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Individual choice in families and households model essay
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- AQA
20 out of 20 model answer Evaluate the view that individual choice in personal relationships has made family life less important in the United Kingdom today
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Evaluate the view that individual choice in personal relationships has made family life lessimportant in the United Kingdom today (20 Marks)
Individual choice in personal relationships have caused family life to become less important
due to the rise of the pure relationship. A pure relationship is a relationship which is no
longer bound by traditional normas and based on individual choice and equality. Gidden
argues that the main feature of the pure relationship is that it exists solely to satisfy each
partner’s needs. This means that the relationship services much longer as both partners'
needs are seen as equal. This will help prevent inequality in the relationship. Couples also
stay together longer because of happiness and not the sake of the children. This means that
people now have more choice when it comes to relationships as it becomes part of the
individual's self discovery. As a result people will no longer feel a need to stay in long term
relationships or get married. Instead, many more people are choosing what they want and
not what society is telling them.This means that less people will be rushing to start a family
as they don’t see the value. This is because a pure relationship is a rolling contract that can
have multiple endings rather than a permanent commitment. So less people are willing to
resolve the problems in the relationship and instead will leave. As a result there has been an
increase in lone parent families, one person households and stepfamilies which increase
family diversity.
However, the personal life perspective (PLP) disagrees with postmodernists as family life is
still very important in society. The PLP have found just that family life has changed. In
modern society, people have their own definition of family and are different to everyone. As
the PLP takes a bottom approach, they take a wider view of the family rather than traditional
norms. This means people will build a family with people who are not a direct family. Some
examples can be relationships with friends, chosen families and pets. Tipper found in her
study of children views on family relationships, the children frequently saw their pets as part
of the family. This shows that people are now changing their view on family and are not
restricting themselves to direct family. Instead they are choosing people who they see as
family in their eyes. This shows us that family is not becoming less important but it is just
changing with society. However, some can argue that as people can choose their family it
will cause an increase in family diversity. This means that lone parent families and one
person households will also increase and will soon become more important than family life.
Individualisation has made family life less important in the United Kingdom. Many people are
now choosing to not follow what society is telling them and are doing what they want. Beck
argues that we live in a risk society where traditions have less influence and people have
more choice. This contrasts with earlier times as people’s roles were fixed by traditions and
social norms. This created a stable and predictable family life where everyone had fixed
roles and responsibilities. However, this has been undermined by greater gender equality
and greater individualisation. This has caused the nuclear family to be replaced by new
types of families. The first type of family is the negotiated family. The negotiated family does
not conform to the traditional family norms and the relationship is based on an equal basis.
The other type of family is the zombie family. The zombie family appears to be alive but it is
dead. This shows us once again people are choosing what they want and not what society
wants. This has made family life less important. However, it can be argued that these types
of families are less stable because individuals have the freedom to leave. This creates more
family diversity such as lone parent families, one person households and re-marriages.
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