The Disappearance of Nuclear Family

This article discusses the disappearance of nuclear family and the rise of reconstituted family, lone parenting and homosexual families due to factors like secularism, rise of LGBT community, and women empowerment. It also explores the changing roles and labor division within family over time and the contemporary diversity in family and its explanations.

Running head: THE DISAPPEARANCE OF NUCLEAR FAMILY
The Disappearance of Nuclear Family
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THE DISAPPEARANCE OF NUCLEAR FAMILY
Introduction
The structure of a family has been divided into a nuclear and joint family, where in the
case of the former is a small unit where the family is composed of traditionally married parents
of opposite sex with their adopted or biological children in a state of conjugal harmony. A
Nuclear family is a concept came into existence around Industrial Revolution in U.K and
symbolized a more self-sufficient way of leading a family. The requirements of a traditional joint
family was catered by the emerging social institutions and their strengthening grip on the society
like the schools, factories and healthcare clinics. Since the last 200-300 years the society of UK
has witnessed a massive change in the structural elements of family due to a number of factors
like urbanization resulted from the mass flow of workers in the city (Bales and Parsons 2014).
The institution of family was traditionally supported by law and customs and prohibited the
cohabitation of gay or same sex partners, single parenthood. Family served a set of values in the
U.K society and was essentially interdependent with other social institutions like government,
church and religion and educational institutes. It is only in the last three decades that the notion
of family structure has evolved and has come to accumulate gay and lesbian lifestyle as found
documented in data. The functionalist theory enumerated that in a nuclear family, the female
gender had the burden of extending the family and the duties within the periphery of household
whereas the male member was responsible to look after the need of the household (Cooke 2017).
A brief outline of Functionalist and Marxist/ Feminist perspective of Nuclear Family
The structure of a nuclear family was constructed to adjust to the shifting trends of a
modernized society and formed a significant part of the industrialized working class of British

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society. According to Parsons, nuclear family emerged to fit into the complex network of an
industrialized society and satiated the tow core functions, Primary Socialization which entails
educating the children about the norms and values pertaining to society. The second function is
the stabilization of adult personalities that is the emotional security and affinity that an adult
gains from the marital harmony in between two adults. The couple derives emotional stability
from each other in a particularly secluded society, aloof from their kins. They can indulge on
their childish whims within the periphery of the family which is unlikely to take place at the
wider context, i.e. society. The functionalist view of nuclear family was universal and
desirable for it has the potential to satisfy sexual urges, to provide for the socialization of
children who would evolve as responsible human beings (Bales and Parsons 2014).
Traditionally, it was considered the main purpose of raising a family. Parsons is of the opinion
that nuclear family is the best fit accounting to two reasons, geographical mobility and the
presence of father figure. The latter will provide the children with the best paradigm to follow in
order to evolve as a better individual. The functionalist view of nuclear family was once
considered desirable because it fulfilled the elements for social progress like sexual,
reproductive, economic and educational elements (Katz 2014). It is well argued that the
functions of family are intricately bound with that of the society.
Analysise how nuclear family structure has changed…
However, as far as data has revealed the proportion of traditional nuclear family
structure has reduced from 38% in 1961 to 25% in 1997. The Marxist feminist theory has been
responsible for constructively criticizing the functionalist theory of nuclear family which assigns
stereotyped gender roles to a traditional family system. According to Marxist feminist
perspective, the functionalist theory has laid functions that are inherently oppressive to the

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women who are bound to accept the subservient roles within a nuclear structure. They viewed
the structure of a nuclear family a culmination of patriarchal authority and which hardly leaves
any scope for the empowerment of women. Reading of Marxism feminism is necessary to
understand how family functions as an institution of power and exploitation rather than shared
interests and love for each other. Nuclear family quintessentially assigns power and dominance
to the male member establishing a reign of monopoly from which the male members benefit
tremendously by oppressing the women. According to theorist Diane Feeley, the nuclear family
structure systemizes the children so as to place them within a class-based society (Giddens et al.
2016).
According to collected data, cohabitation is the fastest growing family in UK
since the last two years. In fact, the figure has doubled from 1.5 million families to 3.3 million
within a span of mere ten years (Giddens et al. 2016). Many western countries are slowly
adapting a newly interwoven fabric of family, the change is primarily influenced by marriage
patterns in U.K. this has been a result of number of factors, namely secularization, co-habitation,
and the rise of liberal feminist. In U.K, secularization has reduced the number of church
marriages, the introduction of Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act 2013, has enabled homosexual
marriages in UK and Wales. It was responsible for a fair distribution of respect and dignity from
the society towards individual irrespective of their sexual orientation and inclinations. According
to government data, there were 4,850 with a stark decrease in religious ceremonies along with
2,411 same sex couples who chose to enter into marriage from civil partnership and
consequently this has led to a major restructuring of the nuclear family system (Giddens et al.
2016). Child adaptation by same sex couples has increased rapidly from 8.4 to 9.6% (Katz 2014).
This would have been impossible to achieve without the active collaboration of agencies that

