Family Fluidity

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Family Fluidity

• Family ideology and legislation
• Based on the work of Bren Neale, Leeds University
• Sociology at NSG

2
The Indissoluble family Early C20th

• Patriarchal
• Life-long monogamy
• Sex role segregation
• Father-right (if mothers left husbands, they lost
  their children)

3
The Companionate Family 1950s

• Wives companions (not slaves) to husband and
  children
• Greater emphasis on personal fulfilment
• Women work for pin money
• Birth control for planning children within
  marriage
• Higher expectations of marriage
• Divorce rare and stigmatised

4
The Reconstituted Family 1970s

• 69 Divorce Reform Act allowed for a clean
  break for re-marriage
• Those living in sin could now more easily
  divorce and re-tie the knot
• Stepfathers position overrode that of the
  biological father
• Biological fathers financial responsibilities to
  first family not legally enforced
• Unsuccessful marriages could be replaced by
  successful ones

5
The Biological FamilyLate C20th

• Biological ties rather than marital ties
• Shared responsibility for childcare and economic
  support
• Based on two earner model instead of marital
  support model
• Encourages active fathering by biological parent
• Parenthood supersedes marriage as bedrock of the
  family

6
Family Practices DHJ Morgan (1996)

• Families are what families do
• How people do marriage, cohabitation,
  parenting, kinship
• Heterosexual or same sex
• May or may not involve co-residence
• Focus on practices rather than structures

7
Family Fluidity Today

• Traditional nuclear families are a minority
  lifestyle choice
• Change, fluidity and transformation characterise
  contemporary families
• We need to reconsider what we mean by normal
  family life
• Should we celebrate change or see it as a cause
  for concern?

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