The Change in Family Roles in British Society Essay Example for Free

The Change in Family Roles in British Society Essay Family structure and family roles within British society have changed dramatically over the years. This essay will explain the changes in the roles and relationships within the family in the last century. The arrival of the industrial revolution and the rise of capitalism can be seen as the main factor which led to the change in family roles and structure in modern times. Michael Young and Peter Willmott in their book The Symmetrical Family suggest that the family in England has gone through four stages: The Pre-industrial family: The family is seen as an organised unit of production; family members worked together as a unit in the manufacture of agricultural items or textiles. The early industrial family: Family members at this stage are employed as wage earners. This kind of family prevailed in the 19th century when wages were low and unemployment was the enemy. The familys economic function was taken over by large scale industry. In response, families extended their network of relationships to include relatives. Women were for the most part responsible for this. There was a central relationship between a mother and her married daughter; by contrast the husband-wife relationship was weak. Women formed an ‘informal trade union’ from which men were excluded. This kind of family may still be found in long established working class areas. The symmetrical family: The nuclear family has become emphasised at the expense of the extended family and the ‘trade union’ of women has been disbanded. The husband is important once again within the family. Husband and wife share decisions, and work together, hence the term ‘symmetrical’. This kind of family emerged in middle classes and spread into working classes. Work is important in shaping the nature of family life. There are five reasons for the rise of the symmetrical family. The increase in male wages and the employment of women, the decrease of male mortality and unemployment rate, the increase in geographical mobility, the economic equality between spouses and finally the better living standards attracting men to their homes and leading to an increase in home entertainment. The Stage 4 asymmetrical family: Young and Wilmott foresee the development of a stage 4 family, which is an extension of their theory of the ‘Principle of Stratified Diffusion’. According to this theory, patterns of living spread down the social structure. Thus families at the bottom of the social order will copy the habits of those at the top. Applying this theory, they note that managing directors’ lives are work centred rather than home-centred. For such men sport, such as golf, is an important area of recreation. The relationship has become asymmetrical again, with the role of the wife being to look after children. Talcott Parsons believed that the extended family of the past, where each member of the family had a duty to perform including children who had to look after the elderly members of their family, served a number of functions in society. These functions have been taken over in industrial societies by specialist institutions such as the social services and schools. According to Parsons, industrialisation led to a move from extended families where fathers had to be the bread winner and mothers had to be the house wife who does not have any rights, and children from age 8 had to be at work helping their parents, to a nuclear family, where mothers and fathers have almost the same roles and rights, and where children become less dependent and have to stay in school to the age of 16. The structure of the family has changed for a number of reasons. The first is economic. Because more women are in paid work they become more independent. Before, women used to be house wives and they had no rights at all. The second reason for family change is moral. In the past, people could not have children without being married, to the extent that children born outside marriage were given to their grandparents to look after them, or given to work houses. Nowadays, fewer people seem to subscribe to traditional religious teachings on family and marriage; therefore people are free to make sexual and moral choices without any pressure of society. The third reason for family change is legal. Because of recent family law changes it has become a lot easier to get divorced. Before 1857 a private act of parliament was required to obtain divorce and only wealthy people were able to get divorce because of the cost involved. In the past, child abuse and women battering by their husbands were accepted forms of behaviour and women had no right to complain or to take any legal action against men. The BMA report on Domestic Violence (1998) recorded that, 1 in 4 women every year experience Domestic violence and 1 in 10 women experience domestic violence in their lives. However, in 1990, the home office instructed the police to treat domestic violence the same as any form of violence. In 1961, for the first time, women were able to decide if they want to have children or not and whether to have family or not. Also women’s priorities changed from getting married, looking after the family and having as many children as possible. Nowadays, women’s priorities are totally different; they want to be educated and to have the best career they can possibly have. Previously, women had to cope with their partner, even if they do not get on well together, single parenting was not accepted at all Today the welfare state supports women and their children if a relationship fails. Therefore, single parent families are able to survive on low incomes, which are provided by the state. This may account for the recent increase in single parent families as compared with to those days when divorced women had no support whatsoever from the government. To sum up, the last hundred years have witnessed a tendency towards more equality between men and women in terms of education, employment and legal rights. This has led to better individual conditions for both men and women. However, family life has not necessarily benefitted from the above. Instead, single parent families, with their negative impact on children, have increased dramatically and new less natural alternatives to the nuclear family, such as gay associations, have appeared in society.