Changing Nature of the Family in the United Kingdom - Essay Example

Changing nature of the family in the United Kingdom Number Department Changing nature of the family in the United Kingdom Families in the United Kingdom have undergone significant evolution during the 20th century. Social scientists have based their studies on sociology, history, and anthropology theories, in an attempt to unearth and possibly find solutions to the debate about changing families in the country. This essay explores the three theories in explaining different forms and impacts of families including single parent units, late marriages, divorces, separation, and how they impact on the society. The primary aim of this essay is to discuss the changing nature of families in the United Kingdom using social science perspectives. History Perspective In spite of the historical reality that many people in the UK society focus on creating their own families once they are adults, single-parenthood due to divorce and unmarried persons have increasingly become popular in the recent past (Chambers, 2012). Nonetheless, singles consist of dissolved families, those who have lost their spouses, and also individuals who have never tried their hands in marriage. The high rate of single-parenthood in the country is unprecedented, at least compared to the statistics of the early 20th century. Unlike the past strong marriages, many people have defied history and are increasingly sidling toward cohabitation, usually before or after marriage but, for many couples, substituting marriage. The ratio of unmarried females under the age of 60 in cohabitation almost tripled in the past three decades (Allan, 1999). According to Chambers (2012), there are almost 2 million cohabiting heterosexuals in the United Kingdom. According to Seymour and Walsh (2013), this outcome translates to a 64% rise since the late 1990s, with an estimated half of babies being born outside lawful marriages. The quantity of marriage relationships has declined, and the age for marrying has evolved substantially higher due to toughening economic conditions and the slackening of traditional rules of engagement. Anderson (1980) noted that around the mid-20th century, 50 women in every 1,000 joined marriages on a yearly basis. Currently, the Office for National Statistics indicates that very few people are looking in the direction of marriages in what is said to be the lowest levels ever since the late nineteenth century. Despite the slackening of regulations which restricted where one could tie the knot, fewer individuals are joining marriages than it was the case throughout the past century. An estimated 231,490 couples married in 2009; this was slightly lower than the 232,990 registered in 2008, but the poorest rate since 1895 (Stalker, 2011). In addition, the fact that some studies point to fewer people in the United Kingdom getting divorced presents an immensely complicated equation (Seymour and Walsh 2013). The structure of the pre-industrial household in the United Kingdom is currently said to be akin to current types of family. A number of sociologists are of the opinion that industrialization was the source of the nuclear family (Stalker, 2011). On the other hand, nuclear family is said to have contributed immensely toward industrialization. Either way, many people of either gender in a simple household structure have been known to join marriage relationships late in their adulthood. Unlike early marriages which extended the formation of multi-generational households, late marriages, as happened in the nuclear family setting, made it practically impossible for three-generations to be a reality. Whereas, pre-industrial families in the United Kingdom had several functions, some of the roles have been found to be unimportant in the modern times. Functions including food production, land ownership, inheritance, procreation, socialization and sending of its members to school have been restructured over the history (Macionis and Plummer, 2008). Food production, for example, is no longer the responsibility of a family, which explains the reason behind the general reluctance of adults to be married. In addition, following the establishment of strong institutions of governance, the people of the United Kingdom now have alternative organizations handling family functions as far as sickness and the needs of geriatrics are concerned. As such and due to the fact that better health care initiatives have increased the life expectancy, many adults in the UK are unwilling to join families or procreate or remain in the institution when social and economic problems set in (Seymour and Walsh 2013). Sociology perspective Due to hard economic conditions in the United Kingdom has encountered slow economic growth during the past three decades. As a result, many couples have refrained from marriage relationships in order to keep pace with hard economic times (Quale, 1992). Those who have experienced problems sustaining their families normally opt out through divorce. According to Allan (1999), the change in the structure of family from two-parent to single-parenthood in the recent past can be attributed to a paradigm shift in policy implementation, which has led to the tightening of state welfare programs to families due to budget cuts and low employment opportunities. The UK system of safeguarding social interests, especially those of families has been premised upon the traditional belief that family support was the responsibility of men (Kay, 1972). But following the economic empowerment of women in the twentieth century, this trend has changed. Today, many women have the financial ability to cater for their own children in as much as men. The modern UK’s society has witnessed many more women being sent to good schools and training colleges and obtaining meaningful employment that attract competitive salaries as men do (Newman and Grauerholz, 2002). As such the previously held belief that it is men who have the economic power to raise a family is slowly fading in the United Kingdom’s society (Chambers, 2012). The end result has been many more single mothers raising their own children by providing for their needs. In addition, the evolution of gender roles has shifted