Examine the reasons for the increase in family and household diversity in the last 40 years
Examine the reasons for the increase in family and household diversity in the last 40 years (24 marks)
There are many patterns that display the increase in family diversity across the last 40 years up to today. For example, there are now fewer households containing a nuclear family and more lone-parent families and one-person households than there were in the 1970s. More couples, both straight and same-sex, now cohabit, many more children are born outside marriage than previously, and many more marriages end in divorce; these are known as ‘diverse families’.
Similar to the decreasing of nuclear families, there is a larger decrease in the extended family. The extended family would usually consist of a nuclear family and the grandparents of the children, also would sometimes include aunts, uncles and cousins. Since families are becoming more independent, especially women, there is less need to rely on the wider family. Nuclear and extended families are decreasing due to the increase in diverse families. These Diverse families may include those such as a reconstituted family; made up of two adults who have both been in previous marriages and have kids from said marriages. Other families, such as same-sex families subsist of partners being of the same sex, essentially being in a relationship. Whereas a lone-parent family involves a parent who has split from their partner and are raising the child their self.
Sociologist, Robert Chester, recognises the little increase in family diversity. However, he does not regard this as significant no sees it in a negative light. Chester has come up with the ‘neo-conventional’ family. This is a family that uproots from the nuclear family. Although it includes the traditional mother, father and dependent children, it also combines with the division of labour between a male breadwinner and a female homemaker. The neo-conventional family is similar to the symmetrical family that is described by Willmott and Young. Chester
There are many patterns that display the increase in family diversity across the last 40 years up to today. For example, there are now fewer households containing a nuclear family and more lone-parent families and one-person households than there were in the 1970s. More couples, both straight and same-sex, now cohabit, many more children are born outside marriage than previously, and many more marriages end in divorce; these are known as ‘diverse families’.
Similar to the decreasing of nuclear families, there is a larger decrease in the extended family. The extended family would usually consist of a nuclear family and the grandparents of the children, also would sometimes include aunts, uncles and cousins. Since families are becoming more independent, especially women, there is less need to rely on the wider family. Nuclear and extended families are decreasing due to the increase in diverse families. These Diverse families may include those such as a reconstituted family; made up of two adults who have both been in previous marriages and have kids from said marriages. Other families, such as same-sex families subsist of partners being of the same sex, essentially being in a relationship. Whereas a lone-parent family involves a parent who has split from their partner and are raising the child their self.
Sociologist, Robert Chester, recognises the little increase in family diversity. However, he does not regard this as significant no sees it in a negative light. Chester has come up with the ‘neo-conventional’ family. This is a family that uproots from the nuclear family. Although it includes the traditional mother, father and dependent children, it also combines with the division of labour between a male breadwinner and a female homemaker. The neo-conventional family is similar to the symmetrical family that is described by Willmott and Young. Chester