GLOBALISING SOCIALISING From the global to the personal
Were you a Valentine?
Yesterday, February 14th, was ‘Valentine’s’ Day’
Did you know about it?
Did you celebrate it? (or did somebody celebrate you?!)
Do you feel like this is a ‘local’ cultural tradition?
Valentines’ Day
Valentine’s day can be traced back to the execution of St. Valentine on the 14th of February around the 3rd century
By the 19th century it had become a point of romantic celebration in the US
Many ‘Western’ or ‘Latin’ countries (and China) celebrate similar holidays, although it is strongly rejected in other cultures
Romantic Madness?
Approx. US$10 billion is spent on Valentine’s Day each year in the US
Consumers in the UK spend an average of US$62 each
Valentine’s Day appears to be a characteristically American practice (Source: National Retail Federation. All figures except 2013 are adjusted for inflation to 2012 dollars.)
Not so Romantic
Valentine’s Day is often problematic outside of the Western world, signalling a cultural clash
Romantic ideals are thought to lead to ‘immoral’ sexual conduct
Valentine’s day also represents the worst of commercialisation
Groups in Indonesia and Saudi Arabia have previously called for boycotts of the day
Similarly, Valentine’s Day has also been a locus for mass protests against violence towards women
Why are there such strong cultural differences around Valentine’s day?
Today
Introducing the family
Family problems
Intimacy beyond the family
Globalising the personal and communication technology
Sociological Core
The family is at the heart of sociological enquiry: ‘If
individuals exist independently of others, why are their actions so distinctly patterned?’
This debate, that of structure vs. agency, requires the presence of identifiable socialising structures
The family is the most intimate and, arguably, the most influential of those structures
Why so important?
Family is one of the most enduring aspects of the human condition across time and cultures
Families provide our initial mode of socialisation, turning individual bodies into social beings
There are, however, strong debates around the meaning of ‘family’ and the means through which it socialises us
Global processes have also challenged traditional family structures, provoking significant social anxiety
Family Problems
Is family the ‘God-given’ form of human life?
Is family a ‘natural’ extension of our animal nature?
Is family at the core of a functional society?
Does the family act to reproduce social and gendered inequalities in a microform?
What is a family?
Sociology and the family
The sociology of the family is a relatively recent phenomena
Traditional social enquiry focused on instrumental, as opposed to affective, elements of the human condition
Talcott Parsons’ functionalism was the most prominent early form of sociological investigation Talcott Parsons, 1902-1979
The Functional Family
Parsons argued that the family provided two social functions:
The stabilisation of personality
The socialisation of children (primary socialisation)
Through these functions family plays a vital role in the stable reproduction of society
Personalising Life
Parsons argued that families are ‘factories which produce human personalities’
Bringing up children literally makes them people – people who are responsible for themselves because they are capable of agency
The form of our initial socialisation produces characteristics that often appear entirely natural
This stability allows children to face the outside world without the direct assistance of family
What is one characteristic of your socialisation that feels entirely natural to you?
Social Glue
As well as personalities, families imprint values onto bodies through socialisation, making certain ways of life feel ‘natural’
Families, particularly patriarchal families, also enforce discipline and the social need for discipline
The family unit is often thought to be the basis of an ordered society
An unjust grip?
The functionalist ideal family, one born out of 1950s America, had a strong domestic division of labour
The family was thus defined by a gendered division of labour
Men fulfilled instrumental needs, women expressive roles
Feminism and the family
Feminist sociologists, as well as highlighting the role of the family in social reproduction, have also emphasised power differentials
The family reproduces gender inequalities and patriarchal power on a micro-scale
The traditional family structure limits the role of women to mother and housewife
Domestic work and decision-making are unequally distributed
In your experiences, who; ď ą Does the most domestic
labour? ď ą
Has the most power?
Family practices
According to David Morgan (1996), the family is a practice rather than a ‘thing’
Families cannot be reduced to formal structures
Instead, families performed and can be understood by what they mean to those involved
Family practices allow for a much broader understanding of family, intimacy and socialisation
Family beyond the home
Socialisation is an ongoing process; it is something that we do and extends beyond the primary socialisation of the family
Our understandings of ourselves are often developed through post-family intimate relationships
Whilst intimacy can be of significant comfort, it can also be exploitative – both physically and socially
If our identities are formed in relation to those with whom we share intimate bonds, these identities can become fragmented if those relationships are problematic
To what extent can your friends be considered as family?
Sociological Intimacy 
Our intimate relations are those that often feel most natural to us, yet they are historically and culturally constructed

Modernity, particularly in the West, has popularised the freedom to choose those with whom we share intimate bonds

