FAMILY

Family In 21st Century Britain



Table of Contents

Introduction2

Literature Review3

Family Sociology and Family History3

Paradigm Shifts in Family Sociology4

Methodology5

Analysis6

Family Sociology and Feminist Scholarship6

Conceptual Frameworks and Family Theory8

Conclusion10

References13

Family In 21st Century Britain

Introduction

The beginning of a distinctive family sociology had its roots in centuries of accumulated writings on the subject. As Christensen (1964) noted in his attempt to frame that early history, “There has developed a vast literature on the family, running all the way from superstition-based folklore, to imaginative fiction, to poetic outpourings, to philosophical speculations, to popularized magazine articles and advice columns, and finally to reports of scientific investigations” (p. 3). It was generally recognized that family phenomena have widespread ramifications with respect to personal happiness and social stability. Indeed, the “wide range of commentary, analysis, and political action, over a period of twenty-five hundred years, suggests that throughout history we have been at least implicitly aware of the importance of family patterns as a central element in human societies” (Goode 2005:16).

Finally, a period of systematic theory building began and continued throughout the latter half of the twentieth century. There were now “serious attempts to pull together and assess the various researches of the past, and to first delineate and synthesize the several schools of thought or theoretical frames of reference which have been used in family study” (Christensen 1964:9-10). Interestingly, this period also saw a revival of cross-cultural and comparative family studies. However, unlike those of the past, these were “more scientific and more suitable to sound theory building than were their earlier counterparts” (p. 10).

Among Christensen's conclusions was an observation of a growing concern over theory building in family sociology and the delineation of several distinct theoretical approaches. At the time, five of these were deemed sufficiently promising to be included in the first version of the Handbook of Marriage and the Family (1964): the institutional, the structural functional, the interactional, the situational, and the developmental. In subsequent years, these and other alternative conceptual frameworks or orientations seen as useful for family research were elaborated (e.g., Nye and Berardo 1966).

Literature Review

Family Sociology and Family History

Scientific disciplines, of course, do not develop in isolation from other fields. Indeed, their expansion and sophistication are often assisted by reciprocal contributions from other areas of inquiry. Such is the case with respect to various knowledge interchanges between family sociology and the multidisciplinary field of family history, whose scholars have challenged long-held generalizations about historical developments of family forms and practices (Coontz 2000 65). For example, the work of social historians has led to a questioning of earlier sociological paradigms that posited a uniform process of family formation. Their research revealed the fallacies underlying “unilineal” assertions regarding the impact of industrialization and modernization on family types and changing family relationships.

Social historians of the family have challenged the view that there is one family form or process that is superior to others. Instead, they have offered more inclusive definitions of families to encompass the various dimensions of family diversity, spurred by a growing recognition that “there ...