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Lesson 12: The Future of Families

Terms in this set (39)

Post-structuralism
•The prefix "post": critical of structuralism. Our social structure is shaped by culture so culture is integral to understanding meanings (e.g. institutions such as families; titles such as mother/father)

•Post-structuralists study the underlying structures inherent in cultural products and our subjective interpretation of them (such as texts, language, discourses, institutions etc.)

•Post-structuralists advocate deconstruction

•To understand an object (e.g. the family/gender), we need to study:
•the object itself
•the systems of knowledge which were coordinated to produce it.

•Post-structuralism: a study of how knowledge is produced

•Meanings constantly shift in relation to myriad variables

•The only way to properly understand these meanings is to deconstruct the assumptions and knowledge systems which produce the illusion of singular meaning

Foucault
• Discourse (language/set of utterances) creates
phenomena and therefore has power
• Poststructuralist/postmodernist idea that discourse
structures the way we see reality
• Gender and sexuality are discursively constructed

Heterosexuality is an institution forced upon men and women, predicated upon violence
•Society socializes us into 'heteroreality' but why is heterosexuality 'natural'?
•Non-heterosexual realities have been written out of history and are seen as abnormal
Judith Butler (1999) (Post-Modernism)
•Suggests gender is not the result of nature, but is socially constructed.

•Male and female behaviour roles are not the result of biology but are constructed and reinforced by society through media and culture.

•Sees gender as a PERFORMANCE.

•She argues that there are a number of exaggerated representations of masculinity and femininity which cause "gender trouble."

•(Any behaviour or representation that disrupts culturally accepted notions of gender.)
Modernism and the Family
•The modern period started with the industrial revolution.
•characterised by urbanisation, class stratification, ideology, growth of the nation state and bureaucracy.

•In the modern era, sociologists offered rational structural theories to explain how society works - positivism, functionalism, Marxism, interactionism

•Postmodernists describe these theories "grand narratives".

•Many of the theories of the family that we have today are steeped in modernism

•Postmodernists reject all structural theories and grand narratives.
What is Postmodernism
Postmodernists claim that society has evolved from the modern period. This movement has been caused by:

1.Globalisation: nation states and borders more permeable

2.Economic changes fragmenting social classes and diffusing their values.

3.Relativism - a way of looking at the world which rejects the so called objective truth of 'grand narratives'

4.The rise in importance of 'identity'. Rather than identifying with particular social classes post modernists suggest people construct their own identities like consumers in a market place, 'picking and mixing' as they see fit. Identity therefore becomes crucial to a person's politics, sexuality, adopted family structure etc.

5.Postmodern society is therefore characterized by diversity and choice
Postmodernist Views of the Family
•Modernists see the idea of "the family" as central unit of social order: model of the middle-class, nuclear family.

•Post-modernists stress alternative family units

•Postmodernists emphasize the extent to which family diversity is intensifying

•Characteristics of the 'post modern' era -
1. a time of great change
2. fluidity and uncertainty.

•There is no longer any fix family 'norm' which everyone aspires to.
Post-modernism and the Family
•Anthony Giddens - uses the term 'late modernity' rather than post modernity
•In 'late modernity' people have far greater choice and freedom over their identities and lifestyles, including families. This has changed the structures and processes of families.
•Relationships are based on confluent love (emotional intimacy) and expectations.
•Relationships are no longer viewed as fixed and unchanging. In the post-modern age, if love fails people are more likely to move on rather than stick with an unsatisfactory relationship.

•Judith Stacey: contemporary family arrangements are diverse, fluid and 'unresolved'
•Stacey welcomes the diversity of the postmodern era and looks forward to the possibility of more equal and democratic relationships 'with no script to follow' compared to the more rigid patriarchal ones of the modern period.
Post-modern families- Costa
Features of Postmodern Families
•Fragile
•Fluid
•Liquid
•Private
•Sentimental
•Democratic
•Autonomous
•Product of change
•De-traditionalized
•De-institutionalized
•unstable

Postmodern Rituals
-Shortened & simplified
-Commercialization of rituals
-Technology in rituals (e-cards v. post cards)
-De-ritualization?
-Number and variety of rituals increased
-New forms of rituals (LGBT weddings)
Postmodern families: Empirical Findings -Costa
Birthdays
•Divorced parents value milestones: Birthdays present opportunities to be with children; children birthdays bring families together; Equal participation is expected after divorce.

Family Vacations
•Negotiated. Parents are willing to give up the presence of the children. Equal participation of parents not expected after divorce.

