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Changes in Family Structure - Coggle Diagram
Changes in Family Structure
Parsons
-
Industrialisation
Changed
Family Structure
2 Basic Types
of Family Structure
Extended
Nuclear
2 Basic Types
of Society
Industrial:
Society during and industrialisation - work centres on
factories
and production of goods in
cities
Pre-Industrial:
Society before industrialisation - largely
agricultural
and work centres on
home, farm, village
and
market
Parsons
(1951) - Nuclear families become dominant in industrial society
In
pre-industrial
society, the
extended
family is most common
Families
live and work together
, producing goods and crops to live from, taking the surplus to market
Where the term
cottage industry
comes from
In
industrial
society, the
nuclear family
becomes dominant
There's a huge increase in individuals
leaving the home
to work for a wage
They key social change is that industrialisation
separates home and work
Functionalists
Industrialisation
Changed the
Function
of the Family
Parsons
thought the
dominant family structure
changed from
extended
to
nuclear
because it's
more useful
for industrial society
Lots of
functions
of the family in
pre-industrial
society are
taken over by the state
in
industrial
society
E.g. policing, healthcare, education
Parsons
said the industrial nuclear family is the
'isolated'
meaning it has
few ties
with local
kinship
and economic systems
Means the family can
easily move
to where the work is (
geographical mobility
)
The nuclear family can focus on its function of
socialisation
- socialising
children
into the
roles
,
values
and
norms
of industrialised society
Industrialisation
Changed
Roles
and
Status
in the Family
Status for an individual in
pre-industrial
society was
ascribed
,
Parsons
reckoned that in industrial society an individual's status is
achieved
by their success
outside the family
The idea is that the
nuclear family
is the
best
for allowing individuals to
achieve status
and position without
conflict
Okay for an individual to achieve higher or lower status than previous generations
Allows for
greater social mobility
in society
People can
better themselves
Parsons
says
specialised roles
for men and women develop within the family
Men are
instrumental
leaders and women are
expressive
leaders in a family
Said these roles come about because they're
most effective
for society
Feminists
and
conflict theorists
disagree - say these roles come from
ideology
and
power
Criticisms
Criticised for seeing the modern nuclear family as
superior
- something that societies evolve into
Criticised for putting forward an
idealised
picture of history,
historical evidence
suggests there was actually a
variety
of family forms in the past
Peter Laslett
(1972) reckons the
nuclear family
was the
most common
structure in Britain even before industrialisation
Evidence comes from
parish records
Laslett and Anderson
(1971) say the
extended family
actually was
significant
in industrial society
Anderson
used the
1851 census
for evidence
Said when people moved to cities for
industrial
jobs, they lived with relatives from their extended family
Willmott and Young
- Families Have
Developed
Through
3 Stages
Willmott and Young
(1960, 1973) conducted 2 important studies looking at family structures in British society from the
1950-1970s
Mainly studied families in different parts of
London
and
Essex
Tested the theory that the
nuclear family
is the
dominant form
in modern industrial society
Their conclusion was that
British families have developed through 3 stages
(originally
4
but had little evidence for the last stage, so dropped it)
Stage 1:
Pre-Industrial
Family works together as an
economic production unit
Work and home are combined
Stage 2:
Early Industrial
Extended family is broken up as individuals (mostly men) leave home to work
Women at home have strong
extended kinship
networks
Stage 3:
Privatised Nuclear
Family based on
consumption
, not
production
- buying things, not making them
Nuclear family is focused on its
personal relationships and lifestyle
Called
'the symmetrical family'
- husband and wife have joint roles
The idea that both partners
work
either part-time or full-time
The economic contribution of men and women is
equally important
Stage 4:
Asymmetrical
Husband and wife roles become
asymmetrical
as men spend more leisure time
away from the home
e.g. in the pub
Got dropped
Wilkinson
(1994) argued that increasing numbers of women are working because the economy has moved away from the historically male-dominated
industrial sector
towards the traditionally female-dominated
service sector
Women's
attitudes
towards work and family have undergone a
'genderquake'
Notes that in the early
1990s
, women between
16 and 35
saw
work
and
education
as more important than having
children
Women have gained
economic influence
in the family through
employment
Changes the structure of family because
traditional gender roles
wihthin it are
broken down
In
2012
, a survey of social attitudes found
41%
of women and
36%
of men believed that the
ideal
way to structure a family with dependent children was for
men to work full-time
and
women to work part-time
