Families Flashcards

Question

Functionalism and family- Murdock

Answer 1

family performs 4 essential functions: -satisfaction of sex drive -reproduction of next gen -socialisation of the young -meeting members economic needs

Answer 2

hold a march of progress view, believe that the family is gradually becoming more equal

Answer 3

main cause of womens oppression in family is capitalism not men -women reproduce labour force through unpaid domestic labour -women absorb anger, soak up husbands frustration -women are a reserve army of cheap labour that can be taken on when extra workers needed, employers let them go and go back domestic

Answer 4

family and marriage are key institutions in patriarchy- men benefit from womens unpaid work family must be abolished before women can be equal political lesbianism to avoid sleeping with the enemy

Answer 5

cannot generalise womens experiences, lesbian and straight and white and black and WC and MC women will have different experiences of the family to each other

Answer 6

long term decline in birth rates long term decline in fertility rate (average number of children a woman will have)

Answer 7

-changes in womens position: Harper- education of women most important reasons for decline, many choose career, use family planning -decline in imr: Harper- if more babies die then have more babies -children economic liability

Answer 8

family- women more likely to work due to smaller families dependency ratio- fewer babies being born means fewer young adults and smaller working population, earnings of working population supports the dependant population public services and policies- age of population is rising due to fewer babies, fewer schools and maternity services may also be needed

Answer 9

death rate is declining

Answer 10

Tranter- main reason due to decrease in deaths from infectious disease, decreased due to: -improved nutrition -medical improvements -smoking decrease -public health measures

Answer 11

life expectancy increased Harper- if continues we will reach 'radical longevity' with lots of people living to over 100 still class, gender and ethnicity differences: women live longer than men, poorest areas die 7 years before richest (Walker)

Answer 12

public services- older people consume more health services, overgeneralising one person pensioner households- these account for 15% of all households, mainly women dependency ratio- dependent group, increases burden on working population

Answer 13

modernity- excluded from a lot bc they cant work (phillipson- useless to capitalism) dependent and powerless postmodernity- Hunt, can choose identity regardless of our age, old become target for rejuvenation goods, age does not determine who we are anymore

Answer 14

Immigration- until ww2 largest group was irish, during 1950s black immigrants started arriving and then from asia, more ethnically diverse society, european took over due to restrictions on on-white immigration Emigration- Uk net exporter of people, more left than came in, went to usa/canada

Answer 15

Population size- currently growing due to- net migration in 2019 was 270,000, natural increase with deaths decreasing and births to non-uk mothers being high Age structure- migration lowers average age of population, generally younger and have more babies Dependency ratio- more likely to be working age so lowers it, have more children so increase it but will join work and lower it again, the longer they are settled the closer their fertility rate comes to average so reduces overall impact on the dependency ratio

Answer 16

increased international migration, migration sped up, increased the diversity of types of migrant- come from a wide range of countries, feminisation of migration-work being increasingly filled by women from poor countries

Answer 17

Citizen- full citizenship Denizen- privileged foreign nationals welcomed by state Helot- slaves, unskilled poorly paid work, most exploited

Answer 18

transnational identity- Erisken, dont feel they belong to one culture or country due to more back and forth movement

Answer 19

Assimilationism- make migrants adopt host culture Multiculturalism- accept migrants may want to retain separate culture, acceptance may be more superficial shallow diversity- chicken tikka being englands national dish accepted deep diversity- veiling of women not accepted

Answer 20

divorce is increasing since 60s peaking in 93 then began decreasing but still high levels women often divorcing men now

Answer 21

made it cheaper, equalised grounds between sexes, widened grounds for divorce equalised in 23 causing spike from women 71- divorce reform act, made divorce grounds easier

Answer 22

divorce is now more socially acceptable so people tend to do it more as it is not so much of a shame anymore

Answer 23

religion is not as important anymore, people less likely to be influenced by teachings when making choices

Answer 24

Fletcher- people are less likely to tolerate an unhappy marriage, in past people did not have much choice over who they married so did not care if unhappy, today people have more expectations and will divorce if not happy

Answer 25

women now in paid work- 72% in 2020 narrowed pay gap girls do better in education welfare benefits, dont have to remain financially dependent on their husbands

Answer 26

Beck- each person entitled to pursue own self interest Giddens- people seek pure relationship that exists to satisfy each others needs and not out of duty, leads to higher divorce can cause conflict of interest esp w both working and pursuing career

Answer 27

women do dual burden and so leads to conflict as men dont do both and so divorce. marriage is patriarchal and men benefit

Answer 28

New right- divorce undermines marriage, created welfare dependent women who burden the state, has bad effect on kids Feminists- desirable as women are breaking free Postmodernists- major cause of greater family diversity and people are choosing themselves Functionalists- result of peoples higher expectations, not necessarily threat to marriage as institution Personal life- can cause problems like finance, Smart- divorce become normalised and can adapt without disintegrating