Christmas
•Provides opportunities for family reunions: new members included (dating, unions, remarriage). Occasion to gather the entire family.
•Rotation is a common strategy; parents desire equal participation in celebrating Christmas with children

Rituals are important for understanding family processes. Postmodernity (and divorce) do not mean the end of family ritual. Instead, they are more fluid and diverse.
Understanding Future Family Predictions
•Current trends provide insight and allow for preparation

•Problem of the future will likely involve
•Science and technology
•Travel and communications
•War and intergroup conflict

•We will increasingly rely on information and technology
•Improvements in medical technology will improve human health, but concerns about health risks, new illnesses and new disasters will necessitate new coping mechanisms for families.
The Connected Society
•Usage of telephone and internet is high among Canadians
•-In 2006 (Statistics Canada, 2008b)
•--99% had land lines or mobile telephones
•--80% owned a computer
•--70% had home internet access
•-Since 1999 home internet access has increased from 11% to 80.5%

•Some social researchers believe that technological changes bring about social changes.

•These social changes can affect dynamics within the family and make it possible for alternative family structures to develop across time and space.
Internet, Social Media & Close Relations
•Researchers disagree about the overall effect on family and community life
•-It may intrude on family life, or
•-It may make contact easier; improves social life (Wellman and Hampton, 1999)
•-Improve children's social lives and confidence (Moscovitch, 2007)
•-Can isolate family members and produce addictive behaviors
•-Reduce contact with family members, increased loneliness and depression (Nie & Hillygus, 2002).
•-It has had different effects on social life and will continue to have unpredictable effects

•Information technology is more and more necessary for education
Families and Technology
•Reproductive technologies make fertility possible for many

•Medical technology can extend lives and close relations.

•Technology also has cultural effects
•-Family dinners becoming less common
•-Mobile devices can reduce physical interaction between family members
•-Working at home blurs work-family boundary
•-Erode First Nations cultures; fragments identities and challenge local values, knowledge and traditions (Bowers et al, 2000).
Intimacy and Technology
•Effects of technology on close relations
•-Depends on the type of close relationship
•-Closely related communicators use new as well as old forms of technology, and often
•-More frequent and varied communication strengthens a relationship
•-Weakly tied communicators rely on one medium and their relationship remains distant

•It is difficult to predict how the digital divide will change
Digital divide
•Not all families are affected the same way by technology

•Digital divide: the gulf between those who have ready access to computers and the Internet, and those who do not.

•Access is mediated by:
•-Gender
•-Socio-economic status
•-Location

•Rural, female youth and youth from families with low parental education have less access to a computer at home.
•-Schools have made up for the lack at access at home for most of these groups.
Technology and Family Development
•Research has not kept pace with changes in technology

•Most social theory is based on the assumption of face to face relationships

•In the age of the internet, we need of the ways people "signal" their characteristics, preferences and qualities

•Researchers need to address how interpersonal relationships develop over the internet and the impact of visual cues in attraction

•Millennial generation report feeling closer during adolescence to their parents than previous generations.
Comparing Communication Technologies
•Telephone
•Initially used for long distance calling, linking family and friends
•Allowed people to express their views in their own voice
•With the demise of the party line, it became a private form of communication
•Effects on social life have been modest

•Email
•Cheaper than telephone, and much cheaper than long distance travel
•Not as interruptive, and allows a delay in responding
•Faceless anonymity can have negative consequences (blunt disclosures and self-misrepresentation).
•Allows socializing when people are housebound
The Family Cycle
•Families engage in developmental tasks along the life course -activities that prepare them for coming stages.

•Technology will have different impacts at each stage of the life course e.g. parents and children use the internet different.

•Technology is popular at all stages of the life course, and this is expected to continue.

•How do ICTs impact family developmental stages over time?
•-How are norms and values influenced?
•-How are ICTs used in developmental tasks used in life course transitions?
•-How do families with and without access to ICTs differ?
•-How do ICTS influence the experience of "off time"
Technology & New Relationships
•People increasingly rely on Facebook or online dating sites to initiate new relationships

•Online dating is expediting a dramatic increase
•-Not as common among recent immigrants or particular ethnic groups, such as Muslims or southern Asians as it is for native-born Canadians and Americans (Sautter, Tippett, and Morgan, 2010).
•-Cyberspace offers people unparalleled opportunities to meet and grow emotionally close to people who may be at a greater distance.
•-People leave their spouse because of cyber-romance.
•-Long term outcomes are not known
•-People may experience less anxiety in online relationship
•--Rapid intimacy has both positive and negative aspects
Technology, NRT & Family Caregiving
Technology and Family Caregiving
•Telephone and internet may be used to deliver social support to caregivers
•-Online chat groups provide support
•-Websites provide healthcare information
•-Computer monitoring allows older adults to live by themselves
•-Family therapy online

New Reproductive Technologies
•NRTs have the ability to separate fertilization from child-bearing
•Can revolutionize family life
•Can also further traditional social goals
•Often technology is only the handmaiden of human ambition
Individualization of People's Lives
•People are living increasingly separate yet interdependent lives.