the balance of power in favour of women, and with women’s expanded role, the culture of women dependence on men is slowly fading away in family relationships. The sociological aspect of family relationships explores the issue of family as a unit that supports human socialization. The symbolic interactionism perspective is based on the importance of symbols and their meanings with regard to human’s everyday life and interactions (Goldthorpe, 1987). Regardless, the theory posits that people have deeper meanings of symbols; this prompts those who are in marriage or those contemplating marriage to construe these meanings according to general traditional rules. The interpretation of family symbols has slowly changed, making subjective interpretations reigning supreme and transforming the meaning and sanctity of the institution of family. Based on this theory, the traditional UK society had deep regard for symbols of marriage such as the wedding ring and children among others. But now, these symbols no longer attract as much attention as was the case before 1940s (Casey, 1989). Many couples are nowadays satisfied with cohabitation. Others have gone ahead to circumvent the need for bearing children by adopting a children or opting to suspend making babies in pursuit of education and careers. These transformations coupled with the diminishing role of men as the symbol of all authority in the family have substantially changed the concepts of family relationships in marriage. The sociological functionalist perspective holds that every part of society is connected to another and plays an important role in the normal functioning of the society as a whole. Jagger and Wright (1999) pointed out that the government is responsible for provision of education facilities and services for families, which in turn remits taxes that sustain government operations. As Seymour and Walsh (2013), has said this implies family as a social unit depends on the government learning facilities to facilitate effective growth of children for purposes of acquiring employment so that they can create and provide the needs of their own households. Nonetheless, different parts of society face challenges of order, sustainability and productivity when economic pillars of the society face the threat of collapse (Bradshaw and Millar, 1991). Cross-gender rivalry created by gender parity in the current society, but which was unheard of in the past has generated conflict in families; set off divorces, and led to single-parent families in the UK (David, 2003; Folbre, 1996). Anthropology perspective Since the beginning of the 21st century, the anthropological perspective of the family has gone through a transformation in as much the same way as families in the UK (Chambers, 2012). As the result, the field tends to reconsider its ancient approach to social issues that industrialization sparked off a transformation within the UK’s society from the ideology of extended family, whose main function was to provide social nourishment and tending to the needs of the sick and the elderly, to the contemporary nuclear family that fulfills emotional needs of the members. Anthropologists have suggested that in the past, a wide range of family structures existed across different demographic, economic and traditional frameworks, unique to each society. In light of this, over the history, the average UK family has shifted its dwelling place from a communal settings shared by members of a common descent to apartments and homes inhabited by or neighboring multi-ethnic families (Marsh et al, 2009). Marriage has also transformed from a duty of young adults to an issue of convenience for any adult; the responsibilities of husband and wife have also been more blurred and interchangeable now than they were in the nineteenth century when men reigned supreme. As David (2003) has suggested, with these changes to the institution of family, the social unit has been reduced to a platform for fulfilling emotional needs of the parties involved rather than for economic, social and political obligations. Conclusion Family life is undergoing evolution in the country but not in the manner the people might anticipate. The majority of UK citizens in their adulthood still engage in marriage, but cases of people opting to stay out of marriage relationships are on the rise. The main reason behind the change can be attributed to women empowerment and the loss of the sanctity of marriages in the society. The end result has been the changing trends of people resorting to marriage later on in life and or lack of it altogether in the lives of adults who have reached the age of marriage. References Allan, G. 1999. The Sociology of the Family. Oxford: Blackwell. Anderson, M. 1980. Sociology of the Family: selected readings. London: Penguin. Bradshaw, J. and Millar, J. 1991. Lone Parent Families in the UK. Research reports/Department of Social Security; no.6. London: HMSO. Chambers, D. 2012. A Sociology of Family Life. Change and Diversity in Intimate Relations. Cambridge: Polity Press. Casey, J. 1989. The History of the Family. Oxford: Basil Blackwell. David, M.E. 2003. Personal and Political. Feminism, Sociology and Family Lives. Stoke on Trent: Trentham Books. Folbre, N. 1996. The Economics of the Family. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar. Goldthorpe, J. 1987. Family Life in Western Societies: A Historical Sociology of Family Relationships in Britain and North America. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Macionis, J.J., and Plummer, K. 2008. Sociology. A Global Introduction. Chapter 18 (Families, Households and Personal Cultures), London: Prentice Hall Marsh, I. et al. 2009. Sociology. Making Sense of Society, Chapter 11 (Families and Households). London: Longman Newman, D. and Grauerholz, L. 2002. Sociology of Families. Thousand Oaks: Sage Jagger, G. and Wright, C. 1999. Changing Family Values. London: Routledge. Kay, F.G. 1972. The Family in Transition: Its Past, Present and Future Patterns. Newton Abbot: David and Charles. Quale R.G. 1992. Families in Context: A World History of Population - An Electronic Resource. New York: Greenwood Press. Seymour, J., and Walsh, J. 2013. 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