FamilyDiversityWorking in pairs, refer to pages 74 to 77 and answer the following questions.

  1. Identify 4 ways in which families are being influenced by the changes described in Box 7.
  2. According to Giddens, why are personal relationships in today’s society less stable?
  3. How does the new ‘negotiated’ family’ described by Beck and Beck-Gernsheim differ from earlier types of family?
  4. Stacey found evidence of all sorts of different family and household arrangements in her research. Make a list of all the different sorts of family and household arrangements you can think of. How many different types of family and/or household is an individual likely to part of during their lifetime?
  5. Why have sociologists often chosen unstructured in-depth interviews rather than other possible research methods for studying the life course and family practices?