The Decline of Family in Modern Britain

1222 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Contemporary family structure

The Decline of Family in Modern Britain

Family- “a group of people who are related to each other such as a

mother, a father and their children “(Cambridge Dictionaries Online,

Cambridge University Press (2008)),

Is this the view of a family in 2008, clearly it could be said that

this definition is somewhat outdated but does it point to the family

being in decline?

In Britain today the family has certainly undergone a lot of changes

compared to the 1950s where the family was predominately a nuclear

family where the man of the household went out to work and the woman

stayed at home to cook, clean and look after the children.

Today there are a number of ‘new’ structures to a family such as

single parent families, reconstituted families and same sex families

all of which consider they to be what constitutes a family. But how

did these ‘new’ structures come about, to answer this we have to look

at the changes the family has undergone in recent years.

Divorce is a big influence on the structure of a family as it is

today. Divorce is easier to obtain than in previous years with the

introduction in 1971 of the Divorce Reform Act that established

irretrievable breakdown of marriage as grounds for divorce. Another

act was passed in 1984 that allowed married couples to divorce after

one year of marriage that ultimately increased the number of divorces.

Legal aid is now more accessible and ends in most cases the expense of

a divorce. Divorce is also far less stigmatised than previously where

the likelihood of knowing someone who is divorced as opposed to not

knowing anyone (as in previous years) is rare and on the whole

accepte...

... middle of paper ...

...ly has its own structure dependant on

who you are and as long as it functions to the best of its ability, it

is about change ‘with the times’ rather than decline.

Bibliography

------------

Moore, S., Chapman, S. and Aiken, D. (2001) Sociology for AS-Level,

Families and Households Topic 2 (1-6): 36-55, London: Collins.

New Right and Changes in the Family (Class Handout 07.10.04)

Changing Patterns of Marriage and Divorce (Class Handout 21.10.04)

Contemporary Changes in the Family (Class Handout 08.10.04)

Cambridge Dictionaries Online (accessed 24.10.04) Available:

http://dictionary.cambridge.org/results.asp?searchword=family

S-cool Student Site As & A2 Level Sociology Family

Ideology-Introduction, Type of Family, Diversity and A View from 1950

(accessed 21.10.04) Available: http://www.s-cool.co.uk

Show More
Related

  • Sociology Of Families Chapter Summaries

    1093 Words  | 3 Pages

    there is also an increase in friends placed in the voluntary kin category. The article states that people who are single or live alone think of themselves as a family. Yet studies shown that these single families tend to keep more in touch with the relatives. A statement that Dr. Coontz makes is that We’re seeing a class divide not only between the haves and the have-nots, but between the I do’s and the I do nots,”. The article also states that the way demographer noticed differences in today’s family from previous one was through the birth rates, today’s rate is about half of what it used to be in 1960. After the era of the baby boom in 1964, the rate was 36 percent, and last year the number dropped to 23.5 percent predicting a 21 percent of child births by 2050. This because less women are become mothers – yet those who are only have one or two children compared the 3 children per family in the 1970s. Another reason the articles bring up about child care is the expenses, a child can easily cost a family as little as 241,080 to about a million dollars. However, the article agrees with chapter when it states that women with a bachelor or higher wait longer to get married and have children (about 90 percent)

    Read More

  • Family Structure In Post-War Britian

    1218 Words  | 3 Pages

    World War ǁ was a global military event, the most colossal conflict in history lasting from 1939-1945, it involved most of the worlds nations including Great Britain. WWII had far-reaching implications for most of the world. The following essay will demonstrate the changes the UK family has undergone since World War ǁ, the following essay will also throw light upon the changes in family types, economic activities of women , power distribution, laws and sexuality with respect to disciplines of sociology, economics, history and politics.

    Read More

  • Poor Kids Documentary Summary

    498 Words  | 1 Pages

    I believe that my opinion on these families falls into the Symbolic-Interaction theory. My immediate thought is to blame the victims of poverty and I dislike that I think like that. I know that my opinion could be completely different if I knew more of their backgrounds and how they got to where they were, but most of society holds a lot of value in first impressions. I also think that economic inequality is completely unfortunate. Seeing that the highest 20 percent of U.S. families earns about 48.9 percent of all income is confusing and feels unfair. It is really hard knowing that so many children can starve and go without, while another family is spending thousands on an outfit, but that is our disheartening reality.

