Individuals make choices about family life
and relationships. Structural approaches
wrongly assume that our actions are shaped
and dictated by the 'needs of society'
Family diversity increased by choice;
we don't have a 'best' fit family
Hareven - life
course analysis
There's flexibility and
variations in people's
family lives and
choices
Timing and
sequence of events -
when to marry, have
children, come out as
gay etc
Holdsworth and
Morgan look at
youngsters
leaving home,
and how other
influence their
decision
Life course
analysis focuses on
the meanings
people give
life-changing
events, choices and
decisions in order to
understand how thy
constructed their
family life
Hareven
favours
structured,
in-depth
interviews
Life course
analysis has
two major
stregths
Focuses on what
individuals see as
important, not
what sociologists
think they feel;
gives broad range
of views
Suitable for studying present
families where we have more choice
and family diversity - family structure
increasingly just a result of choices
made by members
Family practices
Morgan uses this
concept to
describe routine
actions through
which we create
our sense of
'being family
member'
Family practices
influenced by our
beliefs we have about
our rights and
obligations within the
famiy
Allows us to see why
there may be conflict
within the family -
beliefs or expectations
held of others
e.g. men expected to work,
women clean and cook
Morgan sees this as a better way to
describe how we construct families - they
are not concrete structures, but people
that do
Morgan argues
that as society
becomes more
fragmented,
families etc are
less clear-cut,
boundaries are
blurred
Weeks' idea of "chosen
families" and "friendship as
kinship" suggests that,
among homosexuals,
family and non-family are
less clear
Morgan does not
reject structural
theories completely
Wider society may
still influence over
family members'
expectations and
actions
e.g. gender norms,
differences in job
opportunities may
dictate men to feel
obligated as
breadwinners and
women as
homemakers