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Postmodernism and family diversity: - Coggle Diagram
Postmodernism and family diversity:
Postmodern society and the family:
Diversity and Fragmentation -> there is collections of subculture and a pick and mix approach to creating lifestyles and identities.
Radical social change -> Globalisation and technological advancements have accelerated change and made life unpredictable.
Postmodern society is less stable, more diverse and in it, it is no longer possible to generalise about the family.
Stacey:
Greater freedom benefitted women, freed them from the patriarchy and reshaped families to meet their needs.
Stacey used interviews to construct case studies on post-modern families and found that women have been the main agents of change in the family. She also found evidence of new types of family.
One new type of family is the 'divorce-extended family', whose members are connected by divorce rather than marriage. For example Pam Gamma who formed a DEF with Shirley the woman cohabiting with her ex-husband after their divorce and supported each other.
Morgan supports -> it is pointless trying to make large-cale generalisations about the family
Life Course Analysis:
Method of research consisting of in-depth, unstructured interviews to explore meanings and choices made or given by individuals.
Suitable for studying families in todays late or post-modern society.
Beck:
Beck says we are in a 'risk society' where tradition has less influence and people have more choice. (We create the risks e.g. divorce and 42% of mag end in divorce)
While the tradition patriarchal family was unequal and oppressive, it did provide a stable and predictable basis for family life by defining each member's role and responsibilities. However the patriarchal family has been undermined by two trends:
Gender equality
Greater individualism
Negotiated families vary according to the wishes and expectations of their family members, who decide what is best for themselves by negotiation. The relationship is more equal than the patriarchal family but it is more unstable because individuals are free to leave if they feel their needs are not being met.
The zombie family is when a family appears to be a haven of security in an insecure world but actually fails to provide this due to its own instability.
The individualisation thesis:
Giddens and Beck
There is increasing individual choice in families and relationships, we have become freed from the traditional structures and roles.
Giddens:
Relationships are based on individual choice and equality -> a
Pure Relationship
that exists to solely satisfy each partners needs. Partners are free to choose to enter and leave a relationship as they see fit. However, as a result relationships inevitably become less stable.
Giddens sees same sex couples as pioneers, as they are not influenced by tradition and develop relationships based on choice rather than traditional roles.
There is now greater choice and more equal relationships. This is because: contraception has allowed for sex without reproduction and women have gained independence. Couples are free to define their relationships themselves.
Personal life perspective:
Agree that there is now more family diversity but criticise the individualisation thesis. This is because the IT exaggerates how much choice people have and ignore the traditional norms that limit people's relationship choices.
IT ignores the importance of structural factors such as social class inequalities and patriarchal gender in limiting and shaping our relationship choices.
The Connectedness Thesis:
Smart -> we are fundamentally social beings whose choices are always made 'within a web of connectedness'. We live within networks of existing relationships and interwoven personal histories, and these strongly influence our range of options and choices in relationships.
Finch and Mason -> Couple relationships are not always 'pure' relationships that we can walk away from at will. For example, parents who separate remain linked by their children, often against their wishes.
Class and Gender:
Class and gender structures limit our choices about the kinds of relationships, identities and families we can create for ourselves. For example, gender norms around divorce may limit women, men being better paid gives them more freedom and the lack of power of women and children trapping them in abusive relationships.
The power of structure:
May argues that these structures are being re-shaped.
Einasdottir argues that lesbianism is now tolerated, heteronormativity means many lesbians feel forced to remain in the closet and this limits their choice about their relationships and lifetsyles.
Beck and Giddens argue that there has been an disappearance of the structures of class, gender and family that traditionally controlled our lives and limited our choices.