The Changing Nature of the Family - Term Paper Example

Natures of family and relationships have been experiencing vast changes ever since history was known to man. However, these changes are said to have been pronounced and distinct over the last century, specifically post World War II. This paper explores these changes in nature of family from sociological, psychological, anthropological and historical perspectives, focussing on the major changes in traditions and customs that have impacted familial relations and entire nature of family in Britain. Discuss the changing nature of the family. In the 21st Century, the trend of changing nature of families in terms of sociological, anthropological and psychological aspects has become almost stale; in other words, this has become the ‘norm’ (Skolnick & Skolnick, 1989). The contemporary families are characterized by differing combinations of relations, which was probably even unknown in the past. For instance, Arlene and Jerome Skolnick (1989; p.577) identified compositions such as single-parent households, dual income families, unmarried cohabitants, four-parent families and step-relatives, multiple generation households, homosexual couples, and children conceived through reproductive technology. This is completely different from the older traditional families, where father was considered to be the head of the family and mother involved in caretaking of the family; interestingly, the other compositions such as unmarried cohabitants, four-parent families, homosexual couples or children conceived through reproductive technologies were either unknown or attached to strong social stigma (Friesen, 1990). Various factors contributing to this changing nature of families have been identified by different scholars and researchers. For instance, concern with poverty as a reference point in family policy; dependence on social assistance and poor legislation; transformation of attitudes with respect to women and the family with respect to child care and financial independence; increased inclination towards materialism owing to the advancements in science and technology; invention of various birth control measures and concept; legalized abortion and other legislative support intended for easy separation between married couples in the form of divorce. Irwin’s (2000) paper elaborates on the social changes brought about by the changing nature of families, specifically in Britain, asserting what sociologists believe, that with more and more women seeking all sorts of jobs that were earlier predominantly performed by men, the labour market has experienced a complete paradigm shift. Its impact is also felt in conceptualizing and defining diversity and inequality from a legal perspective, which was probably the subject referred by the Church. Gender equality has been the most significant outcome of these changes within sociology. Secondly, changes in structure of employment with increased number and nature of job opportunities with a varied choice of opportunities in terms of timing, pay scale, contractual nature, expectations and customer demand have been linked to the changing nature of household composition and familial relations. The changing nature of household composition and familial relations have also impacted values and have given birth to new social morals meant to bind individuals and/or groups in the contemporary society, besides almost eliminating the extended family and traditional family bonding. The contemporary trend depicts individualisation as a consequence of absolute reduction in strength and permanence of social relations and obligations related to customs and beliefs; a classic example of this is the drastic reduction in conjugal and matrifocal relations, which existed in the beginning of twentieth century (Irwin, 2000) From an anthropological perspective, a transformation of kinship and family have been noted and researched by many; this transformation includes changes in principles and practices of living, specifically in Europe. These changes have been referred earlier, by Goody (1983), with respect to rules of marriage and inheritance patterns; developments within the church and state; and, their impact on nature of family and inheritance with respect to external power structures such as the legislation and the like (Barnard & Spencer; 1996). Other researches indicated the significance of extended families in England during the pre-industrial era, with particular emphasis on resource sharing beyond the limitations of the family, especially during times of unemployment or any other crisis (Barnard & Spencer, 1996). Although these researches indicated existence of nuclear families within the conjugal families, these were a result of seeking employment over long distances. Another area of focus in the changing nature of families has been the matrifocal family that existed in the historical times, and has faded away in the modern times (Barnard & Spencer, 1996; Smith, 1996). The matrifocal family refers to female-dominated family in which the mother is the centre of affective ties, holds economic decision-making responsibilities, and raises the children belonging to the household; if these children beget children, she becomes the caretaker of those children as well. This kind of household structure no longer exists in the modern times. A sea-change of ideologies and living practices has occurred between pre World War II and the modern times. These changes are in terms of differences based on class, religion, race and ethnicity. The rise in numbers of couples whose marriages end in divorce represents possibly the most profound change in the pattern of family life in the western world in recent times. For instance, Marriage and Divorce statistics (1990) reported a six-fold increase in number of divorces during 1960 and 1980 compared to 1911 in Britain (Simpson, 