Assess the View That the Nuclear Family Is No Longer the Norm
Assess the view that the nuclear family is no longer the norm.
A conventional nuclear family consists of a traditional setting. A husband, wife and one or more children living together under the same roof. As such, the customary breadwinner would be the husband, while the wife is responsible for the housework and the emotional welfare of the children. But in today’s society, a nuclear family is seen as one of many family types in modern day society. There are some sociologists that say the nuclear family is and should remain the norm, while others argue that society these days is simply too diverse to have only one type of family.
One of the major reasons for the nuclear family no longer being the norm is that divorce rates have increased tremendously. It’s apparent that one in three marriages end in divorce, the rate going higher since between 1995 and 2010. This all then leads to the lone-parent families or re-constructed families. A big increase for divorce may be due to the fact that these days women are a lot more independent than they were for example thirty or forty years ago. Before, women were merely seen as housewives and mothers. Nothing more. Now however, women are much more likely to go into higher education, going to university and going into the same careers that men also go into. Furthermore, concentrating on education and careers first and marriage, children and all round family life much later on in life. Women these days are seen as much more liberated people, especially since they got the vote in 1918 for women over the age of 30 and women in general in 1928. Since the vote, women feel that they now can be financially independent on themselves without having the support of a male role in their lives.
Also, in the Civil Partnership Act of 2005, a new family type has surfaced in society more-same-sex families. Notably, the number of the same-sex marriages tripled between 2006 and 2011, in the first five year period during which they could
A conventional nuclear family consists of a traditional setting. A husband, wife and one or more children living together under the same roof. As such, the customary breadwinner would be the husband, while the wife is responsible for the housework and the emotional welfare of the children. But in today’s society, a nuclear family is seen as one of many family types in modern day society. There are some sociologists that say the nuclear family is and should remain the norm, while others argue that society these days is simply too diverse to have only one type of family.
One of the major reasons for the nuclear family no longer being the norm is that divorce rates have increased tremendously. It’s apparent that one in three marriages end in divorce, the rate going higher since between 1995 and 2010. This all then leads to the lone-parent families or re-constructed families. A big increase for divorce may be due to the fact that these days women are a lot more independent than they were for example thirty or forty years ago. Before, women were merely seen as housewives and mothers. Nothing more. Now however, women are much more likely to go into higher education, going to university and going into the same careers that men also go into. Furthermore, concentrating on education and careers first and marriage, children and all round family life much later on in life. Women these days are seen as much more liberated people, especially since they got the vote in 1918 for women over the age of 30 and women in general in 1928. Since the vote, women feel that they now can be financially independent on themselves without having the support of a male role in their lives.
Also, in the Civil Partnership Act of 2005, a new family type has surfaced in society more-same-sex families. Notably, the number of the same-sex marriages tripled between 2006 and 2011, in the first five year period during which they could