1.

Outline and explain two ways in which the process of globalisation has affected family
structure in contemporary society (10 marks)

In contemporary society, globalisation and migration effects have increased, which has resulted
in a significant number of external immigrants migrating their country of origin. Due to this,
there have been many alterations and changes to what is viewed as the societal norm of family
structure in the UK. One example is that globalisation is leading to an increase in the amount of
immigration from EU citizens to Britain as well as emigration of British citizens who move to EU
countries. As a result of this increase in immigration, at the end of March 2014, EU immigrants
made up about 38% of all immigrants. This increase in EU immigrants inevitably led to an
increase in European households within the UK which would vastly change the differing family
structures within contemporary British society. This would mean that there are different family
types with more European attitudes and concepts such as being ‘child centric’, in which the
majority if not all of the activities and efforts are primarily focused on their children’s interests in
order to effectively develop them. This increases and contributes towards the growing child
centred attitude within British society as many families have been doubling the amount of time
spent focused on their children since the 1960s which has allowed for parents to become more
invested within the development of children and socialise them effectively during their early
years. In addition, this has also led to a new “baby boom” in the 2000s due to varying family
structures and sizes in different cultures. Sociologist Chambers (2012) suggested that
globalisation has led to different varieties of global family types and networks, as even when
migrants move to the UK, they still maintain relationships with families in other countries.

Globalisation has led to a greater level of cultural diversity in the UK as a result of different
cultures and ways of life coming together in this society. This in turn leads to an increase in
“hybrid” families as new family types are created from partners that originate from varying
different cultures. These differing cultures impact and change family types and introduce or
adopt new ones such as different cultures leaning more towards the nuclear family type as seen
in the changing popularity of specific family types in the UK. A factor that challenges this growth
of the nuclear family is the increasing population of Asian families and culture which commonly
favour the “beanpole” family structure. The “beanpole” family is a multi-generational family
with extended family members such as cousins, aunts, grandparents etc. living with the main,
core members of the family. This is typically a result of the elders being given an increased
amount of respect compared to western society and they are often cared for by their family
rather than caring for themselves or being cared for in other settings such as a residential care
home. As a result, family trees and bloodlines have become increasingly smaller which has
affected contemporary family structure as family numbers have decreased within the UK as a
result of globalisation. Many EU countries along with the UK, have implemented strict
immigration laws to restrict immigration from both outside and within the EU. There is also now
a requirement of a £18,600 salary before any non-British workers are permitted to bring in their
non-British EU partners and children. These rules lead to a breakdown in the family structure of
up to 17,800 families a year as family members are split up which has led to a massive growth in
single/one parent households in the UK.
2. Using the source material explain why an ageing population may have a mixed impact on
family life in the UK (10 marks).

Source A

Many people have pointed out that an ageing population has a detrimental impact on family life
in the UK. This is for a number of reasons including housing occupancy and the need to provide
informal social care.

Since the 1900s there has been a noticeable increase in life expectancy and a decrease in death
rates as demonstrated in the ageing population in the UK. Such changes are a result of
numerous factors such as the improvement in hygiene, education, sanitation and advances in
medicine which have led to more public awareness of hygiene and sanitation, as well as an
increase in living and working standards. Prior to the twentieth century the highest mortality
rates were amongst babies and children due to the lack of medicines and vaccinations as well as
the poor living and working conditions and sanitation within hospitals. This varies from modern
day society in which most deaths occur at later stages in life and are a result of non-infectious
degenerative diseases such as cancer, Alzheimer’s and heart disease as reflected from the
increased life expectancy. Although, as source A states, there are consequences in society of
having an increased life expectancy and an ageing population such as house occupancy and
informal social care. House occupancy issues have arisen from the growing number of one
person pensioner households. This occurs as a result of pensioners growing older, their health
deteriorating and having family and friends die which also leads to increased levels of loneliness
and depression. Due to the increased amount of one person pensioner households this means
that younger people have more difficulty finding affordable households to live in. Pensioners
living alone may not be able to frequently interact with friends or family due to a breakdown of
family support and therefore rely upon social care which puts pressure onto social services as
denoted in the source.

Moreover, an ageing population can also contribute to the rise in poverty within the UK.
Marxists such as Erich Fromm would state that in capitalist societies, labour power is the driving
force that allows for the members of said society to maintain a good standard of living, and since
many pensioners leave paid employment this then often means there is a drop in income and
living standards for pensioners. It was found that in 2013, 1.6 million pensioners were living
below what is considered the poverty line and in extremely poor living conditions, this in turn
meant that many pensioners felt they became a burden as they may have to rely upon family
members to support and aid them. Due to the level of support that children and other family
members of said pensioners had to provide, this often meant that families went through
financial hardship as many people had to provide for both these pensioners and their own core
family members. This level of stress that is placed upon the family creates turmoil and sours the
relationships between individuals as children and grandparents both need to be provided for
and in many cases elders may move into the family’s household meaning that there is even more
turmoil created as specific family members may feel neglected for example the grandparents
may feel as if they have been pushed aside and forgotten as the children are prioritised which
only serves to further the loneliness of pensioners within the household.

