needs, e.g. they work, reject housewife role, return the education.
• May create a new family structure known as the Divorce extended family where family members include former in-laws e.g. mother in laws or a man's ex wife.

THE INDIVIDUALISATION THESIS:

• Giddens and Beck agree that more individual choice effects family and households.
• Argues that the taditional social structures like class, gender and family have lost it's influence over us. 
• People used to be defined by fixed roles.especial gender roles after marriage.
• Individualisation thesis = we are now more free from traditional roles and structures.
• Leaving us with more freedom on how we live our lives.

• Agree there is more diversity but disagree with Giddens and Beck explanation of it.
• They criticise the individualisation thesis.
• It exaggerates how much choice people have in relationship today.
• They take a neoliberal ideology as if they have complete freedom when traditional norms that limit relationships still exist.
• Also the thesis wrongly sees people as free floating independent individuals ignoring the fact our decisions on personal relationships are made via social context.
• Individualisation thesis ignores structural factors like social class inequalities and patriarchal gende norms in limiting and shaping our relationship choices.
• Giddens and Beck see an individual idealised as a white middle class man as they ignore the fact everyone doesn't have the same ability as this privilidged group.

THE CONNECTED THESIS:

• Alternative to individualisation thesis.
• Instead of seeing us as isolation individuals with limitless choices, Smart says we are social beings with choices made within a web of connectedness.
• Connectedness thesis we live within a netwrok of existing relationships and interwoven pesonal histories  which influeces our range of opitions and choice in relationship.
• Basically wider structures in society limit our choice and diversity.

• Class and gender structure limits our choice, e.g. after divorce, gender norms give women custody which limits thei chance of forming new relationships
• Men are better paid than women and have more choice in relationships.

THE POWER OF STRUCTURES:

• Beck and Giddens say how traditional structures like class, gender and family have weakened. 
• may says these structures haven't disappeared, e.g. women in th past 150 years have got the right to vote, divorse, education and work doesn't mean they have it all.
• But although women can take mascuiline roles they have to be heterosexual.
• This makes lesbians more closet, limiting their choice and lifestyle.
• Personal life keep emphasises is the importance of structural factors  like patriarchy and inequaltiy limits peoples choices.