The Role Of Family In The Family Of The Golden Age

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Family has played a big role in stabilising society after the Second World War. In the 1950s, it marked the beginning of the ‘Family of the Golden Age’ where the nuclear family are viewed as the main ideal household (Hughes and Fergusson, 2004, p.47). It is defined as a social unit consisting of wife, husband and dependent children (ibid). Sociologist often views such family as ‘The cereal packet family’ which refers to the image most people hold of the family during the golden age (Nelson, 2013). However, in the beginning of the 1960s onwards, the UK society is becoming more liberal with greater emphasis on equality and personal freedom (Morgan, 2013). This is where the diversity of family types and relationships within families starts to take place. Nowadays, people start to express their concern over what’s happening to the ‘traditional family’ in the contemporary UK society (Hughes and Fergusson, 2004, p.46). Furthermore, there is a widespread fear that changes in family lives are leading to greater uncertainties and private troubles in people’s lives. (Mooney et al, 2004 cited in Hughes and Fergusson, 2004, p.46). However, for feminists, the increasing diversity of the family is viewed as a good thing since it enables more equality and liberated relations between men, women and children (ibid, p.64). On the other hand, to conservative’s thinkers the increasing diversity is changing and undermining the secure and hierarchical order which the family makes for the wider society (ibid, p.61). Therefore, this essay will demonstrate family as an example of continuity change with an explanation on the changes of household types. In addition, social scientists’ views on diversity in the family will be discussed with the focus on the ... ... middle of paper ... ... identities, roles and affections based upon reproductive sexuality which to religion, it has against the god given way of ordering life (Somerville, 2000). Therefore, it is viewed a social deviance since for conservatives’, family should be consisting of heterosexual parents with a clear segregation in the roles based on sexual differences in the family so that the parents can inculcate proper values in children (Hughes and Fergusson, 2004, p60) whereas children that have been brought up by a same sex couple could suffer detrimental effects to their psychological and social well-being. However, a research done by The Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues (SPSSI, 2009) invalidated the conservatives’ theories because the children that were raised by same sex couples were reported to be as normal, positive as the children raised by opposite sex couple.

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