Black South Africans do live in nuclear family households — a response to Russell

Abstract

There has been some research and debate concerning the family patterns of Black and White South Africans in recent years. In part, this has been stimulated by Russell's caustic critique of Steyn's research on urban household structures. While the tone of Russell's piece is unfortunate, she is to be commended for prompting the further development of family studies in this society. The present article responds to some of Russell's comments by claiming that while she is correct in her assertion that Blacks and Whites follow significantly different family patterns, she is incorrect in her suggestion (see title of her article) that ‘Blacks do not live in nuclear family households’ and that there has been no convergence of family patterns between these two groups.

A conceptual distinction is drawn between nuclear family household and nuclear family pattern. The latter is defined as a series of households that make up a particular domestic life cycle. This is contrasted to the extended family pattern. However, the point is made that nuclear family households are common to both the nuclear and extended family patterns. This why it is inappropriate to assess movement towards or away from one of these family patterns on the basis of the frequency with which nuclear family households occur.

The central arguments of the article are: (1) Questions around the legitimacy of particular family arrangements cannot be derived from numerical strength. (2) Existing research shows that there are clear differences in the family patterns followed by Black and White South Africans. (3) The data which are needed to support or refute the convergence or divergence hypotheses, are severely lacking. However, the limited information available suggests that Black South African may be moving toward the nuclear family pattern. The author looks forward to large-scale longitudinal research on family patterns in South African society.