Answer 29

fewer people are marrying remarriages increasing people are marrying later people less likely to marry in church

Answer 30

-changing attitudes, quality more important than legal status -secularisation, influence declines so people freer not to marry -decline in stigma towards alternatives, cohabitation widely accepted and pregnancy no longer means marriage -changing position of women, dont have to marry to be supported as have better careers -fear of divorce, rising divorce rate so many people put off

Answer 31

increasing, 1/7 cohabiting, double of of 96, cohabiting couples with kids fast growing family type

Answer 32

-declines in stigma attached to sex outside of marriage -young accept it more -changing womens position -secularisation

Answer 33

big rise in people living alone, half of them are over 65 mainly men, in divorce kids live with mum people marrying later and remaining single older people have less options for partners many also live alone but are in a relationship

Answer 34

nearly half of all children born outside of marriage women having children later women are having fewer children and many not having children at all

Answer 35

make up 24% of all families w children risen due to increase in divorce and never married women having kids, linked to decline in stigma of birth outside of marriage tend to be single mum- expressive role, custody gives kids to mum, men dont want to give up work for children, many mothers also single by choice

Answer 36

Murray growth due to over-generous welfare state providing benefits for unmarried mums and kids created perverse incentive that rewards stupid behaviour like having kids without being able to support them solution is to abolish welfare benefits as will reduce dependency culture

Answer 37

10% of all families, at greater risk of poverty (smith), more diverse, can lead to divided conflict over loyalties

Answer 38

Immigration has also brought over diff kinds of family patterns. Individualism taking place in British culture higher marriage rates and low cohabitation and divorce. married younger and high fertility rates. obligation to assist extended kin, young had strong sense of duty for elders. high value on izzat (family honour)

Answer 39

Bhatti- signs of changing attitude among young, some conflict with elders often bc sons marrying out of ethnic group rising rates of lone parenthood, increased from 10% to 17% in 20yrs Qureshi- growing acceptance of divorce bc of conflicts within arranged marriages. While attitudes are not as individualistic as wider society, British Pakistani families becoming less distinctive

Answer 40

Bethoud- higher proportion of of lone parents and lower of married and cohabiting families, continuation of caribbean families where mother households common and often no men are present Reynolds- argues stats of lone parents are misleading and that many are stable non-cohabiting with a visiting partner Mirza- higher rate of lone parents reflect high value that black women place on independence leading towards individualism and personal choice

Answer 41

had declined but not completely disappeared. Willmott- exists as a dispersed extended family where they are physically separated but still very close in communication Bell- emotional bonds with kin and and relied on them for support, suggests importance of bean pole family- result of increased life expectancy and smaller families Finch&Mason- over 90% of people had given or accepted financial help from wider extended kin. extended family continues to play important role for people both practically and emotionally but is not the classic extended family

Answer 42

Parsons sees nuclear family as suited to meeting needs of modern society for a geographically and socially mobile workforce and performs socialisation of children and stables adult personalities, add to stability of society. in modern society you will find a nuclear family, other family types dysfunctional as they cannot provide the functions as well

Answer 43

firmly opposed to family diversity, see nuclear family as natural and based on biological differences between men and women, oppose same sex and cohabitation primarily concerned with lone parents as they cannot socialise children, no male role model and more likely to be welfare dependent Benson- 15,000 babies and over first three years 20% of cohabiting break down and 6% of marriage. only marriage can provide stable environment. Govs need to encourage couples to marry to avoid breakdowns

Answer 44

-Oakley: wrongly assumes roles are fixed by biology, negative campaign against feminism -No evidence that children in lone parent families are more likely to be delinquent -Smart: rate of cohabitation higher among poorer social groups so may be poverty that leads to breakdown instead

Answer 45

family diversity is increasing but it is not significant nor negative, only important change is move from nuclear to neo-conventional neo-conventional family defined by dual earners where both go to work nuclear still remains the ideal to which most people aspire to stats on household composition misleading as only a snapshot in time as their family will be changing patterns: most adults marry and have kids, most marriages continue til death, cohabitation temporary phase before marriage

Answer 46

family diversity increasing and positive response to peoples needs -Organisational diversity: differences in ways family roles are organised -Cultural diversity: diff culture, religion and ethnic groups have diff family structure - Social class diversity: differences in structure due to income differences in households -Life stage diversity: family structure differs according to stage in life cycle - Generational diversity: older and younger generations have diff attitudes and experiences so will have diff views on on morality of divorce

Answer 47

we have become freed and disembedded from traditional roles and structures and we have more freedom to choose how we live our lives, more equality and greater choice Pure relationship- relationships now based on choice, no longer bound traditional norms, relationship exists solely to satisfy each others needs. the relationship will survive as long as its in both partners interest, couples stay together bc of love not tradition or sense of duty means that it is less stable and can end at any moment, more family diversity same sex couples are leading the way as no tradition and purely based on choice

