ABSTRACT
Changes in family structures, relationships and norms have major implications for the relationships between the individual, the family and the state. This is very evident from the growth of lone parenthood. Most lone parents are receiving social security and are thus financially dependent on the state. Prior to the growth of lone parenthood, most women in couples were financially dependent on the male ‘breadwinner’ in their family or, if the man was unemployed, on the male benefit claimant. Thus the direct dependence of women on men (who may themselves be dependent on the state) has been replaced by a more direct dependence of women on the state. This is what underlies many concerns about the growth of lone parenthood (alongside concerns about the poverty of these women and their children). As we shall see in this book, lone parents separated from a partner sometimes feel more independent as lone parents than they felt while in a couple. This is because direct dependence on the state is sometimes experienced by women as less oppressive than direct dependence on a man. The state may not pay much money but at least it is regular money with few conditions attached in terms of required behaviour (though this appears to be changing in terms of requirements to consider work).
