1.3 - Functions of the Family

Question 1

Functionalist Perspective on the Family

Answer 1

• Consensus view.
• Organic analogy; everything plays an important role in society.
• Families (particularly nuclear) play a key role in both fulfilling its members needs and in society.

Question 2

Marxist Perspective on the Family

Answer 2

• Class conflict view; between the bourgeoisie (capitalist class) and the proletariat (working class).
• Society’s institutions help maintain the class inequality and capitalism; thus, they believe the functions of the family are performed for the benefit of capitalism.
• Several functions performed by the family for maintaining capitalism are; inheritance of property, ideological functions and providing a unit of consumption.

Question 3

Feminist Perspective on the Family

Answer 3

• Gender conflict view; between women and men.
• The family oppresses women and puts emphasis on gender inequality.
• Focusing on issues such as the divisions of domestic labour and violence against women.
• They do not regard the gender inequality as natural or inevitable, but as something created by society.
• There are four main branches of feminism; Liberal, Marxist, Radical and Difference.

Question 4

Liberal Feminist Perspective on the Family

Answer 4

• Argue that women’s oppression is being gradually overcome through changing people’s attitudes and changes in the law such as the Sex Discrimination Act (1975).
• We are moving to greater equality, however there is still work to be done as full equality will depend on further reforms and changes in attitudes and socialisation of both sexes.

Question 5

Marxist Feminist Perspective on the Family

Answer 5

• Argue that women’s oppression comes not from men but from capitalism. See the three main factors of oppression as;
  1) Women reproduce the next generation of labour force (next generation of working class).
  2) Women absorb the anger and frustration that men receive from work.
  3) Women provide a ‘reserve army’ of cheap labour when the men are away.

Question 6

Radical Feminist Perspective on the Family

Answer 6

• Women are completely oppressed due to the patriarchal society. They believe that;
  1) Men are the enemy - they are the source of women’s oppression and exploitation.
  2) Family and marriage are key institutions - men benefit from women’s unpaid domestic labour and from their sexual services. Men dominate women through domestic and sexual violence or threat of it.
• Argue that the only way to overthrow the patriarchal society is by ‘separatism’ - women must organise themselves to live independently of men.

Question 7

Difference Feminist Perspective on the Family

Answer 7

• Argue that we cannot generalise that all women who suffer exploitation come from conventional nuclear families.
• They believe, for example, that lesbian and heterosexual women, white and black women, middle-class and working-class women, and so on, have very different experiences of the family from one another.
• For example, black feminists may view the black family as positive as it provides racial support, whereas this wouldn’t be the case for a white feminist.

Question 8

New Right Perspective on the Family

Answer 8

• Traditionalist view; believe in traditional values when the male was the breadwinner and the female was the housewife.
• They believe the nuclear family is the best family type for society due to the values it possesses and the effectiveness of socialising children into their respective gender roles.
• They are against government intervention (e.g. benefits) as it fuels a ‘culture of dependency’.

Question 9

Functionalist Theorist #1

Answer 9

• George Peter Murdock (1949).
• Murdock studied 250 different families and found that each perform four basic functions for their members;
  1) Sexual gratification; this keeps to adults in a happy relationship and socialise the children into what a healthy relationship may look like.
  2) Reproduction; this provides the next generation so that society may continue.
  3) Economic; this is where the family provides for one another so that they may survive, e.g. food and shelter.
  4) Socialisation; this teaches the children the norms and values of society, allowing them to slowly integrate into it.

Question 10

Functionalist Theorist #2

Answer 10

• Talcott Parsons (1955).
• Parsons found the ‘functional fit’ theory where families ‘fit’ into the society they live in, for example, the extended family dominated in pre-industrial times whereas the nuclear family dominate in post industrial times.
• The extended family evolved into the nuclear due to two main factors;
  1) Geographically mobile workforce; industrial ages meant that people moved from place to place to find work, this was easier with two generations (child and adult) as opposed to three (child, adult and senior).
  2) Socially mobile workforce; in industrial ages, and individual broke away from their ruling parent due to their own achievements through meritocracy, as opposed to an ascribed status.
• Parsons believed that the extended family provided all functions for their children, acting as both a unit of production and a unit of consumption. However, the nuclear family now relies on other institutions to provide these functions, so now they only act as a unit of consumption.
• In Parsons’ view, the nuclear family provides two main functions;
  1) The primary socialisation of children; equipping them with the basic skills in society so they may integrate themselves.
  2) Stabilisation of adult personalities; the family is a place where the adults can relax and unwind, ‘warm bath’ theory.