    Read More

  • Sociology: Dramatic Changes To the American Family

    1018 Words  | 3 Pages

    Families have changed greatly over the past 60 years, and they continue to become more diverse.

    Read More

  • How Scottish families have changed in the last 100 years

    1714 Words  | 4 Pages

    Perhaps the area that has changed the most for Scottish women in the last century is the family and the home. In the first half of the century the norm was for the woman of the house to "service" the male breadwinners within the home and family and to reproduce as their primary roles in life. This included many tasks including preparing meals for the whole family, looking after the family budget (It was usual for the husband to give his wife his pay packet at the end of the week and she would use it to pay the bills and buy the food.) as well as cleaning the house and the doing the whole family's washing, which all together usually equated to (or more than) full time work.

    Read More

  • The Destruction of Family in 1984

    453 Words  | 1 Pages

    The family unit of Oceania in George Orwell’s book, 1984, plays an important part to society. These families are broken rather than households of affection and comfort. Oceania’s government, called the Party, controls the families in every aspect. With these non-existent families, there is a cycle of breaking down of family and a stronger Party as times passes until a there is force strong enough to end it. These families that lead to corruption in society should be avoided in order to prevent a totalitarian government from rising.

    Read More

  • John Perry's Dialogue On Personal Identity And Imorality?

    1342 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the real life, it is hard to judge our personal identity: we are aware of who we are every second and minute, we also are able to check our appearance that we have known since we were born from looking at mirror. We know “I am myself” all the time.

    Read More

  • Society Must Redefine the Meaning of Family

    1195 Words  | 3 Pages

    Society seems to have many different opinions when it comes to relationships and families and what is ideal. The ideal family may not exist anymore. We now have in our society families that are complete that do not necessarily contain the traditional material. The traditional family, as society would see it; usually consist of a married, mother and father and usually children. Moms are supposed to stay at home while dads work the forty-hour a week job. However, in our 2003 world, families exist in a lot of non-traditional ways. A lot of families now consist of single parent families, or same sex parents and their children, or even couples that are unmarried but live together. And even now, if a family contains what society sees as traditional as far as having a mom, dad, and kids, other aspects are not traditional anymore. Women now have more opportunity in the workplace than they have ever had, therefore, many moms are career moms and dads are sometimes staying at home. Years ago, these types of families were given labels for being dysfunctional or abnormal, however, this label is not holding up as well as it did years ago. There are many non-traditional families that are raising children in a loving, nurturing home with a substantial amount of quality love. Quality is the key in any relationship between anyone. Society is finding out that it is not the traditional image that makes a loving family, but the quality of a relationship that people give to each other is what really makes a family. In the essay "The Myth of the "Normal" Family", written by Lousie B. Silverstein and Carl F. Auerbach, they make references to the cultural idea of what a "normal" family should be and what i...

    Read More

  • Society's Changing Attitude about the Traditional Family Model

    1857 Words  | 4 Pages

    Traditional family in today’s society is rather a fantasy, a fairy tale without the happy ending. Everyone belongs to a family, but the ideology that the family is built around is the tell tale. Family structures have undeniably changed, moving away from the conventional family model. Nowadays more mothers work outside of the home, more fathers are asked to help with housework, and more women are choosing to have children solo. Today there are families that have a mom and a dad living in the same home, there are step-families, and families that have just a mother or just a father. Probably the most scrutinized could be families that consist of two moms or two dads. These are all examples of families and if all members are appropriately happy and healthy then these families are okay and should incontestably be accepted. So why is the fantasy of the traditional family model still so emphasized in our society? This expectation is degrading and misleading. Progressing with times one ought not be criticized or shunned for being true to their beliefs. It is those living falsely, living as society thinks they should that are the problem. Perhaps as a society, if there were more focus and concern for happiness and peace within ones family and fewer worries for the neighbor then there would be less dilemma.

