Traveling though time we can see how society has been though and is still facing many changes and problems. From the 19th and 20th Centurys to todays society. Societ is viewed differently by different types of people. For example Functionalists, marxists, feminists, new right and post modernists all see society differently. Legislations such as the welfare state have afffected the family in many ways.
The welfare state (1942) includes benifits that support the family if they need help. Feminists for example would like the welfare state as it would make it easier for women to become independent and still allow them to look after their children properly. Radical feminist groups would like this as they favour complete gender separation and political lesbianism. Therefore, they would like the Welfare system as it would imply that women can be free from men as they do not have to occupy a dependant role in a household, it would also make it easier for women to get a divorce, where they can escape oppression, as they would not have to face a huge financial crisis. Also Post modernist groups would agree with the welfare state as the different family types would benefit from them, the benefits would help support family diversity.
However not all sociologists support the decision of benefits. Functionalists would not agree with state welfare as they belive that the nuclear family should be indepentant and self providing, the new right also have similar belives and they believe that familys dependant on the benefits, are not as strong as the independant nuclear family. Similarly, Marxist supporters would not support the welfare state as it would feed capitalism, so it would make the people dependant on the government and that goes again the Marxist view of communism.
Another Policy that has affected the family structure hugely is the legalisation of the contraceptive pill (1961 for married women, 1967 for all). The policy allows easy birth control and also limits the possibility of the women attempting harmful ways of losing a baby. Functionalists and new right sociologists such as Charles Murray would be in favour of the legalisation as It will prevent unwanted births in the family and could help keep the family stable, it will also allow the family to concentrate more of the children they already have (if they have children).If they do not already have children or are not married, functionalist and new right would still support this, this is due to the fact that unwanted child birth would add to different types of families and they would not be the preferred (best type in the eyes of functionalist and new right supporters) nuclear family. Feminists would also view the policy positively as it allows women to make the decisions and also allows them if they choose to focus more on themselves, for example: focus on their careers. Post Modernist's would also support this policy as it would allow families to choose if they are ready for the responsibility of a child or not.
On the other hand, Marxists would be against this policy as it would also be feeding into capitalism. Capitalism is when there is a hierarchy, the most people who benefit are the wealthy and it does not allow less fortunate people to prosper. Therefore, Marxists would be against as they believe that communism is the best. Communism is where people do not work for themselves they work for the sake of the community, so they believe that people have to work together in order to live happily.
Like the contraceptive pill, Abortion Legalisation (1967) allows choice when having a baby. The Abortion policy allows women to get abortions to stop women from harming themselves and it will also help reduce death rate and infection due to safer practice. Marxists, feminists and post modernists would accept the policy. This is due to the amount of freedom and equality it would bring to society as a whole. Society is now more accepting of diverse family types such as single parent households and same-sex families.
However, Functionalists and New right could be undecided (if they accept the policy or not), they may be against it as it is not a traditional method and it is not a natural family process. They could also accept the abortion policy as it will reduce single parent families and it will also help the family as a unit if they were not expecting to have a baby.
The divorce act (1969) allows couples to separate legally, reasons for divorce can include:
- Adultery: Your husband or wife has been with someone else of the opposite sex, and you can no longer live with them. However, You can not give adultery as a reason if you lived with your husband or wife for 6 months after you found out about it.
- Unreasonable behaviour: Partner behaved so badly that you can no longer bear to live with them. This could include: physical violence, verbal abuse, drunkenness or drug-taking and refusing to pay for housekeeping.
- Desertion: Your husband or wife has left you without your agreement, without a good reason, to end your relationship, for more than 2 years in the past 2½ years.You can still claim desertion if you have lived together for up to a total of 6 months in this period.
- You have lived apart for more than 2 years, You can get a divorce if you’ve lived apart for more than 2 years and both agree to the divorce. Your husband or wife must agree in writing.
- You have lived apart for more than 5 years, Living apart for more than 5 years is usually enough to get a divorce, even if your husband or wife disagrees with the divorce.