Whilst this extends to friendship, the possibility of romantic love was the most significant change
Romantic Love
Beyond the family, romantic love has become the primary ideal form of intimacy
Romantic love is a distinctly modern concept, as economic advancements overcame the need for functional partnerships
Romantic love is at the core of the Western ideal of the family and social stability
Romantic love, which focused on the ‘the one’ has largely been surpassed by ‘confluent love’ (see Giddens, 2009, p.372)
The one, for now…
Confluent love is more contingent and active
Liquid, or consumer, identities often focus on fantasies of fulfilment (relationships and intimacy)
Confluent love can be used to explain the postponement of marriage and rising divorce rates
Conversely, these temporary relationships can often clash with the ‘needs’ of the family
Changing intimacy
Changes in public and private intimacy have changed significantly over recent decades
Differing expressions of sexuality have become more accepted
Masculine emotional expression, both publicly and privately, has become more socially accepted
This is part of a larger more to a ‘post-disciplinary’ society
Relationships have become increasingly commodified
When is it socially acceptable for men to cry?
Transforming the family
There have been a number of significant changes to the Western ‘nuclear’ family
There has arisen an increased diversity of family forms
Both marriage and children have been increasingly postponed
Divorce rates rapidly increased during the late 20th Century
Falling Marriage Rates
Reluctant Husbands
Untying the knot
Fertility Rates
Bye bye Daddy? 
With increasing divorce rates and the postponement of marriage, the number of solo parents has also risen
Source: http://blogs.spectator.co.uk/coffeehouse/2009/12/love-and-marriage/
Why have such significant changes occurred in family structure in the UK?
Because…
Whilst changing social norms and economic factors have influenced these changes, family practices are highly differentiated by class and ethnicity
Generally;
Traditional families remain normatively and empirically dominant
Marriage remains the most significant symbolic recognition of love and intimacy
Strong gendered divisions in labour remain, and the instrumental/expressive split is socially normative
Conservative concerns Conservative Party, ‘Families, Children and Young People Policy’ “We believe that strong and stable families are the bedrock of a strong and stable society. That's why we are doing everything we can to support families in tough times.”
Have changes in family structure led to the breakdown of social cohesion in the UK?
Comparing families 
Implicit in globalisation is the idea that Western ideals are becoming more influential

Conversely, family practices in many areas are distinctly local, even within Western nations

Some similarities are emerging, often in response to parallel economic circumstances
Types of Family
Monogamy: One spouse
Polygamy: More than one spouse Polygyny:
More than one
wife Polyandry:
More than one husband
Spreading the seed 
A 1998 Ethnographic Atlas Codebook study found that 84% of 1,231 global societies had some form of polygamy (see Giddens, 2009, p.332)

Polygamy is much more common in less developed areas of the world, in particular in Asia, Africa and the Pacific
Why would polygamy be more likely to occur in less developed areas?
Western influence?
Although Western family models are changing rapidly, this influence is not spreading globally
As Therborn (2004 in Giddens, 2009, p.337) found, family types are not becoming more globally similar
Traditional forms remain outside of the West and the nuclear family is becoming less influential
However, there is a widespread global trend towards lower fertility, particularly in more developed areas
Falling Fertility Rates
Source: IMF, 2006
Why would birth rates fall in more economically advanced areas?
Monogamy and the West 
The spread of modernity and Western values, particularly individualism, has extended the reach of romantic love and monogamous families

It has been argued (see Goode, 1963 in Giddens, 2009, p.336) that the nuclear family is best suited to industrial life

Small families are better suited to urban life and economic developments allow women work domestically and children to be educated
Is the nuclear family the ‘natural’ way to raise children?
Migration and family diasporas
Urbanisation has brought more women into the workforce, both within and outside of the Western world
Families (particularly extended families) may be separated by the need to migrate for work
This creates global diasporas of cultures, and geographically separated families
The Indian Diaspora
Digital Families 
The development of global diasporas and geographically differentiated families is the strongest global influence on families

Geographical separation challenges existing family practices

The development of digital communication technologies has extended family practices beyond the local
Digital Intimacy
Communication technologies have led to a ‘compression of time and space’ that allows for the maintenance of intimate bonds between family members
This has led to a separation of intimacy from proximity
As Wilding (2006) notes, the development of new types of technology adds a layer of interaction, increasing the frequency of communication between families
Technology, intimacy & globalisation Communication technology can facilitate increased closeness and intimacy, yet also become burdensome for transnational families (Horst, 2006)
Technologies provide solutions for maintaining relationships through regular interactions
Conversely, this intimacy tends to remain at a surface level and is tested in times of ‘crisis’
DIY Summary
Is there any link between globalisation and family practices?
Next Week Week 7: THE FLAT EARTH HYPOTHESIS: DEVELOPMENT, INEQUALITY AND POVERTY Readings:
Chapter One, Friedman, T. (2005) The World is Flat: A Brief History of the 21st Century. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
Cohen
and Kennedy, Chapters Six and Seven
18-22 February 2013
Your pathway to success http://www.brunel.ac.uk/spring-ask-week