3.1 Life course diversity, individualization, love.notebook

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April 18, 2018

Starter Slide

Classroom Expectations:

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TITLE: DATE: 18/04/18Life Course Diversity: Individualization

What does the traditional life course look like (up until the mid/late 20th century?) ‐ Think families.

Childhood

Death

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LOs

Objective Key WordsKnow

Understand

How will you display SMSC today?Courage ‐ Respect ‐ Friendship ‐ Inspiration ‐ Determination ‐ 

Equality ‐ ExcellenceEmpathy – Courtesy – Resilience  ‐ 

Etiquette

TITLE: DATE:

To give reasons and evidence for your views (ext: to consider alternative opinions and views)

To spot patterns and explain what's happening

Is the family a positive or negative institution in modern British society?

The Big Question:

Paper 1 Paper 2 Paper 3EDUCATION FAMILIES & BELIEFS CRIME

What do sociologists mean by 'life course' and 'individualization'

Life CourseIndividualization

18/04/18Life Course Diversity: Individualization

How has 'individualization' affected the life course of people in modern society?

To what extent is the 'individualization' thesis exaggerated?

Confluent lovePure Relationship

HWK

HOMEWORKDUE

Wed

pp41‐44Divorce

Life Coursepp57‐61

25 Complete the workbook section for the following topics: 

Key Words

Life CourseThe sequence of significant events individuals experience as they make their way through life, and the choices they make and meanings they give to stages of their lives (e.g. marriage, cohabitation, parenthood etc)

What does a 'traditional' life course look like?

What factors might have led to significant changes in the modern life course?

Key word Definition

Feb 161:16 PM

Allan and Crow (2001): • Up until the 1960s, there was a fairly standard life course: Marriage, living together, having sex, having children. • These events were tied up in the institutions of marriage and 'the family'. • They were usually age related.• Most stages would take place within nuclear familes (two natural parents married to each other).• Children would finish education, leave home, get married, and start a new family life cycle.

AO2: Key Evidence

According to the ONS, the number of people living in a family home with children (Nuclear Family) has fallen from 52% in 1961 to 36% in 2009

Feb 161:16 PM

Levin (2004):• 'Compulsory'; there were strong social norms prescribing that this was the proper way to live. • The family unit also took on a standard format: The 'cereal packet family'.• Since the 1960s there have been major changes in people's life courses (Allan & Crow agree)

Cereal Packet FamilyA stereotypical conventional family involving a working husband, caregiver wife and their dependent children (I.E. a Nuclear Family with traditional conjugal roles). This image is common in traditional media.

Key word Definition

3.1 Life course diversity, individualization, love.notebook

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April 18, 2018

Mar 2909:53

What kinds of changes have happened in society that might have affected the traditional life course?

Mar 2912:36

Feb 161:16 PM

May (2011):• Personal relationships now take on such diverse forms that it would be more appropriate to study the sociology of personal life, rather than focussing on 'families' (which are no longer the center of many people's lives and relationships.)

Gabb (2010):• Relationships outside of the family can affect relationships inside the family; we should study these too.

AO3: EVALUATION:

How might researching 'personal lives' be different to researching families?

Feb 161:16 PM

Giddens (1993), Beck (1992) & Beck‐Gernsheim (2002):• Individualization has been a central explanation for changes in our ideas about love, commitment and families, and for the development of new kinds of personal relationships.

IndividualizationThe process whereby traditional social relationships, bonds, customs, values and beliefs that regulate people's lives have lost their influence, giving individuals more choice over how to shape their lives.

Key word Definition

Bauman (2003):• In a world of Individualization, Kinship networks are weak.• People search for security and happiness by exploring new ways of living their personal lives, leading to growth of alternative family types.

Feb 161:16 PM

Beck‐Gernsheim (2002):• The underlying causes of individualization are:• Developments in modern medicine: (contraception, artificial insemination) enables the separation of sexuality and reproduction.• The growing equality of women: reduces women's economic dependence on men, meaning family units have lost their economic significance. • Women expect more from their relationships than just fulfilling a 'caring' role• Love rather than need now guides our approach to relationships

AO2: Key Evidence• Around two‐thirds of divorces are initiated by women.• Talk of 'husbands and wives' has been replaced by 'partners' etc.• Family names no longer denote family (many women keep their maiden names).• Artificial insemination, sperm banks & growing adoption rates have removed the need for coupled parents.

Feb 161:16 PM

Giddens (1993):• Traditional ideas of unconditional/ romantic love have been replaced by an 'until the next best thing' principle.• Giddens calls this confluent love.• This is a conditional love in which relationships are built on trust and understanding and rely on both participants being happy. • Giddens links this to the 'pure relationship'.

Confluent LoveA conditional love involving the active building of trust and intimacy between two people, which only lasts so long as it meets the needs of both partners.

Key word Definition

Pure RelationshipA relationship in which a couple choose to stay together because it meets their emotional and sexual needs; not because of external pressures like community, traditions or norms.

Key word Definition

3.1 Life course diversity, individualization, love.notebook

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April 18, 2018

Mar 2912:39

Giddens 2013:People marry for the sake of love, divorce for the sake of love, and engage in an endless cycle of hoping, regretting and trying again

How might the growth of 'love' be at the root of changing life courses in the UK?

What factors might have led to the growth of the importance of 'confluent love' in modern UK society?

Feb 161:16 PM

AO3: EVALUATION:

• While families and relationships are changing, the individualization thesis is exaggerated• Smart (2007): exaggerates the extent of family decline: people's family ties are still strong. The structures and norms of society are still important.• This view of the contemporary family isn't backed up by research.• Chambers (2012): Not all components of tradition have declined: the cereal packet family may have but people's every‐day behaviour hasn't changed that much (e.g. evidence shows that women still do most of the housework)• This thesis really only fits a small section of the white middle class, and is ethnocentric.

Plenary

PLENARY

Objective Key Words

Know

Understand

TITLE: DATE:

Outline three reasons for changes in the average life course in the UK [6 marks]

18/04/18Life Course Diversity: Individualization

To give reasons and evidence for your views (ext: to consider alternative opinions and views)

To spot patterns and explain what's happening

What do sociologists mean by 'life course' and 'individualization'

Life CourseIndividualization

How has 'individualization' affected the life course of people in modern society?

To what extent is the 'individualization' thesis exaggerated?

Confluent lovePure Relationship

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