Family Diversity

Family diversity means that there are many different types of family in society today not just nuclear, cereal packet families.  

Sociologists describe different forms of the family, some of the main ones are:

Nuclear family - this family consists of:

• Parents
• Children

Extended family - this family usually consists of:

• Grandparents
• Parents
• Children

Reconstituted - this type of family is more commonly known as a:

• Step family

Single parent – this family consists of:

• One parent (usually female)
• Children

Sociologists also sometimes talk about ‘the cereal packet family’ - a certain type of nuclear - this refers to the image most people hold of the family. It is also the picture of the family that the media tends to present, especially in adverts.

The cereal packet family comprises of:

• Parents
• Children

The woman is a housewife and full time mother and the man is the 'breadwinner' i.e. he is the one who has to go to work to earn money.

Things to think about

• Is the cereal packet family an accurate picture of the ‘typical’ modern family? Think about:
• The roles of men and women in the home today – are they like the cereal packet view?
• What other types of families are there apart from the cereal packet family?

South Asian Families

People coming to live in Britain from other countries has helped create greater diversity in the family.

The increase in the number of South Asian families in Britain has contributed to an increase in the number of vertically extended families.(this means that the family has three different age generations in it, e.g. grandparents, parents and children.)

West Indian households in Britain tend to have a higher number of lone parent families headed by the mother than other ethnic groups.

The term for this is matriarchal (this means a female dominated family). West Indian lone parent families tend to have strong support networks amongst their female relatives.

We need to remember though that not all South Asian and West Indian families are like this, they also have diversity of family types.

It would appear from the evidence presented that there is no one typical family type in Britain. Most sociologists believe that family types are becoming increasingly diverse.