Assess the view that families have become more personalised and as a result, the concept
of family is now meaningless
Personal life perspective and individual Postmodernism and diversity
meaning - Family life today reflects personal
- Families are defined by personal identity and cultural variation
choice, not fixed roles - Giddens- pure relationships
- Smart- personal life perspective: - Stacey- divorce extended families
families include fictive kin and - Same sex marriages, cohabitation,
chosen families life course changes
- LGBTQ+ families, friends seen as - Highlights shift from tradition
‘real’ family - Many still live in traditional or neo-
- Shows increasing diversity conventional nuclear families
- Critics argue that the state (chester)
Multiculturalism and globalisation Functionalist view- nuclear family persists
- Immigration has introduced diverse - The nuclear family continues to
family structures serve vital functions
- Different cultural norms influence - Merdock- universal family
family patterns - Parsons- functional fit theory
- Supports cultural diversity - Reproduction, socialisation,
- Doesn't feel family is meaningless, stabilisation of adult personalities
just varied - Suggests core structure is still
relevant
- Overlooks growing alternatives and
emotional needs
New right and state policy Marxist and feminist perspectives
- The state continues to promote - Families still support wider
nuclear families structures of inequality
- New right support for marriage, child - Marx- inheritance maintains class
support agency - Feminists- family sustains patriarchy
- Tax benefits for two-patient families - Triple shift for women, unequal
- Shows institutional commitment to parenting toles
the nuclear model - Families are not just personal,
- Fails to reflect real life diversity and they're political
family breakdown - Diversity may challenge, not
reinforce, these systems
of family is now meaningless
Personal life perspective and individual Postmodernism and diversity
meaning - Family life today reflects personal
- Families are defined by personal identity and cultural variation
choice, not fixed roles - Giddens- pure relationships
- Smart- personal life perspective: - Stacey- divorce extended families
families include fictive kin and - Same sex marriages, cohabitation,
chosen families life course changes
- LGBTQ+ families, friends seen as - Highlights shift from tradition
‘real’ family - Many still live in traditional or neo-
- Shows increasing diversity conventional nuclear families
- Critics argue that the state (chester)
Multiculturalism and globalisation Functionalist view- nuclear family persists
- Immigration has introduced diverse - The nuclear family continues to
family structures serve vital functions
- Different cultural norms influence - Merdock- universal family
family patterns - Parsons- functional fit theory
- Supports cultural diversity - Reproduction, socialisation,
- Doesn't feel family is meaningless, stabilisation of adult personalities
just varied - Suggests core structure is still
relevant
- Overlooks growing alternatives and
emotional needs
New right and state policy Marxist and feminist perspectives
- The state continues to promote - Families still support wider
nuclear families structures of inequality
- New right support for marriage, child - Marx- inheritance maintains class
support agency - Feminists- family sustains patriarchy
- Tax benefits for two-patient families - Triple shift for women, unequal
- Shows institutional commitment to parenting toles
the nuclear model - Families are not just personal,
- Fails to reflect real life diversity and they're political
family breakdown - Diversity may challenge, not
reinforce, these systems
