Notes

When it comes to family diversity variations, sociologists can  have extremely varying viewpoints, with every perspective having different ideas over whether or not it would be a good societal change.

Some sociologists claim that different sorts of families have many variances in terms of structure, because we now have many variants in family structures, as well as household type and various other things. One of the fundamental components of family diversity found by Rapoports was organisational diversity. This suggests that there are differences in family structure among the numerous sorts of families. This clearly illustrates that now there is far more range among families, since there was historically just one primary form of family structure, the nuclear family, which had a certain sort of division of labour and home type, but now there is considerably more diversity. According to the FSPC Report, which was based on the opinions of 2,000 families, families are extremely adaptive and may adjust their views, but in any case, they continue to give support and love to one another in the traditional fashion.

Postmodernists believe that as a product of social causes like technological advancements, society has grown more fragmented and unpredictable. Yet, they also believe that increasing migration has resulted in increased family diversity. Individualisation, according to Beck, is shaping changes in family lifestyles and connections. People are required to make their own choices. Individualization, they claim, has led to people experimenting with a broad range of housing arrangements including single parent families, cohabitation and symmetrical families.This indicates that there is now greater variation in the family as a result of individualization, which has resulted in the emergence of new family forms such as cohabiting families, which were previously not normalised. However, Chester argues that most people still live most of their loves in families that have children and parents but are still built on love relationships and any changes will be classed as superficial. He says that the extent offamily diversity is exaggerated by sociologists on different perspectives of the argument. He believes that there has been no real change in family structures in the last 50 years or so.

Some sociologists argue that family networks nowadays are chosen and people aren’tforced into any certain family types e.g. homosexual relations (gay and lesbian) look upon their households and view family networks as chosen families. According to Weeks et al, “during the past generation, the possibilities If living an openly lesbian and gay life have been transformed.” The 2005 Civil Partnership provides support to the point by Weeks as it has also allowed same-sex couples to marry. This demonstrates that there is much more family diversity as previously homosexual family ‘units’ barely existed because they were very heavily frowned upon. Chester, on the other hand, believes that most people still spend the majority of their lives in families with children and parents, so any change would be viewed as superficial. He claims that sociologists on all sides of the debate overstate the level of family diversity. In the previous 50 years or so, he feels there has been no significant shift in family structures.

Difference Feminists claim that there are now many distinct sorts of families, and that these diverse family types fit different women in different situations. Nicholson examines the different the 'traditional' and 'alternative' families. Alternative families, she claims, are better for the women who live in them than traditional families. Lower income blac k women in the United States, for example, benefit from living in female ruled homes, which are generally absent of men. This demonstrates that family diversity is expanding, as formerly women were not allowed to pick their family type, and were pushed into the nuclear family, which favoured males. Radical feminists, on the other hand, believe that the patriarchal system still abuses women because of the sexual division of labour.

Increased family diversity, according to New Right sociologists like Benson (2006), poses a huge threat to society by weakening established norms and values. In his research, Benson discovered that just 6% of marriages fail, compared to almost 25% of cohabiting partnerships. Furthermore, as marriage rules have become more liberalised and the liberation era has arrived, the number of female-headed single parent households has risen. Functionalists, particularly Parsons, endorse that the nuclear family is the ideal kind due to its geographical flexibility. This is what the functional-fit hypothesis is all about. Murdock also claims that the nuclear family serves two purposes: primary socialisation and adult personality stability. In non-nuclear family arrangements, these functions will not be fully met.