Chapter 9: From modern nuclear family households to postmodern diversity?

This chapter presents the results of a research regarding the sociology of family in Great Britain in the 1990s. The study begins from the position that sociological research is a social practice and an element of social relations. The study is based on the analysis of articles published in sociological research journals in 1993. The sociology of the family is hardly recognizable in Great Britain as such, there are no British journals devoted to the family and undergraduate courses explicitly on the family or household are by no means a standard offering in British departments of sociology. Most of the family and household-related articles published in British journals in 1993 were about married couple households, often with young children. Very few articles mention other kin and interhousehold relationships or families/households based on close relationships other than those of blood and marriage. Divorce and step-parenting are also notably missing in the publications. In the sociology examined here, married couples with children living in households with no other members predominate. It was emphasized here how they divide housework tasks, how they distribute financial resources, how they cope with an autistic child or poverty or stress, how they deal with male unemployment and early retirement and other numerous aspects of the organization of their daily lives.