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New Right Viewpoints
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On marriage and divorce, sociologists belonging to this ideology see a high divorce rate as undesirable because it undermines marriage and the traditional nuclear family, which, they regard as vital to social stability.
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Elizabeth Silva (1996)
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This sociologist argues media-fuelled public concerns over lone mothers and the welfare of children are little more than an attempt to force women back into the traditional roles of housewife and homemaker.
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Anthony Giddens (1993, 2013)
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This postmodernist sociologist (same person who holds same views on marriage and divorce as Ulrich Beck), believes families today are formed around individual choice and equality rather than tradition and structure: -He talks about 'confluent love' - 'active' love that is conditional on it being mutually fulfilling. This and personal fulfilment in relationships have gained in significance, and intimate relationships are no longer based on ideas of permanence, and people are less willing to stay with unsatisfactory partners. -He also talks about the 'pure relationship' (mentioned elsewhere as well), which is a relationship that lasts only if it meets each person's needs rather than because of external pressures. He argues that rising divorce rates reflect the pursuit of individual choice as people keep swapping partners in their search for personally fulfilling relationships in a rapidly changing society where the future seems less certain and secure than it appeared in the past. These factors have weakened commitment and so divorce has become more socially acceptable - there are less social barriers for doing it.
In 2013, he states, 'people marry for the sake of love, divorce for the sake of love, and engage in an endless cycle of hoping, regretting and trying again'. |
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Lewis (2001)
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This sociologist suggests that individuals today have much greater freedom of choice in their personal behaviour and the arrangements by which they choose to live their lives, rather than these being regulated by an externally imposed public moral code. These changes mean that families and households bear little resemblance to those of 40 or 50 years ago, and there is no longer such a thing as the 'typical family' - the changes are apparent in many European countries. |
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Charles Murray (1990)
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This New Right sociologist argues that generous welfare benefits encourage women to have children they could not otherwise afford to support.
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Ronald Fletcher (1966)
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This functionalist sociologist has an optimistic view on marriage and divorce, pointing out the continuing popularity of marriage and the high rate of re-marriage after divorce, therefore suggesting marriage is not being rejected as an institution outright.
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Allan & Crow (2001)
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These sociologists point out - from 1900s until 1960s - fairly standard life course for most individuals, set sequence of events: 1. Marriage, 2. Living Together, 3. Having Sex, 4. Having Children These events were closely bound together within the institution of marriage and the family, also usually age-related: 1. Born and 2. Raised (by 2 natural parents. living together and married), 3. Finish Education, 4. Leave Home, 5. Get married, 6. Start their own family This family life cycle would be reborn as their own children left home and the couple settled down in their empty nest to work, and to enjoy more leisure and their grandchildren.
They also state, "Love, personal commitment and intrinsic satisfaction are now seen as the cornerstones of marriage.". |
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Feminist Viewpoints
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On marriage and divorce, sociologists belonging to this ideology say: -Oppression of women within the family is the main cause of marital conflict and divorce. -Functionalists fail to explain why it is mainly women rather than men who seek divorce. |
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Elisabeth Beck-Gernsheim (1990, 2002)
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This postmodernist sociologist talks about how patterns have changed in a postmodern society: -The 'negotiated family', which forms due to people deciding how they want to live based on negotiation, as society is now based on risk rather than social norms. -She talks about how love now guides people's approach to relationships - and without the idea of lifelong plans and permanent ties. -It is no longer clear who or what is part of the family, people no longer talk of husbands and wives, but of 'couples', partnerships, and live companions, etc. ↑ Point about artificial insemination. -'Family names' no longer denote a family - people may keep their own names on marriage, or choose double-barrelled surnames derived from both partners, change names after divorce, or choose wholly new names. -People are confronted by an endless series of choices and decisions to make about what they should do, and when they should do it, as they make their way through the life course. This contributes to ever more diverse family forms, and alternative household arrangements. -Rising divorce rates are a product of the growing individualisation and uncertainty of late modern and postmodern societies. There are more choices over family and household issues: people are less constrained by traditional controls of morality, social expectations and norms, and family ties.
In 2002, she suggests the underlying causes of growing individualisation lie in developments in modern medicine, such as contraception and artificial insemination, which enable sexuality and reproduction to be separated from each other. |
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Rapoport & Rapoport (1982)
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These sociologists highlighted 5 dimensions of family diversity: -Organisational: how family roles are organised (for example, traditional male-dominated families and more symmetrical ones). -Cultural: the different structures that may exist in different cultural, ethnic or religious groups (for example, some ethnicities preferring different gender roles, etc.). -Social Class: different family structures may relate to income differences between social classes (availability of resources, quality of housing, leisure opportunities, etc. all impact the nature of families and family life). -Life-course: family structure differs according to the stage in the life cycle (for example, you may be born into a traditional nuclear family but this may change later in childhood so you end up in a lone parent family). -Cohort: older and younger generations have different attitudes and approaches to structures (for example, older generations were more likely to have more siblings, and live in a nuclear family, younger generations are more likely to have less siblings and have a more diverse family structure). |
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Robert Chester (1985)
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This sociologist does not see significant changes in family structure. Instead, he notices a more subtle change. People still live in nuclear families, but unlike traditional nuclear families where there is a male breadwinner and a female homemaker, the nuclear family is now more commonly dual earner. He calls this family type the neo-conventional family. He also notes that although many people are not part of a nuclear family at any one time, this is due to the life cycle, and these people were either part of a nuclear family in the past, or will be in the future. Therefore overall, he sees discussion of diversity as exaggerated and the nuclear family as the still dominant family type, but unlike the New Right, he doesn't see any of those small changes he points out in a negative light. |
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Jacqui Gabb (2010)
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This sociologist points out that relationships outside the family (for example friends, and families of choice) can affect relationships within the family.
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Ulrich Beck (1992) & Anthony Giddens (1992)
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These postmodernist sociologists see that in modern society, traditional norms, such as the duty to remain with the same partner for life, lose their hold over individuals. According to the individualisation thesis, relationships are now more fragile, as individuals become unwilling to remain with a partner if the relationship fails to deliver personal fulfilment - this is what Giddens calls the 'pure relationship'. |
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Vanessa May (2011)
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This sociologist argues that personal relationships now take on such diverse forms, both within and beyond families, that it would be more appropriate to study the sociology of personal life, rather than focusing on families, which are no longer at the centre of very many people's lives and relationships.
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Irene Levin (2004)
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This sociologist points out the old standard life course was in effect 'compulsory', as there were strong social norms prescribing that this was the proper and expected way that people should live their lives.
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