Key Features of Community in Modern Britain - Essay Example

A) Key features of community inmodern Britain There are many approaches to defining a community. Defined as a value, community means to bring various elements such as solidarity, commitment and trust together. As a set of variables, community can be defined in terms of place, interests and communion (Crow & Allan 1995). Place is whereby a community is formed by people living in the same geographical area. These people thus share common characteristics; for example they may be engaged in same economic activities or ritual ceremonies. They face the same problems by virtue of their locality. The Great Britain is comprised of three countries: England, Wales and Scotland hence each country can be considered as a community. Considering marriage and family life in Britain, North Ireland and Scotland have lower rates of marriage due to differing religious and cultural structure (Irwin 1994: 129). By virtue of being in Europe, Britain is also a member of the European Economic Community. Anderson (1991) regards them as imagined communities or group of people bound together by their habitat. Emile Durkheim recognized two types of social solidarity: mechanical and organic solidarity (Somerville 2011). Mechanical solidarity is present for those who live together and are mostly bound together by kinship ties. They develop norms that dictate their behaviour and which bind them together. Deviation from acceptable behaviour or norms is considered a crime against the community and is punishable. However, as the community develops and enlarges, people move different ways and this solidarity is broken (Irwin 1994). For example, in Britain after industrialization most people moved to towns to look for greener pastures (jobs) leading to urbanisation. Business run by family members rarely exist anymore giving rise to large factories and industries. Here in factories, division of labour is complex thus necessitating organic solidarity. People performing different tasks collaborate and depend on each other for the well-being of all. These people are thus held together by other interests besides place. They may share same religious beliefs, sexual orientation, occupation or ethnic origin (Crow & Allan 1995). For example, we may have a ‘gay or lesbian’ community or a protestant or catholic community. Although families rarely meet like in the past since they are scattered, they communicate often due to improved communication. There are also changes in family life as in contemporary Britain; the family does not depend on the man as the ‘bread winner’. Women are now engaged in employment to support family. Instead of being bound by norms, community in modern Britain is bound by laws. For example, the work relationship is defined by labour laws which determine hours of work and pay as well as the Equal Pay Act and Sex Discrimination Act among others. Whatever the case, a community is very vital in generating people’s sense of belonging. In this sense, it may lead to inclusion and exclusion due to the boundaries it creates. Benefits only accrue to members of a certain community thus excluding others. B) Why citizenship has become such a significant political issue in the UK. Citizenship is defined by the History Learning Site (2006) as the legal status conferred at birth or through naturalisation or the right to live in a state without refusal of entry or fear of deportation (settlement). Citizenship in Britain confers people various rights such as the right to vote, right to welfare, education, and health care among others. As such, it is very vital to gain citizenship for oneself as well as the children especially for migrants. However, it is imperative to recognize that citizenship is not all about migration but rather, the relationship between individual and the state and to each other. Citizenship also brings about the feelings of identity and responsibility and a sense of belonging (Timms 1992). Since citizenship is about the right of settlement; that is, to work and live in UK, and the fact that it confers rights to holders, it has thus become a political issue. The British debate on immigration and citizenship has been a subject of controversy for decades with the most explosive being the “Rivers of Blood” speech. Policies and debates on immigration and citizenship since then have been reviewed time after time by consecutive governments. The labour government under Tony Blair in 1997 strongly emphasized active citizenship in an attempt to transform long and over-stated citizens from what was perceived as passive recipients’ public services to actively engaged participants in British life (Bridget 2011). The review in British citizenship and immigration status by Gordon Brown in 2007 was to clarify the legal rights and responsibilities of different categories of citizens and nationality with the incentives of residents to become citizens, including voting rights. Debate also arises when it comes to restrictions on citizenship. By virtue of it conferring rights to individuals, the restriction of it is bound to stir political debate. The main issue here is whether immigrants should be offered citizenship or not. By giving them citizenship, this encourages more immigrants into the country hence the coalition government has been in the process of making settlement more difficult hence discouraging entry. As such, the debate is more about entry as opposed to settlement. On the other hand, if settlement is denied it leads to more people having a temporary stay hence without legal rights thus disintegrating the society (Bridget 2011). C) Is there a diversity of family