3. Using the source material and your own knowledge evaluate the view that demographic
changes have led to more family and household diversity in modern society (20 marks)

Over the course of the last century the population has changed beyond recognition. Infant
mortality rate has decreased. Household size has shrunk and families have become more child
centric. People are also living longer which has created more single occupancy households.
 Women have extended their fertility window and have delayed having children until later on in
life. This often means that children live with parents into old age. Immigration has also changed
the nature of family structure and also households as many immigrants live in shared
households.

In modern day British society, there are a variety of demographic changes that have led to a growth
in family and household diversity. This growth in diversity within our society is largely a result of
changes that have affected our population and factors such as the decrease in the IMR and fertility
rates along with an increase in immigration to the UK have led to a vast shift to the population and
the level of diversity among the population in the UK. It is further stated that an increase in diversity
within the household and family has led to a variation of family types and sizes throughout the UK as
well as bringing about the growth of different concepts and attitudes within and towards the family
structure such as the rise of single occupant households and child centric families. However, it is
evident that the change in physical demographic statistics is not the main driving factor for the
change in family and household diversity.

The population has vastly changed within the UK as a result of the decline in birth rates and infant
mortality rates. The UK’s IMR fell from 142 deaths to 4.1 per 1000 from 1902 to 2012, which in turn
results in an increase in life expectancy as it was around 47 for men and 50 for women whereas in
2012 men were expected to live to 79 and women were expected to live to 83 which led to
numerous changes to the population. This decline in IMR and increase in life expectancy have come
about as a result of improved hygiene, sanitation, medicine, living/working standards, education and
public welfare. Improvements in working standards, sanitation and the decline in IMR, has led to
society becoming more child centric as contraception methods have improved as well as education
which then means that children become the main focus of the family and are less of a burden and
more a choice instead as source B states. This leads to more diverse options for the family and
household as activities are more targeted towards the children which typically leans to the attitudes
and action of nuclear families. Child centric families and the growth of this family type could possibly
lead to even more variety and diversity of family types as when children age and no longer are the
focal point of the family, the family may end up breaking down which increases the prominence of
divorces, single parent and step families in modern society. The increase in divorce however cannot
be strictly attributed to the changes in diversity but can also be a result of the reduction of the social
stigma around divorces and introduction of legislation such as the Divorce Law Reform Act of 1969
which allowed for divorce to be normalised and for different, more diverse family types to occur.

Migration and globalisation have been a great influence on the population size and composition in
the UK which has also had a significant impact on worldwide migration patterns. Families living
outside the UK are encouraged to move by ‘push’ and ‘pull’ factors which leads them to move to the
UK for economic reasons, for example, in order to avoid poverty, pursue higher living standards or
better opportunities. Globalisation and its effects have led to a mass increase of migration from
families worldwide, as a result of this diversity of cultures and family values there is even more
variation within family types in the UK. One example is that migrants from Eastern Europe tend to
have larger families which are typically more child centric. As highlighted by Berthoud (2001),
Caribbean families focus more on the quality of the relationship rather than the label associated
with the relationship. Marriage is often seen as more of a lifestyle option and Caribbeans are less
likely to live with their partner compared to white or South Asian people. Lone parenthood and
single parent households are much more prevalent within the Caribbean community with
approximately half of all Caribbean mothers having never been married despite being parents. On
the other hand, sociologist Ballard (1982) found that ethnic minorities such as groups from South
Asia typically value the extended family and have stronger relationships with them compared to
white families. This is due to the strong amount of respect that is put upon family loyalty, respect for
parents, birth within marriage, and arranged marriages. As these families have differing structures it
then brings new family types to the UK and different family types are adopted by different cultures
such as Pakistani families adopting the ‘cereal packet’, nuclear family more and beanpole families
growing in frequency in the UK.

In conclusion, there are a variety of factors that cause demographic changes in modern society that
can have negative or positive impacts. The main factors, however, are infant mortality, fertility rates,
immigration and the ageing population in Britain. These factors have led to a multitude of changes in
society such as family structure ad attitude as they become more child centric, family types varying
ad diversifying through the rise of immigration and changes to the economy and housing system in
the UK as a result of the ageing population.