WJEC Eduqas GCSE Sociology Revision Guide

Is the family in decline? Is the nuclear family under threat? Chapter 2 Families 34 Sue Sharpe found that the majority of 11–16 year olds regard marriage as ‘a choice rather than a necessity’. Do you agree with this statement? Why? Make a list of the reasons why marriage might no longer be viewed as a necessity. AO2 Apply Take it further Ask your friends and family for their opinion on Sue Sharpe’s findings. Do they agree with her? Is there a generational difference in your answers? Why might this be? Link to textbook pp 54–55: Changes to family sizes pp 56–57: Is ‘the family’in decline? Is the family in decline? This depends on what you define as a family – a nuclear family or any type of family? According to official statistics, the number of nuclear families is decreasing therefore marking a decline in the traditional family. The effect of the gay rights movement, legal changes to same-sex relationships, changes in social attitudes, adoption and technological changes (IVF, surrogacy) mean that the number of homosexual families are increasing. These are a form of family too. There is a multi- factorial nature of change, so no single change can take place in isolation. Social stigma, influence of media and secularisation all have an impact. In 2017, around 28 per cent of households contained one person. The proportion of one-person households has increased considerably since the early 1970s. A household is not a family but a family can make up a household. Fewer people are getting married. The cohabiting-couple family is the fastest growing, therefore the family is not in decline. A family where the parents are not married is still a family. Is the nuclear family under threat? More people choose to live alone or as couples without children. The number of people living in families with children fell from 52 per cent in 1961 to 36 per cent in 2009. Rapoport and Rapoport say that while the nuclear family is an option there are other options too. They do not see these options as a threat to the nuclear family but as a positive move towards personal choice. The married or civil partner couple family remains the most common in 2017. Cohabiting couple families have been more common than lone- parent families in the UK in the last few years. Chester says that the majority of cohabiting couples are planning on marriage and therefore will form a nuclear family. The ONS says there is ‘an increasing trend to cohabit instead of marry, or to cohabit before marriage’. Spec spotlight 2.2 Social changes and family structures: cohabitation, lone- parent families, later age of marriage 2.5 Criticisms of family: marital breakdown and divorce, decline of the traditional family Families now come in many shapes and forms.