Sociology

Examine the ways in which government policies and laws may affect the nature and extent of the family diversity To begin with, a law which affects family diversity is compulsory education. Children having to go to school allows parents to work as they don’t have to constantly care for children. As mothers have the stereotypical role of caring for the children this allows them to get jobs and even become the breadwinner of the family. Also, this law has affected the nature of the family as healthcare used to be a major role of family members although since going to education it relaxes the traditional healthcare roles in the family due to advances in the NHS. Continuously, this affects family diversity by encouraging boomerang families; a family in which non-dependent children return home to live with their parents. This commonly happens after the children have been to university as coming out of this type of education it is difficult for the children to find a job or even be financially stable enough to live on their own, therefore, by living back with their parents they are able to save up money to become financially independent and even search for a job. Marxist may argue that this law benefits the wealthy at the expense of the poor and the law of compulsory education means wealthier families can send their children to private school which could arguably provide them with a better education and by the status of the school provide them with a better job. Furthermore, another law that has affected family diversity is the Divorce Law Reform Act 1969. The divorce raw reform act made it easier for couples to get a divorce as this law states that couples can claim an ‘’irretrievable breakdown’’ of their marriage and be granted a divorce, rather than having to prove that their partner had deserted them, been cruel to them or been unfaithful. As a result the divorce rate shot up consequently affecting family type by decreasing the number of nuclear families and...