Chapter 2 Flashcards
Theory
- A way to apply logic to a pattern of facts
- Applies a structure to the way we think about a subject
- Helps us generate ideas for research to enrich our understanding
Theories used in Family Sociology
- Structural Functionalism
- Social Conflict
- Symbolic Interactionism
- Social Exchange Theory
- Family Development
- Life Course Perspective
Structural Functionalism
- Society as the collective expression of shared norms and values
- Dominant theory during the 20th century
- Family is a social institution that performs essential functions for society to ensure stability
Parsons
The nuclear family structure works because it provides a basis for stability and cooperation
Families function best when (Structural functionalism)
- Men specialize in instrumental roles
- Women specialize in expressive roles
- The harmony created by these complementary roles is essential to the preservation of family as an institution
3 Primary Functions of Family (Structural Functionalism)
- Ensure that society has ongoing supply of new members, and a source os socialization
- Provide economic support for family members
- Emotional support for family members
Critiques of Structural functionalism
- Rationalization of the male-dominated status quo
2. Serves a conservative political agenda
Social Conflict
- Opposition and conflict define a given society, necessary for social evolution
- Families as sites of reproduction of labour power that benefits capitalists
- Focus on power relations and inequality
Macro Power Relations
Ex. *Family systems vs work/economic system
*Men vs. Women
Micro Power Relations
Ex. Competing interests of family members
Political Economy
Role of economic processes in shaping society and history *Assumes dominant class is advantageously placed to exact compliance from subordinate classes
Manufactured Consent
Capitalist economy shapes our choices, often through the media
Feminist Perspective
- Seeks to understand and reduce inequality between men and women
- Sees male dominance within families as part of a wider system of male power, that is not natural or inevitable
5 Basic themes of Feminist Perspective
- Emphasis on the female experience
- Gender is an organizing concept of social theory
- Gender and Family relations need to be contextualized in respective cultural and historical situations and vary by social class, ethnicity and geographic location (intersectionality)
- No one single unitary definition of “the family”
- Inequality exists and should be eliminated
Marxist-feminist Perspective
Focus on examining the historical conceptualization and social construction of masculinity
Symbolic Interaction
- Developed in 1920’s (Cooley & Mead)
- Focus on the ability of humans to see themselves through the eyes of others and enact social roles based on others’ expectations
- Social roles are symbols that only have meaning when they are acted out relation to other people
- Family interactions result of reciprocal acts whereby individuals are acting, negotiating and responding to one another as minded beings
- Families viewed as the creation of its members as they spontaneously interact with one another
Social Exchange Theory
- Micro level theory that focuses on the interaction between individual actors
- Family life and decision making viewed in terms of cost and benefits
- Individuals are rational and enter into mutual relationships to maximize their own gains
- People can have competing interests and different resources- bargaining
Family Development Perspective
- Attempts to synthesize several approaches
1. Stages of the family life cycle
2. Developmental needs and tasks
3. Family functions
4. Sex roles
5. Family as interacting actors - Families accomplish developmental tasks as they move through stages of the family life cycle
Developmental Period
- Married couple with no children
- Childbearing Family
- Family with preschoolers
- Family with school aged children
- Family with adolescents
- Family as launching pad
- Middle age empty nest family
- Aging family
Life Course Perspective
- Life course is a sequence of socially defined events and roles that individuals enact over time
- Transitions and trajectories