‘The Family’: From the Modern to the Postmodern?
Dr Jack Fawbert
- Regions:
- Cambridgeshire, Norfolk, Suffolk, Bedfordshire, Essex
- Notice Period:
- Emergency (maybe less than one week's notice)
- Type:
- Academic Social Sciences
- Fee:
- Expensed
- Category:
- Humanities
- Updated:
- 19th August 2025
- Tagged:
- Nuclear Family | Family Diversity | Modern | Postmodern
We all talk about our ‘families’, but what does ‘family’ actually mean and is its meaning changing? The increasing diversity of family life has led to a more complex understanding of what a ‘family’ is. As a result, some sociologists now emphasize 'family diversity' as the norm, recognizing that various family forms are equally valid and that the nuclear family of a heterosexual couple with a male breadwinner and immature children is no longer the dominant or even the ideal model that it was in the modern world. As a consequence of far greater diversity in people’s domestic arrangements, it is argued by postmodernists that there is no longer a clear family cycle through which most people pass. Instead, each individual follows a much more unpredictable family course complicated by single parenthood, cohabitation, divorce, remarriage, periods living alone, same-sex relationships and so on. It is argued that this diversity is based upon increased choice in a postmodern world. In this talk I will discuss the extent to which we have moved from the modern to the postmodern with regard to family life.
Views: 24 | Enquiries: 0About Dr Jack Fawbert
I am a retired Senior University Lecturer in Sociology and Criminology. During my career I worked at several UK universities, including Leeds Metropolitan University, De Montfort University, the University of Bedfordshire and Anglia Ruskin University. I was Course leader for Sociology at two of those universities and I was also the external examiner for Sociology at the University of Northampton and the University of Ulster.
During my career, I gave lectures and talks at academic conferences for organisations such as the British Sociological Association, the Association of Teachers of Social Science and the Leisure Studies Association at the Universities of Manchester, Greenwich, East Anglia, York, Leeds Metropolitan, Brighton, Chester, Bedfordshire, Roehampton, Luton and Central Lancashire. I have also given talks at 'A' Level Sociology Revision conferences in London and Manchester as well as organising 'A' Level Sociology Revision Conferences at three of the universities I worked at.
After I retired I worked as a tutor at the Workers Educational Association for three years and the Open University for a further three years. I am now involved with the University of the Third Age (U3A) where I am group leader for the online sociology group as well as being a member of the Bury-St-Edmunds U3A.
Since joining the U3A I have given talks both online and in person with the titles, 'Blacklisted: Corporate Crime and State Conspiracies', 'Hoodies: Folk Devils and a Moral Panic for the New Millenium', 'Making Sense of Popular Culture', 'Mods and Rockers and Moral Panics', 'Poverty: A Sociological Perspective', 'Sociology of Suicide', 'Sociology, Gender Inequality and Feminism', 'What is Science?', 'What is Social Class?', ‘The Family: From the Modern to the Postmodern?' and 'What is Sociology?' These should give you an idea of the range of topics that I could offer talks on that can be pitched at a variety of audiences from 'A' Level at schools and colleges to U3A talks to leisure classes.
Other Talks on SpeakerNet by Dr Jack Fawbert
- 'Blacklisted: Corporate Crime and State Conspiracies
- Hoodies: Folk Devils and a Moral Panic for the New Millenium
- Making Sense of Popular Culture
- Mods and Rockers and Moral Panics
- Poverty: A Sociological Perspective
- Sociology of Suicide
- Sociology, Gender Inequality and Feminism
- What is Science?
- What is Social Class?
- What is Sociology?
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