    Read More

  • The Changing of America Family

    1154 Words  | 3 Pages

    The changing of American families has left many families broken and struggling. Pauline Irit Erera, an associate professor at the University of Washington School of Social Work, wrote the article “What is a Family?”. Erera has written extensively about family diversity, focusing on step-families, foster families, lesbian families, and noncustodial fathers. Rebecca M. Blank, a professor of economics at Northwestern University, where she has directed the Joint Center for Poverty Research, wrote the article “Absent Fathers: Why Don't We Ever Talk About the Unmarried Men?”. She served on the Council of Economic Advisors during the Clinton administration. Andrew J. Cherlin, a professor of sociology at Johns Hopkins University wrote the article “The Origins of the Ambivalent Acceptance of Divorce”. She is also the author of several other books on the changing profiles of American family life. These three texts each talk about the relationship between the parent and the child of a single-parent household. They each discuss divorce, money/income they receive, and the worries that come with raising a child in a single-parent household.

    Read More

  • Personal Narrative: Identity

    1339 Words  | 3 Pages

    “It’s a blessed thing that in every stage in every age some one has had the individuality and courage enough to stand by his own convictions.” The part of me that sums up my identity best is not the adjectives given by family, or the faults I find in myself. My identity is my desire to better myself, and my passion for children. My identity is who I want to be and what I do to accomplish my goals My identity is the feelings and emotions I pour into my journal every day, and the way I feel when I do something right. My identity is not what others thing of me or what I think of myself after a bad day. My identity is the love and confidence I have in myslef, and the beauty inside.

    Read More

  • Sociology of Family

    1149 Words  | 3 Pages

    "A family is a small social group of people related by ancestry or affection, who share common values and goals, who may live together in the same dwelling, and who may participate in the bearing and raising of children. They have a physical or emotional connection with each other that is ongoing" (Vissing, 2011) and is the foundation of all societies. They can be formed by a grouping of father-mother-children or even more complicated combination of relatives. In the primary stage of family life in the United States, everyone from every generation lived together in one house. Subsequently, the idea of traditional family evolved and a married couple with children is at present, often called the traditional family. There are many types of families; however, this paper will focus on the traditional family. It will describe how the functionalist perspective, conflict perspective, and the interactionism theory apply to the sociological institution known as a family. It will explain some of the similarities and differences between the sociological theories in regards to families and how they affect the family members.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of The Family Social System

    1406 Words  | 3 Pages

    In this academic essay I will be focusing and explaining my understanding of the Family Social System, how it interacts with other systems, how it works on the internally, but also on Murray Bowen’s family system theory, concepts and tools he has provided for future therapists in the pursuit to help family systems in crisis, how some of his views are very simular to Erik Erikson’s developmental theory stage effects and can actually mesh quite easily to assist in understanding the human psyche in individuals for both theory’s, finally I will explain briefly on genograms and how this tool can help assist in deciphering repetitive detrimental crisis and anxieties in the family system.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Modern Family

    1863 Words  | 4 Pages

    The television sitcom Modern Family produced by Steven Levitan and Christopher Lloyd shows the many different types of a modern American family. According to Andrew Hampp, “The show is among the most-viewed scripted programs in prime time in its second season, averaging 11 million viewers during original airings and often ranked as the most DVRed program most weeks” (2). The television show is a frequently watched show and is liked by many viewers. Modern Family's storyline helps the families of viewers by being an influential and relatable show to different types of families. The show is about the lives of three different families that are all related. In the show there are Jay and Gloria, an intergenerational couple with two sons-- Manny (from Gloria’s previous relationship) and Joe, their new baby. Jay’s adult son Cameron is married to his gay partner Mitchell, and they adopted Lily from Vietnam. Finally, Jay’s daughter Claire is married to her heterosexual partner named Phil and they have three children. The show is influential to our culture today because it shows these different types of families and addresses controversial themes such as gay adoption, the different family connections and communications, intergenerational coupling, and acceptance of diversity within an extended family. The family is easy to relate to while watching because it is based off of real family situations.

    Read More

  • The Family As A Social Institution

    3202 Words  | 7 Pages

    In order for society to meet the basic social needs of its members, social institutions, which are not buildings, or an organization or even people, but a system whose of social norms, mores and folkways that help make people feel important. Social institutions, according to our textbook, is defined as a fundamental component of this organization in which individuals, occupying defined statues, are “regulated by social norms, public opinion, law and religion” (Amato 2004, p.961). Social institutions are meant to meet people’s basic needs and enable the society to survive. Because social institutions prescribe socially accepted beliefs, values, attitudes and behaviors, they exert considerable social control over individuals.

    Read More

More about The Decline of Family in Modern Britain

Open Document