Family Studies

Williams 2006 - A 2004 survey by Pay Care Trust found childcare costs were nearly a
quarter of the average household income.
Alan and Crow 2001 - Marriage is more about the relationship than the status
nowadays.
- Women can be financially independent.
- Cohabitation has increased due to better contraception as pregnancy is not so much
of a worry and traditionally its only acceptable to get pregnant after marriage.
- Theres been a rise in never married women.
- Families are now more about choice and dont all pass through the same life cycle.

Giddens 1992 - Marriage is about confluent love i.e. intimacy and emotions rather
than duty and obligation.

Gittins 1993 - Women are no longer financially dependent on men.

Sharpe 1994 - In the 70s girls prioritised love, marriage, husbands and children. In the
90s they wanted a career and independence.

Roseneil and Budgeon 2004 - Families dont stay nuclear nowadays due to things such
as divorce.

Brannen 2003 - Beanpole families occur due to longer life expectancy, more care for
the elderly, more care for the elderly and grandparents providing childcare.

Grundy and Henretta 2006 - Women aged between 55-69 have to look after their
children, their parents, and their grandchildren. Known as sandwich generation.

Smart 2000 - Children of divorced parents want to have equal time with both parents
but those with parents hostile to each other found it difficult.

Weeks et al 2000 - Homosexual couples dont have pre-set roles like most
heterosexual couples, so Weeks calls them chosen families.

Beck and Beck Gernsheim 1995 - Individualism has increased as were choosing how to
live and not following clear cut roles.

Family Laws
Divorce Reform Act 1969:
- Came into effect in 1971
- Couples only had to prove irretrievable breakdown, not adultery, cruelty, or
abandonment

The Matrimonial Family Proceedings Act 1984:
- Reduced time a couple had to be married before divorcing from 3 years to 1
year

Family Law Act 1996:
- Couples had to try and save their marriage but, if it couldnt be saved, they
could try to divorce with minimal negative impacts

The Child Support, Pensions and Social Security Act 2000:
- Absent parents have to pay maintenance for children they dont live with

Children Act 2004:
- Gives guidelines for how issues related to children must be handled
- Allows the state to intervene if there are concerns about a childs welfare
- In place to protect the safety of children

Civil Partnership Act 2004

Equality Act 2010 (Includes Equal Pay Act 1970 and Sex Discrimination Act
1975):
- Both genders get paid the same for the same job
- Discrimination due to gender, race or religion in the workplace and wider
society is forbidden




Family Statistics
In 2006 there were 24.2 million households in UK - 30% increase from 1971.

Family size decreased from 3.1 people in 1961 to 2.4 people in 2006.

In 2006 58% of men and 39% of women aged 20-24 in England were still living
with their parents - 8% increase from 1991.

Marriage peaked in 1972 at 480,000.

Overall marriage has declined but its still popular - in 2005 over 50% of adults in
the UK were married.

Remarriage rose by 1/3 between 1971 and 1972.

In 2005 remarriages for one or both parties accounted for 40% of all marriages.

40 years ago the average ages for marriage were 23 for women and 25 for men,
in 2006 it was 29 for women and 31 for men.

Divorce peaked in 1993 at 180,000.

The divorce rate is at its lowest since 1984.

Cohabitation arose in the 1970s.

In 2005, 24% of non-married people in the UK were cohabiting, which is a 100%
rise in cohabitation since 1986.

Approximately 1 in 4 children in the UK live in a single parent household.

In 2005 the average age of a mother having her first child was 27.3 - 3x the
national average in 1971.

By 2005 the number of one person households more than doubled since 1971
from 3 million to 7 million.
Only 39% of British African-Caribbean adults under 60 are in a formal marriage -
compared to 60% of white adults.

Over 45% of black Caribbean, black African and mixed families were headed by
a single parent.

According to the 2001 Census, Asian families are least likely to be lone parents.





