1998; p.viii) and statistics have also proven Britain to have the highest incidences of divorce in entire Europe. Reports also revealed one-third of all marriages to be remarriages and almost half of divorced couples had adolescent children. From psychologists’ perspective, a dramatic shift in values attitudes of people in terms of marriage, family and relations has been experienced. Researchers assert women’s role in this shift owing to their choice of working and tendency to become economically independent. This has affected the economics of bringing up children, impacted the quality and quantity of wants and material benefits, and women’s thinking with respect to the traditional attachment with children. The British Social Attitudes survey indicated that the number of women supporting the idea of being with their children during preschool and educational years has drastically fallen in the present times. Although women’s emotional attachment to their children does not seem to have reduced, their attitude towards child upbringing has certainly taken a twist (Ringen, 1997). Besides childcare, increasing numbers of women believe that they should get equal opportunities with men in all aspects of life, be it family or work life although both women and men find it difficult to balance work and personal life in many ways. The trend of marriage, though still being regarded as an important part of one’s life, has changed over the last century. Substantial portion of the British population is opting for cohabitation and childbearing before marriage, although being childless is still not considered as an ideal option much similar to the traditional belief. Research and evidences have suggested that though statistical figures of marriage and divorce rates are being collected since a very long time, these figures will not be able to determine the intensity of enormous psychological and emotional disturbances, suffering and desolation that individuals have to undergo in case of break-ups; this is more devastating when children and old parents are involved. Historic perspectives of changing nature of families in Britain can be evidenced in the sociological changes, anthropological and psychological changes. For instance, the period prior to World War I, the British politics is said to have focussed on inclusion of economically dependent people of a family as a responsibility of the economically active individuals of the family, which included parents, children, grandparents and grandchildren. This period was characterized by various family-welfare activities, with special focus on women and child-care. The period post World War II was the defining moment for state support for family welfare, which extended to include larger parts of the families, including universal family allowances and comprehensive health services (Ringen, 1997). Nature of marriage in terms of age, relationships, divorce, and remarriage experienced vast changes from pre World War I through post World War II and till the present times. The mean age of marriage, which was quite high for both men and women in ancient times in Europe, reduced drastically post World War II with more number of men and women getting married at earlier ages. Pre-marital cohabitation become more common in Britain, and the increasing divorce rate was associated with increasing cohabitation (Ringen, 1977). Highly fluctuating fertility and birth rates marked the twentieth century for the British, with reasons pointing to more women moving to work-force, impacting their health and time required for childbearing. Also, the sustained decrease in family size over the century is said to have contributed to lower birth rates. The recent times have reported more number of unwanted births than ever. Research has indicated that the decline in fertility is directly linked to reduced family composition in recent times. While many large and minute changes have been observed in the nature of families and relations over the last few decades, specifically post World War II, in a broader sense these changes are in the aspects of familial relations and family structures. These changes can be summarized as change from larger to smaller families, lesser children, marriage to cohabitation, increasing family instability with more frequent divorce and more single parent families. Although extended families were rare in Britain, contemporary nuclear families are quite different from the nuclear families pre World War I due to the differences in social morals and values and people’s preferences. Population of the contemporary times, especially children, experience lesser stability in terms of family support, increased psychological stress and physical strain, and overambitious nature. References Barnard, A and Spencer, J. (1996). Encyclopedia of social and cultural anthropology. London: Taylor & Francis. Ringen, S. (1997). Family Change and Family Policies: Great Britain. In Kamerman, S. B. and Kahn, A.J’s (Eds.) Family change and family policies in Great Britain, Canada, New Zealand, and the United States. New York: Oxford University Press. Skolnick, A. S. & Skolnick, J. H. (1989). The Family in Transition. Glenview. IL: Scott, Foresman & Co. Simpson, B. (1998).Changing families: an ethnographic approach to divorce and separation. U.K: Berg Publishers. Smith, R.T. (1996). The matrifocal family: power, pluralism, and politics. Great Britain: Routledge. Articles: Friesen, A.D. (1990). The Changing Family in Today’s World. Marriage and the Family. Vol. 19 No.1. pp: 12-28. Accessed November 11, 2009 from, http://www.directionjournal.org/article/?652 Irwin, S. (2000). Conceptualising Social Change: Family, Work and the Changing Pattern of Social Reproduction. Statistics and Theories for Understanding Social Change. Published January 2000. Accessed November 11, 2009 from, http://www.leeds.ac.uk/cava/papers/wsp7a.pdf Read More