forms in contemporary UK society? I agree with the statement that “there is a diversity of family forms in contemporary UK society,” ranging from single or one parent family to cereal packet or nuclear family, the extended Asian family, Cypriots to the matrifocal family of West Indies. A family is defined by Kirby, Warren and Francine et al (2000:45, quoted in Giddens 1999: 370) as “a group of persons directly linked by kin connection, the adult members of which assume responsibility for caring for children.” The ideal family is assumed to be the nuclear family consisting of two parents of different sexes and one or two children-preferably their own. However, this notion of ‘cereal packet’ families has been refuted by other sociologists as it ignores the diversity of family life throughout the world and within our own society. A family however, is characterized by close family relationships and a sense of obligation and responsibility (Kirby et al. 2000). There are different forms of diversity within which different types of families exist. The first type is organisational diversity which is found within family groups and is based on family structure, household type, kinship network, division of labour, marriage or cohabitation and role relationships (Chapman 2014). According to these classifications, there arise four types of families: conventional or nuclear, single-parent, dual-worker and reconstituted (product of divorce and remarriage) families. Secondly, is according to cultural diversity. Britain being a multi-ethnic society has culturally specific family structures with different lifestyles. Families may vary according to ethnic origins and religious beliefs. According to Kirby et al (2000: 66) there are three different family structures in Britain based on culture: South Asians, Cypriots and African-Caribbeans. The South Asians are migrants from Punjab, Gujarat and Bengal and have an extended patriarchal family. The Cypriots migrated to UK after WWII and have extended families and a very strong connection between married children and their parents. The African-Caribbeans on the other hand, are a matriarchal society whereby the mother (grandmother) is the family head. They mostly have conventional nuclear family for the religious and successful groups; common-law for the less well-off and mother households. Families can also be divided according to class diversity whereby kinship networks are emphasized. The income of households determines the type of housing; social life and family size (Kirby et al. 2000). The middle-class have symmetrical families and husbands make the most infrequent but important decisions. The working classes mostly comprise dual-career families, one parent families due to increased divorce, remarriage and cohabitation. The life-cycle also determines family types. At various stages of our lives, we experience different family structures. For example, a young couple has infants while an older couple has adult children. The last classification is cohort which entails groups born at different times hence live in different ways (Chapman 2014). In this sense, the contemporary society in Britain is increasingly engaging in cohabitation and the nuclear family is no longer the norm. Furthermore, women are increasingly engaged in paid work hence delayed marriages and increased single parent families. This also has implications for family size. Over the past 100 years, the average family size has been declining from 7 in 1860 to 2.3 in 1950 and 1.9 in the 1990s. Family diversity is also a result of different social attitudes towards starting a family. For example, in earlier times, couples had to wait to get married until they are able to support a large family but today such attitudes have changed. The decline in average family size means couples do not have to delay marriage and with the help of contraceptives, they can easily plan families (Chapman 2014). The media also has a role to play in family diversity as it portrays images concerning family life. The media often portrays the ‘cereal packet’ family as the most preferable and as the only basic type of family structure hence making other family structures look less desirable. For example, although gay/ lesbian marriages have been on the increase, they are not portrayed in positive light by media. However, the point is that there are diverse family forms in contemporary UK society. These include: nuclear, extended, reconstituted, single-parent, gay/lesbian and cohabitation. References Anderson, B( 1991) Imagined communities: reflection on the origin and spread of nationalism. London: Verso Bridget, A (2011) Citizenship: what is it and why does it matter? The Migration Observatory. Available at:[Accessed 12 July, 2014] Chapman, A (2014) Sociology lessons: family diversity teavhing notes. Available at:http://www.slideshare-net/aprichelle/family-diversity-teaching-notes[Accessed July 12, 2014] Crow G and Allan G (1994) Community life: an introduction to social relations. Hemel Hempstead: Wheatsheaf History Learning Site (2006) British citizenship. Historylearning site.co.uk. Available at:http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/citizenship.htm[Accessed 12 July, 2014] Irwin, JL (1994) Modern Britain: an introduction. 3ed. New York, NY: Routledge Kirby, M., Warren, K., Francine, K., John, B., Tanya, H., Alison, K et al (2000). Sociology in perspective. Oxford: Heinemann. Somerville, P (2011) Understanding community: politics, policy and practice. The Press and the Social Policy Association. Timms, N( 1992) Family and citizenship: values in contemporary Britain. 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