•More variety, fluidity, and idiosyncrasy in:
•-Migration
•-Marriage
•-Divorce
•-Child-bearing
•-Family decision-making
•-Work life/Family life relations

•Greater choice due to individualization produces
•-Satisfaction
•-Confusion and ambivalence about the limits of choice
•-New social forms and lifestyles
•--Formal - laws and policies
•--Informal - personal ways of interacting to negotiate new social norms
A New Culture of Intimate Life
•Individualization will likely produce new kinds of families based on 2 dimensions
•-Role separability
•--separation of being a spouse from being a parent

•-Personal interchangeability
•--the choice of a spouse based on that person's ability to fill certain roles rather than for his/her unique characteristics

Four kinds of nuclear families are likely to appear
•Corporate family: role inseparability and personal interchangeability.
•Collected family: role separability and personal interchangeability.
•Concatenated family: Role separability but no personal interchangeability.
•Cyclical (or recycled) family: Role inseparability but no personal interchangeability.
Collected family
•a structure that requires family members to conform to traditional notions of husband, wife, father, mother and child

role separability and personal interchangeability
Corporate family
a family in which people can come and go without changing the essential structure of the family

role inseparability and personal interchangeability
Concatenated family
•exact opposite of the corporate family, characterized by separable roles and unique performers

Role separability but no personal interchangeability
Cyclical (or recycled) family
a family form featuring traditional (inseparable) roles, but no role interchangeability

Role inseparability but no personal interchangeability
Top Family Trends in Canada
1.Fewer couples are getting legally married
2.More couples are breaking up
3.Families are getting smaller
4.Children experience more transitions as parents change marital status
5.Family violence continues to be under-reported
6. Multiple earner families have become the norm
7.Women continue to do most of the juggling involved in balancing work and home
8.Socio-economic inequality between families is worsening
9.The future will have more aging families
Dual Income Families
•The economy needs the wages and skills of women

•Community relationships and commuting relationships may be more common

•Child bearing may be delayed but children are still valued

•Role expectations for spouses and parents can be expected

•Changes in the global marketplace might mean that men's privileged position as income earlier might change. Women are increasingly taking the role of role provider
Refilled Nests
•Couples are experiencing refilled nests as adult children return home during periods of unemployment or education

•Families may also pool housing and resources to survive.

•Individualization in pursuit of social goals will make boomerang kids a continuing reality for many families.
Nominal and Virtual Families
•Nominal families - those empowered by law to care for their members
•Virtual families - those who actually do the work of caring for the family
•These may overlap, but not necessarily
•More research into virtual families is needed
Future of Immigrant Families
•With increased immigration Canada will see further modifications to family forms

•Increased diversity in metropolitan areas will accompany shifts in social attitudes
•-Both the future of immigrant families and the country will be affected
Diversity Across the Life Course
•There is a clear pattern of individualization of family life

•People live longer than before

•It is likely that we will live in many kinds of families
Policy Challenges
•Support for low-income families

•Child care

•Family-enabling policies
•-Promoting healthy pregnancy, birth and infancy
•-Improving parenting and family supports
•-Strengthening early childhood development
•-Strengthening community supports
Structured-Based Definition
-rigid in description, based on looking at the structure of the definition (household, mother do what, etc).
-Problematic definition
-KEY IDEA: Post-constructionist would DECONSTRUCT the current structure of families in order to build a more equalitarian structure.
-KEY IDEA: How did we come to how we define gender
-Roughly 1970s
-1. 1950s, Is when families were rigidly defined (Western family structure only)
-2. 1960s, it was a time when social changes (gay rights, immigrations, etc) had forced society to relook the structures of families
Queer Theory
-Came out of post-structuralism

-A field of critical theory that emerged in the early 1990s out of the fields of LGBT studies and feminist studies

-Explores and challenges the way in which heterosexuality is constructed as normal
Gender Performance: Jack Sparrow
An example how men can perform any gender roles
Postmodernism critique modernism
Modernity is characterized by urbanization, class stratification, ideology, growth of the nation state and bureaucracy.
Families Now and Then: Future of Families
-Families in Connected Society
-Technology and family life
--Forming Relationship
--Reproduction
--Family Cycle

Individualization (At least 3 multi-choice)

-Four types of nuclear families

-Trends & Likely Changes in families
--Immigrant families
--Nominal and Virtual families (at least 2 multi-choice)
--Diversity across life course

Policy Challenges
Role separability
Refers to the ability to separate being a spouse from being a parent. In the traditional family, a spouse and a parent are the same. You cannot separate them, so the traditional nuclear family has inseparable roles (spouse= parents). With individualization, someone might be a spouse but refuse to take on the responsibilities (roles) of parents. In this case, the roles are separable (spouses are not parents).
Personal interchangeability
refers to how people in close relationships choose partners, which can be either on: a) their abilities to perform roles or b) on love/unique characteristics of the individual. In the traditional families, partners are interchangeable, i.e. we chose partners based on their abilities to perform roles. So roles are interchangeable for the individuals. In other words, we are more interested in the performance of roles, not the individual. Where roles are not interchangeable, we prioritize the unique features of the individuals and choose our partners based on those features/love.
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