This structure was seen as
more desirable
than only having a male breakwinner
Criticisms
Criticised for
assuming
that family life has got
better and better
as structure adapts to modern society
Described as
'march of progress'
theorists
Ignore
the
negative
aspects of the modern nuclear family
DV
,
child abuse
and
lack of care
for
older
and
vulnerable
people
Feminist
research suggests
equal roles
in the 'symmetrical family' don't really exist
Governments
try to Influence Family Structure through
Social Policy
The UK government often makes
laws
that are designed to influence
family life
or
structure
Part of
social policy
Social policy laws cover areas such as
divorce
, changes to the
benefit system
which affect family income, reforms to the
education system
,
adoption/fostering
and
employment
Donzelot
(1977) argued
social policy
can be used by the state to
control
families and that
professionals
such as health care visitors can use their knowledge to
control
family behaviour
The way governments tackle social policy has
changed
since WW2
In the 1945-1979 period, the state's social policy was quite
interventionist
The Welfare State
set up by the
Labour government
in 1948,
supported families
through benefits, public housing, family allowances and free healthcare
People paid into a
national insurance
scheme to pay for it, it was
universal
- everyone had the same benefits and services
1979 Conservatives
- Believed in
Reduced State Intervention
Margaret Thatcher
set about
reforming
the relationship between society and the state
Influenced by
New Right
ideology, they believed that nuclear families were the
cornerstone of society
, but also thought society as a whole should be
freed from interference
by the state
Thought the UK had become a
'nanny state'
with too much government control over individual lives
Set out to make individuals more
responsible
for their own lives and decisions - the state would
intervene much less
in private matters
Benefits were cut and
taxes lowered
,
means testing
was introduced for some benefits with the aim of helping only those in
genuine need
Mothers were encouraged to
stay at home
through preferential tax allowances, families were pushed to take on more responsibility for
older people
through benefit cuts
Valued
traditional, nuclear families
- In
1988
,
Thatcher
described the family as
"the building block of society"
It's a nursery, school, hospital, leisure place, place of refuge and of rest
Created laws that enforced the
rights
and
responsibilities
of individuals in families
The Children Act 1989
outlined for the first time the rights of the child
The
Child Support Agency
was established in
1993
to enforce absent parents to
pay
a fair amount towards upkeep of their children
Considered a law to make
divorce more difficult
- a compulsory
cooling off
period of 1 year was proposed before a couple could divorce, they
abandoned
this idea because they couldn't find a way to make it work
New Labour
- Promised a
Compromise
Came into power in
1997
led by
Tony Blair
Based their ideology on
'The Third Way'
- a middle ground between
left-wing
and
right-wing
politics
Policies were designed to be
more pragmatic
and
less ideological
than the 1979 Conservative or previous Labour
In the 1998 consultation paper
'Supporting Families'
, they made it clear that
marriage
was their preferred basis for family life
However, showed awareness of, and concern for,
diversity
of family life
In 2005, they introduced
civil partnerships
, a union like marriage that's available to gay couples
Introduced laws allowing any type of cohabiting couple to
adopt children
Adopted some
New Right ideas
about
family policy
e.g.
cut
lone-parent family benefits,
supported
means-tested benefits and were
opposed
to universal benefits
Coalition Government
- Promoted Family
Stability
The General Election 2010
- a
coalition government
of
Conservatives
and
Liberal Democrats
formed under
David Cameron
Promoted
marriage
as a
stabilising
force in family life e.g. they pledged to remove the
'couples penalty'
that made those on benefits better off if they lived
apart
In 2014, they legalised
same-sex marriage
, however not all
Conservative
politicians agreed - they thought
civil partnerships
and
same-sex marriage
would damage family stability
After the
financial crisis of 2008
, they introduced a policy of economic
austerity
, which aimed to
reduce
the amount of money the government was spending
Had an impact on
family life
In an attempt to
reduce
the welfare bill, they capped
housing benefit
in 2013 at £500 a week for couples and single parents with children - married couples were
not prioritised
In
2015
, a
Conservative
government was elected and
continued
the
austerity
policy and thought families should take more
8economic responsibility*
for their kids
Announced a
cap
on
child benefit
- decided that families with 3 or more children wouldn't receive an increase in
child tax credits
or
housing benefit
after their 2nd child
The Secretary for Work and Pensions,
Iain Duncan Smith
, suggested limiting
child benefit
to the first
2
children would promote
'behavioural change'
and discourage families from having too many children