Conjugal Role Debate
Symmetrical Shared not equal Unequal and worse
Connell - Identified 3
masculinities (complicit,
marginalised, and
subordinate). Complicit
masculinity is the new man
who takes a shared role in
the family. The increase in
complicit masculinity has
made conjugal roles
symmetrical.
Ann Oakley - Men only have
to do a little housework to
be considered as helping -
the women still do the
majority. Class is also a
relevant factor, middle class
domestic roles are more
likely to be shared but there
wasnt complete equality in
any class.
Fran Ansley - The family is
used as a safety valve for
mens frustrations due to
capitalism, which helps keep
capitalism in place.
Therefore women are taking
on more work as they have
to let the men take out their
frustrations on them.
Whitlock - Rising
unemployment may
contribute to the increase in
symmetrical conjugal roles.
He found that men
undertake more housework
and childcare when
unemployed.
Edgell - Men seem to make
important decisions about
buying big things and
finances whereas women
were in charge of domestic
issues, spending on
childrens clothes and
decoration. Men seem to
have more power.
Dunscombe and Marsden -
Women have to do emotion
work (sympathising,
understanding and giving
emotional support) as well
as paid work, housework and
childcare, which is called the
triple shift.













The Construction of Childhood
Philippe Aries - The concept of childhood didnt exist in Medieval Europe -
Children behaved like little adults.
- Used secondary research.
- Believed that childhood as a status emerged when children began to be
educated and when employment of children was regulated.

Wendy Stainton Rogers - 2 images of childhood - the innocent and
wholesome child and the wicked and sinful. Both images coexist.

Nick Lee - Adults are becoming more like children and adulthood is less stable
and more uncertain.
- Childhood hasnt disappeared but its become more complex and
ambiguous.

Neil Postman - Childhood is disappearing due to media breaking down
boundaries between adulthood and childhood.


















Nuclear Family Debate
Robert Chester 1985 - Most people live in a nuclear family at some point.
- Theories of diversity are misleading.

Ann Oakley 1984 - The nuclear family is conventional.

Leach - The nuclear family is the cereal packet family of the 1960s ideal
image of a heterosexual couple and 2 children close in age.

Murdoch - The nuclear family is universal.

Parsons - The nuclear family is the best fit for industrialised society.

Diana Gittins 1993 - The idealised picture of the nuclear family is a powerful
ideology, defining what is normal and desirable and labelling alternative
family forms as abnormal and undesirable.


















Family Diversity
Rapoport and Rapoport 1982 - 5 forms of diversity:

- Organisational diversity: Different structures and conjugal roles.
- Cultural diversity: Relationships between family members and the nature of
the family varies between different ethnic and cultural groups.
- Class diversity: Differences based on class, such as conjugal roles, employing
a nanny and differences in socialising.
- Lifecycle stage diversity: The nature of the family changes over time, for
example living in a nuclear family is more likely for those in their 30s than in
their 60s.
- Cohort diversity: Individuals born at the same time have similar experiences
of social and historical events such as war and economic depression.

Eversley and Bonnerjea 1982 - added a 6
th
form of diversity:

- Regional diversity: Local influences produce different life experiences. The
areas of Britain are affluent, rural, geriatric, inner city and old industrial.

Willmott 1988 - 4 types of extended family:

- Extended family of residence:
- Local extended family
- Dispersed extended family
- Attenuated extended family

To illustrate cultural diversity
Francis and Archer 2006 - There are tiger mothers from Asian backgrounds
who tend to be quite critical and strict and push their children to achieve
highly academically. These families use their skills, network and money to
help the children achieve.
Singh 2003 - Values are changing within Sikh communities - the value of
mutual help and assistance is being replaced by the value of individualism.
Young Sikhs are challenging traditional roles and values.

To illustrate class diversity
Ann Oakley 1974 - Class is a relevant factor in the division of labour in the
home - middle class domestic roles are more shared.
Pahl - Women controlling finances is not typical but more common in
working-class families.