5.

Family

1. Extended family (definition) vs nuclear family (definition)

2. Why extended family was typical in the past (before 20th c.)? It performed functions which nowadays
are the domain of state (e.g. education-schools; health-hospitals; sewing, shoemaking, etc.-factories /
shops, etc.)
Think of which some of the members of an extended family might be responsible for (one member might
play several roles):
Safety, finances, bringing up children, making clothes, cooking, taking care of children, taking care of
elderly members of the family, caring for sick family members,

3. Why, since the 20th. c, family has evolved towards the nuclear type?
- social mobility (in search of job – extended family would be an obstacle to move from place to place)
- changing employment patterns (working women = financial independence of women: single women
don’t need family protection and help to survive)
- welfare (the state’s help for the poor, sick and elderly who don’t have to rely entirely on their families)

4. Popular (idealised) image of a family (the model formed: by the media, in Britain: by the Royal
Family. Think of some commercials / films / books which reinforce this ideal family model. Characterize
an ideal family: (parents, number of children, what they look like, where they live, what they possess,
etc.:
…
Reality:
- growing number of divorces (divorce rate in GB – one of the highest in Europe)
- changing social values – increasing number of unmarried, single-person and homosexual households
- working women: potential implications for the balance of power and dependency within families as well
as the way domestic tasks are performed

5. Marriage:
Traditional image: lasts for the rest of life / is a setting for almost all childbearing and sexual cohabitation
Reality:
- high rate of divorce
- cohabitation
- births outside marriage (GB: c.40%), nowadays: equal status of children born outside marriage
- remarriage: a new type of family patterns and family relationships between siblings and step parents –
PATCHWORK family
- late childbirth (result: fewer children)
- marriages childless by choice

6. Woman (wife):
Traditional image: secure, with settled income and status (provided by husband); her role – based on
children and housekeeping
Reality:
- many women work (which improves financial status of families as well as makes them independent of
husbands)
- financial independence often results in growing demands and expectations (if not fulfilled – divorce)
- independence in the sphere of sexuality (family planning), result – smaller size of family
- smaller family (+time-saving devices): more independence and freedom
- legal regulations protecting women and family / help from the state (result: sense of security,
independence, freedom)

7. Emergence of a new model of family: SYMMETRICAL family: based on partnership, in which

domestic tasks are more equally shared (thanks to changing social attitudes and prejudices concerning
role divisions as well as changes in pattern of employment)
8. Elderly people (grandparents):
- growing number of elderly people living in their own households (c. 5% live in institutions, rest – in
private households, ¼ of them live with their relatives)
- greater independence of elderly people from their children (thanks to advanced medicine, higher
standard of living, technologies, state support)

9. Kin relations:
- not very frequent in GB (funerals, weddings)
- class differences observed: lower classes are more family-centered than the professional and managerial
classes
- gender differences: women more often maintain kin relations than men, esp. working-class women

Task:
Interview c. 10 friends and find out to what extent the above changes have already affected a model of
family in Poland:
1. extended  nuclear 
2. how many members?
 2 parents + 1 /2 children
 2 parents + more than 4 children
 1 parent + child[ren]
 patchwork family
3. Household duties:
-meals // cleaning // shopping / children)  mother  father
-minor repairs / taking the rubbish out / walking the dog / maintaining the garden / cleaning
the windows / beating dust out of the carpet, etc.  mother  father
-both parents share duties evenly (symmetrical f.) 
4. Grandparents:  live in their own house / flat;  live with children
5. Contacts with kindred:
 at least once a month
 Christmas / Easter / All Saints’ Day / “long weekends” / during holidays
 family weddings / funerals

CONCLUSIONS: …