Write an essay about - Changing Idea of Family
Answers
The structure of the family has changed drastically in Ireland and many Western countries has seen a major change in the nature and structure of the family in recent times. In recent years due to a change in demographic trends in terms of marriage patterns, occupational structures, fertility and pre- determined socially constructed norms. According to Galliagan (1998, cited in Tovey & Share 2003) there has been a change of structure in Irish society due to modernisation, secularisation of society due to the church not being dominant anymore and woman becoming dominant in society in terms of roles and family planning. There are arguments that these issues have occurred for better or worse in terms of making Ireland a modern society (Tovey & Share 2007).
The concept of the family has changed from being of an extended family in pre-industrial society which contained two or more generations living under one roof. The role of the family was primarily a unit of production and reproduction which revolved around the farm. In comparison in industrial societies the nuclear family consists of two adults living together with children. This type of family structure was referred as the “stem” family. A new type of family has evolved due to separation known as the blended family which consists of two previously married people who co-habit with their respective children (McDonald 2009). This is conveyed by Russell (2004 cited in Tovey & Share 2007) that half of all couples in Ireland were dual earners. Family patterns have changed dramatically over the past several decades. This is justified by anthropologists Arensberg and Kimball who identified the family as being a typical traditional family with several generations living together. This type of structure had an patriarchal approach which resulted in gender roles as the male being the breadwinners and females being the homemaker (Hillard 2007).
As a result of modernisation and industrialisation it has led to changeable demographic trends in terms of marriage , fertility, divorce, gender roles, one parent family’s and contraception. Galligan (1998 cited in Tovey & Share 2003) points out that from the 1930’s to the 1960’s woman suffered legal discrimination in terms of employment, property rights, family law and social welfare. This is highlighted by Tovey & Share (2003) which states woman who previously worked in the public service from 1932 to 1973 had to give up their job when married due to the marriage bar. However this has changed significantly in recent times due to demographic studies which shows that woman’s participation rate in the workforce was 54 per cent in 1996 compared to 28 per cent in 1971 (Tovey & Share 2003). This has been mainly achieved through feminism which enabled woman to have a say in how society is operated which occurred in the late twentieth century (Hillard 2007). They argued that there was unequal power relationships within the family and highlighted that woman should have important roles in society in terms of carers and decision making (McDonald 2009).
The Central Statistics Office 2006 shows that the trend in contemporary Irish society of family patterns has resulted in six types of family units which consists of husband and wife (225,773), cohabiting couples (77,781), husband and wife and children (516,404), cohabiting couple and children (43,982), lone mother and children (162,551), lone father and children (26,689) (CSO 2006). Due to these trends in the family there is now a huge amount of diversity in terms of what a family can be defined in terms of. Tovey and Share (2003) highlights key trends due to the changing phenomena of the family caused by a marked decline in marriage, birth and fertility rates and people remaining single. This is conveyed that in 2001 births outside marriage made up nearly a third of all births in Ireland which shows that there has been changing attitudes towards social values in terms of the family.
There has been a change in the typical related marriage and living arrangement patterns. Previously if a man and woman lived together without being married they were said to be living in sin (Hunt 2005). Since the 1960’s due to approaches of egalitarianism and individualism in Western society it has led to change (Hillard 2007).