Question 11

Marxist Theorist #1

Answer 11

• Friedrich Engels (1891;1978).
• Monogamy became essential because of the inheritance of private property; men had to be certain of the paternity of their children in order to ensure that their legitimate heirs inherited from them.

Question 12

Marxist Theorist #2

Answer 12

• Eli Zaretsky (1976).
• Family performs an ideological function by offering an apparent ‘haven’ from the harsh and exploitative world of capitalism outside in which workers can ‘be themselves’ and have a private life.

Question 13

Marxist Theorist #3

Answer 13

• Louis Althusser (1971).
• Believe that the family act as an ideological state apparatus; they serve to pass on and teach the ideas of capitalism to their children through socialisation.

Question 14

Liberal Feminist Theorist

Answer 14

• Jenny Somerville (2000).
• Feminists have made great progress in making a more equal society for women, radical feminists fail to recognise this progress.
• Argues that there is more need for ‘family friendly’ policies so that the progress and equality may continue to improve.

Question 15

Marxist Feminist Theorist #1

Answer 15

• Fran Ansley (1972).
• Described wives as ‘takers of shit’ as they soak up the frustrations their husbands feel because of the alienation and exploitation they suffer at work.
• For Marxist Feminists, this explains the reasons for male domestic violence against women.

Question 16

Marxist Feminist Theorist #2

Answer 16

• Veronica Beechey (????).
• Women provide two main functions among the household;
  1) Raise and care for the next generation of workers.
  2) Provide a force of cheap labour when needed.

Question 17

Radical Feminist Theorist #1

Answer 17

• Germaine Greer (2000).
• To overthrow patriarchy, the creation of all female or ‘matrilocal’ households are needed as an alternative to the heterosexual family.

Question 18

Radical Feminist Theorist #2

Answer 18

• Delphy and Leonard (1992).
• The family role is to maintain patriarchy, it acts as an economic system whereby men benefit at the expense of women, such as women’s commitment to conjugal roles.

Question 19

New Right Theorist

Answer 19

• Charles Murray (1989).
• The nuclear family is the best type of family to socialise and raise children, however, it is under threat due to the increasing ‘culture of dependency’. The government is providing too many ‘perverse incentives’ whereby it rewards wrong doings with finance, such as giving an unmarried teenage mother a council home.

Question 20

Criticisms of the Functionalist Perspective

Answer 20

• Assume that the nuclear family is the dominant family type, ignoring the increasing variety of family types.
• They ignore and fail to notice the negative sides to the family such as child abuse, neglect and violence.
• Some parents fail to being up their children as socially acceptable and they may be bad role models.
• Feminists believe that they ignore the gender conflict and the oppression of women.
• Marxists believe that they ignore that the gender conflict and that the family only serves the needs for capitalism.

Question 21

Criticisms of the Marxist Perspective

Answer 21

• Assume that the nuclear family is the dominant family type, ignoring the increasing variety of family types.
• Feminists believe that they ignore the gender inequalities and that the family serves men, not capitalism.
• Functionalists argue that they ignore the positives of the family such as intimacy and mutual support.

Question 22

Criticisms of the Liberal Feminist Perspective

Answer 22

• (Other) Feminists believe that they fail to challenge the underlying causes of women’s oppression and for believing that changes in the law or attitudes will be enough to bring equality. They believe that far reaching revolution is needed as opposed to social policies.

Question 23

Criticisms of the Marxist Feminist Perspective

Answer 23

• They ignore the direct oppression of women by men as they believe that the oppression is product of the capitalist society.
• They also ignore the progress and changes made by women over the recent years through policies, etc.