Essay
Evaluate sociological contributions to our understanding of family diversity. [20 marks]
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- AQA
Evaluate sociological contributions to our understanding of family diversity. [20 marks]
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Family diversity refers to the different family structures found in society.One change that has influenced family diversity is the greater individual choice about relationships.
This collection of ideas is referred to as the individualisation thesis. As outlined by Giddens and Beck,
the individualisation thesis argues that traditional social structures such as: gender, class and family
have lost their influence over individuals. The thesis suggests that: in the past, people's lives were
defined by fixed roles provided by society. This prevented them from choosing their own life course.
For example, marriage and taking on gender roles was an expectation. Today's society has fewer
fixed roles to follow. This implies that people have become 'disembedded' from traditional roles and
structures, which grants freedom for individuals to make their own life choices. Similarly, the
'standard biography' has been replaced with a 'do-it-yourself biography' that has to be constructed
by individuals. However, the individualisation thesis has been criticised on many grounds, for
instance: the thesis wrongly sees people as 'disembedded', independent individuals whilst ignoring
that many of our decisions and choices are made within a social context. This is a useful contribution
towards our understanding of family diversity because it highlights how individuals have gained
more choice.
Family diversity is seen as harmful for society by New Right thinkers. The New Right have a
conservative and anti-feminist perspective on the family and are strongly opposed to family diversity.
They believe that the nuclear family is the perfect family type. New Right thinkers see the family as
'natural' and is built upon the core biological differences between men and women, and the family is
the cornerstone of society, a place of refuge, contentment, and harmony. There is a prominent belief
that the decline of the traditional nuclear family and the growth of family diversity, such as
cohabitation, gay marriage, and lone parenthood, are the main cause of many social problems. For
example, lone-parent families are harmful to children by a lack of discipline, a lack of male role
models (leading to delinquency and social instability) and the creation of poverty which burdens the
state and the taxpayer. The New Right perspective has been criticised, by suggesting that there is no
evidence that children in lone-parent families are more likely to be delinquent than those brought up
in a two-parent family of the same social class. This is a useful contribution to our understanding of
family diversity because we can examine the potential harmful effects of other types of families.
The functionalist viewpoint rejects family diversity. Functionalists are similar to New Right thinkers;
they believe the one best family type is the nuclear family (with a traditional division of labour
between men and women) because it can easily slot into society's structure and help maintain it by
performing essential functions. As suggested by Parsons, there is a 'functional fit' between the
nuclear family and modern society. This is because the nuclear family can adapt to the needs of
modern society by providing a geographically and socially mobile workforce. Similarly, the nuclear
family also performs two 'irreducible functions', which are the primary socialisation of children into
shared norms and values and the stability of adult personalities through providing a relaxing
environment to release tensions. These contribute to the overall stability and effectiveness of society.
Therefore, the functionalist view believes that the nuclear family is essential to perform these
functions, which implies that the nuclear family is the most dominant family type in modern society.
As a result, functionalists argue that other family types such as lone-parent families, are abnormal or
deviant since they are less able to perform the family's required functions. However, Morgan argues
that functionalists make large over-generalisations about the family, a family can be a set of any
arrangements as long as the members involved see it as a family. This is a useful contribution to our
understanding of family diversity because it shows us what role the family holds in society.
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