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ensure for same adoption and placement of children within these families. The acute rise of
divorce rates in UK has simultaneously resulted in re-constituted family structure which account
for approximately 10% of families with children, mainly composed of Black Caribbean and
African families (Winter, Forest and Sénac 2017). Many sociologists trace the reason to ethnic
differences in between heterogeneous couples and changing social norms (Masterson and
Hoobler 2015). Intermingling in between two cultures is common in the country leading to
diversity and currently, there are three million members of ethnic minority groups. The ethnic
minority families form an integral part of the British race relations and follow diverse lifestyles.
The Changing roles and Labour Division within Family over time
The change in the structure of family has deep-rooted consequences in the society, for
instance, the change in the labour equations within a nuclear family. In UK, the secularization
of society has given women enormous amount of power over their household, contrary to the
Functionalist’s notion of a woman’s position in a household. Within the span of twenty years
starting from 1930s, women were granted with power over the domains of fertility, gender roles
and contraception. The right to abortion to preserve the health of mother was introduced in 1920
and from 1960s onwards Feminist have argued that patriarchal family and dominance is most
intricately rooted in nuclear family structure (Connell 2014). However, in same-sex marriages,
problems stemming from unequal division of labour due to gender roles are drastically low.
Reports have shown that within these family structures, the labour is divided into an egalitarian
way where each partner equally took household responsibilities unlike that of nuclear family.
The labor is divided varying on the resources of each partner. Income patterns had little role to
play in a lesbian household and depended more on the education level of the partners (Barrett
2014). Slowly from segregated conjugal roles, where men had very little part to play in domestic

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chaos, evolved symmetrical roles, where both the members of family cooperatively took part in
decision making and assumed immense importance for providing women employment, better
and flexible education system. The principle role of family has become socialization and as a
result of which women empowerment became widespread and crucial for the progression of a
society. Nuclear family has given way to a reconstituted family order. Breaking the broken
norms of nuclear family, today families are based round changing gender roles, decline in
fertility rates, contrary to Foucault’s theory who argues that sex played a fundamental role in
bourgeoisie like blood played for aristocracy (Parpart and Stichter 2016).
Additionally, the distinguished rise in the structure of step-family which is a fetched
result of divorces in UK, this further complicates the role of the parents defying the old norms
of nuclear family system. Step-families are regarded as incomplete an institution in stark contrast
to an idealized nuclear family and within this structure there is an absolute lack of stated cultural
and social norm for the children to abide by. It depends on the parents how many times they
might want to visit their children, or with whom the children who be kept. Step-parents have
relatively fewer responsibilities towards their children and this has increased their reliance on
institutionalizations (Masterson and Hoobler 2015). Within these family structures, there is no
clear definition regarding responsibilities and supervision of the step-parents towards their
children. A typical ambiguous relationship resulting from cultural values and backgrounds
persist within these families, the same gives rise to a number of conflicts within the framework
of a family. In UK, the disappearance of nuclear family and rise of step-family, or lone
parent have impacted on the emotional stability and education of children at a higher rate. As
Households Below Average Income statistics reveal, poverty has a significant impact on lone
parent families and their ways of upbringing. Today, children are more prone to lone parenting,

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step-family, and half-siblings (Kalmijn 2015). Quantitative data has found out that these children
are more exposed to behavioural problems, performing average in educational institutes, and
showing depressive symptoms than those who hail from intact family structure (Hetherington
and Arasteh 2014). The diversity in family structure has changed parent-child relationship from
unilateral to bilateral and family relations have verged towards becoming more vulnerable and
self-satiating.
Contemporary Diversity in Family and its Explanations
Another interesting area that researchers have looked into is the origin and rise of
ethnically diverse family structures in UK which dates back to the arrival of West Indians in
the 1950s. Inter-ethnic partnerships have led to a range of complex minority groups like mixed
white and black Caribbean, Pakistani, Chinese and others. The legislative framework of UK has
accepted the array of ethnic minorities and groups present there. Due to immigration, the
government has been forced to encourage and promote policies that would support social
congruity and fight with discrimination. The rise in ethnically diverse families can be
contributed to the post-war period, the migration of slaves, the immigration from Caribbean
being the largest. Presently these families are in a vulnerable position in UK with less number of
elected representatives in the government. However, the government has failed to address the
economic discrepancies persisting within the families resulting in divorces, lone parenting,
emotional breakdown and changes in the labour pattern to cope with inadequate resources to
sustain the family. In 21st century UK, emergence of different family patterns is significant.
Same sex marriages are today dependent on heterosexual relationships for children and left a
significant effect on the psychology of the child. It essentially changes their gender conceptions

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and makes them question gender stereotyping theories of the Functionalists (Connell 2014).
Increasing number of homosexual marriages has replaced the comparatively stable structure
and reliability that nuclear families offered to the society during the start of Industrialism. The
capitalistic culture had been an integral part of nuclear family, both serving each other in a
mutually inclusive manner. Nuclear family with heterogeneous couples used to be little units of
consumers that have evolved resulting in single-parent families, remarriages therefore resulting
in extended families (Kerbo 2017).
UK has come a long way since the days of bias and discrimination, where the idea of
nuclear family revolved around parents involving the opposite genders. Reasoning and a decline
religious fanaticism has also paved the way for the restructuring of family (Barrett 2014).
Furthermore, in the study of social sciences and the evolution of society freeing itself from the
shackles of regressive notions, media plays an important role. Homosexuality has been endorsed
publicly, from films, media, commercials and magazines which further provided an individual to
break free (Barrett 2014).
Conclusion
Therefore, it can be concluded that the number of factors like secularism, rise of LGBT
community, women empowerment have resulted in the disappearance of nuclear family resulting
in reconstituted family, lone parenting and homosexual families. The rise of LGBT studies and
community support has also acted as a catalyst in re-organizing the typical nuclear family
system. In a fragmented society nuclear family system is a thing of the bygone era, along with it
economic stability in a family, systematic upbringing of the children. Today, scholars attribute to
the rise of feminism and important figures like Kate Millet, Andrea Dworkin and Robin Morgan

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for the dismantling of traditional nuclear family system, and orthodoxies and exploitation of
female labor by the males

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