Several Family Types - Essay Example

?Family Structure Family Structure Part A Several family types have been realized by theorists over time and again. In prior years family was seen as an institution that concentrated on brining up of children. This kind of family is recognized as nuclear family by Marxists, nuclear family refers to a family which includes of male and female parents and children who are dependant on them (CHEAL, 2008, p.2). Another type of family is single parent family where one parent raises children and controls the economic and social activities of the family, there are higher number of single families which are controlled by a mother and not by a father (CHEAL, 2008, p.2). Functionalist theorists provided the idea of extended families in which parents, grand parents and children live together and grand parents and parents contribute to the economic activities of the entire family (CHEAL, 2008, p.2). Several couples who are joined together in a relationship through marriage or without marriage have taken up the option of creating childless families in which two couples live together without rearing children (CHEAL, 2008, p.2). Families have even been divided in accordance to ethnicity, for example Asian families that are even regarded as extended families but this kind of families is rare among Asians who live in Britain (MALEKOFF, 2004, p.278). These families are created due to marriages that are arranged in nature and divorce is expected to be taboo in these families. Another form of ethnic family is single parent family, even recognized as African-Caribbean Families where one of the parent lives with the child and in major cases, it is the mother who controls a single parent family (MALEKOFF, 2004, p.278). Families created due to death of one of the partners is recognized as singleton in which either the male or the female partner is no longer alive (MALEKOFF, 2004, p.278). Recently there has been an increase in families that are based on same sex, in these families both the couples are either female or both the couples are males (MALEKOFF, 2004, p.278). These families have even gained legitimacy during the year of 2005 through civil partnership Act of 2004. Marriage is no longer considered as an institution required for the creation of a family that raises children, it has been replaced with cohabiting family type in which two partners live together without going through the process of marriage. Functionalist theorists give preference to nuclear family type because they believe that such families are important to conduct the act of rearing children and they teach the next generation about how it should be done (ENGLAND, 1993, p.115). Nuclear family is even necessary because they teach children about the norms and values of society which helps children to gain acceptability in their society during their early ages and adult live stages. According to conflict theorists, family is one of the causes of inequalities in societies, this happens because children who come from wealthy background gain better education and life style than children who come from economically walk family backgrounds (ENGLAND, 1993, p.115). Feminists approach even states that family is the cause of inequality where different roles are expected from different members of the family, for example: mothers are expected to raise children and fathers are expected to conduct the act of bread earners (ENGLAND, 1993, p.115). Part B Chester noted that in Western nations, marriages that used to take place between individuals who were in their early stages of life are on a decline. Such events have been witnessed in the societies of Sweden, US, UK and Germany and other nations have followed (DNES, 2002, 229). Several reasons for the decline in marriage have been experienced and researched; the first reason is the increase in alternative relationships that are replacing marriage. One alternative to marriage is cohabitation, this is a term used to denote those relationships that are created outside the spectrum of marriage where two individuals live together and have a strong emotional and sexual relationship but do not get married or maintain such a relationship before eventually getting married. This kind of relationship can be both long-term and short term in nature. Chandler stated that the amount of time couples spend in cohabitation is increasing and they have started accepting it as a prominent alternative to marriage and they do not believe that giving birth to a child or rearing a child requires to be legitimized through marriage (INGLEBY, 201). Another reason due to which family life is diminishing is that the rate at which children used to be born is declining as women have decided to delay pregnancy after having first child and certain women marry at a later age due to which they end up with less number of children. Morgan believes that the decline in the rate of child birth is caused due to cohabitation because women who are in such a relationship prefer to have only one child (MORGAN, 2006). Another alternative to marriage accepted by society is living alone; people may choose to live along due to end of marriage of death of partners. But there are even those who do not value marriage and prefer living alone, for example women who earn their own livelihood no longer see men as their bread earners and choose to live alone. Second reason due to which trends of marriage are declining and family life is coming to an end is that martial relationships are breaking quite frequently. There are three major reasons due to which marriages are breaking up; legal divorce, societal separation and so-called marriages. The last reasons due to which breakdowns in martial relationships take place is so-called marriages. In these marriages, the couples are legally married but they do not live like married couples, they do not relate emotionally and share sexual experience. Due to such kind of marriages where sexual arrangements are not carried out, child birth rarely takes place and due to this creation of a family that consists of a child and parents is diminishing. So-called marriages do not remain for quite a long period of time and they ultimately end up being a part of legal or societal separation. There are several reasons due to which these kinds of breakdowns take place; Fletcher states that the level of expectation in marriage is quite high; both the couples demand a lot from each other (SIMPSON, 1998, p.168). Due to the burden of such heavy demands, marriages come to an end. According to functionalist theorists, marriages come to an end due to financial reasons. One of the reasons stated by sociologists due to whom marriage ends is that the bread earners fail to provide and thus separation occurs. This is even caused due to decline in According to Gibson; the increase in the level of modernization has increased the level of conflict between couples and spouses (SIMPSON, 1998, p.168). In current society, every individual wants to achieve their career goals and objectives and they no longer want to live at home and provide services as househusband and housewife, thus conflicts are increasing due to pursuit of achievements. In prior days, divorce used to be unacceptable in societies and used to be considered as a deviant behavior. The trend has changed and society no longer sees divorce as a deviant behavior, due to this decrease in social pressures, divorce rates have increased. Ease of getting divorce have been caused due to ease in the rules and regulations related to divorce, during the era of 1857, couples used to go through the expensive and lengthy practice of attain a private Act from the Parliament in order to gain divorce (LUCKOCK, 1894, p.234). There are several reasons due to which family structures are changing and there is a speedy decline in family and marriage life. These reasons include: alternative to marriage and breakdown of marriages. Alternatives that exist include cohabitation, lower rate of child birth and living alone. Breakdown of marriages have increased due to ease of divorce and increase in conflicts. References CHEAL, D. J. (2008). Families in today's world: a comparative approach. London, Routledge. DNES, A. W., & ROWTHORN, B. (2002). The law and economics of marriage and divorce. Cambridge, U.K., Cambridge University Press. http://site.ebrary.com/id/10023543. ENGLAND, P. (1993). Theory on gender/feminism on theory. New York, A. de Gruyter. INGLEBY, E., & OLIVER, G. (2010). Applied Social Science for Early Years. Exeter, Learning Matters Ltd. http://public.eblib.com/EBLPublic/PublicView.do?ptiID=686463. LUCKOCK, H. M. (1894). The history of marriage, Jewish and Christian, in relation to divorce, and certain forbidden degrees. London, Longmans, Green & Co. MALEKOFF, A. (2004). Group work with adolescents: principles and practice. New York, Guilford Press. MORGAN, P. M. (2006). Family policy, family changes: Sweden, Italy and Britain compared. London, Civitas. SIMPSON, B. (1998). Changing families: an ethnographic approach to divorce and separation. Oxford, Berg. Read More