Answer 48

we live in a risk society as people have more choice. greater equality and individualism led to new negotiated family- do not conform to trad roles but vary according to wishes and expectations of members and decide whats best for themselves, less stable as people leave if needs not met

Answer 49

agree there's more diversity but disagree with Beck and Gidden instead of seeing us as disembedded with loads of choice in relationships, she argues we are social beings whose choices are made within a web of connectedness. we live in a network of existing relationships which influence choices class and gender also influence our choices- women often keep children after divorce, harder to find new relationship

Answer 50

family more fragmented with more choice and new types of family Stacey- greater freedom benefited women, shape family to meet needs, can work and divorce and remarry. women created new types of family to better suit their needs, divorce extended family (linked by divorce not marriage) cant make large scale generalisations like functionalists do as family is whatever the members choose to call their family

Answer 51

population control policy, supervised by workplace family planning committees who women had to ask permission from to get get pregnant. often waiting list and quota for each factory. couples who complied got benefits like free child healthcare. couples who broke this had to pay a fine and women faced pressure to sterilise after first child

Answer 52

in 1980s policies introduced to drive up birth rate which had fallen along with living standards. restricted contraception and abortion, made divorce harder and made childless couples pay an extra 5% income tax

Answer 53

see policies as helping families to perform their functions more effectively and make life better for their members Fletcher- introduction of health, education and housing policies since industrial revolution has led to development of welfare state that supports family in performing functions more effectively criticisms- assumes all members of family benefit equally from social policies, assumes there is a march of progress with social policies steadily making family life better

Answer 54

Donzelot- offers diff perspective on relationship between family and state policies from functionalists, sees policy as form of state power and control over families, uses Foucalts concept of surveillance, Foucalt sees power as something found throughout society- Donzelot applies it to family interested in how professionals carry out surveillance of families- social workers and doctors use their knowledge to control and change families (policing the family) poor families more likely to be seen as a problem that professionals target for improvement criticisms- failing to identify clearly who benefits from such policies of surveillance

Answer 55

state had a twofold policy, encouraged the healthy and racially pure to breed a master race (restricting access to abortion), also compulsorily sterilised 375,000 disabled people as it was deemed unfit to breed on grounds of physical malformation, mental retardation, deafness of blindness

Answer 56

strongly in favour of the conventional nuclear family, see it as naturally self reliant and capable of providing for its members, changes that have led to greater family diversity is threatening the conventional family

Answer 57

Murray- critical of welfare state, providing generous welfare benefits undermine nuclear family and encourages dysfunctional family types that harm society, offer perverse incentive (reward irresponsible behaviour)- fathers see state will maintain their children so abandon responsibilities, providing housing for unmarried teen mothers encourages young girls to get pregnant current policies encourage a dependency culture where individuals depend on state rather than being self reliant

Answer 58

Young and Willmott- pre industrial family was nuclear not extended with parents and children working together they argue the hardship of the early industrial period gave rise to the mum centred WC extended family, not the nuclear family like parsons suggests extended family has not disappeared and continues to exist bc of the important functions it still performs

Answer 59

the functions the family performs depends on the kind of society it is found, argues the particular structure and functions of a given type of family will fit the needs of the society in which its found, finds two basic types of society- modern industrial and traditional pre industrial, extended fits pre industrial and nuclear fits industrial, when britain began to industrialise the extended family began giving way to the nuclear bc of different needs

Answer 60

sees industrial as having two essential needs: geographically mobile workforce- industries constantly popping up and decline in diff parts of country so requires people to move to where the jobs are, easier for compact two gen nuclear family socially mobile workforce- industrial society based on evolving science and requires skilled technically competent workforce, essential that the most talented people take on most important jobs, individuals status is achieved so makes social mobility possible, better in nuclear as in extended the adult sons live at home in fathers house where father has higher ascribed status as head of house, at work son may have higher achieved status so would give rise to tensions under same roof, solution is for adult sons to leave the home and form their own nuclear family

Answer 61

key factor in determining shape of all social institutions is mode of production (who owns and controls societys productive forces), called the earliest classless society 'primitive communism' bc there was no private property and all members owned means of production communally, as production and wealth increased private property came with it- class of men emerged who were able to secure control of means of production. Engels- monogamy became essential bc of the inheritance of private property, men had to be sure of the paternity of their children in order to ensure that their legitimate heirs inherit from them, also turned women into mere instrument for production of children

Answer 62

Ideological functions- socialises children into idea that hierarchy and inequality are inevitable, parental power over children accustoms them to idea that there always has to be someone in charge and prepares them for working life. Zaretsky- family offers apparent haven from harsh and exploitative world of capitalism as workers can be themselves and have a private life, argues it is largely an illusion as the family cannot meet its members needs Unit of consumption- family plays major role in generating profits for capitalists, advertisers urge families to keep up with the joneses by consuming latest products, media target children who use pester power to get parents to spend more, children who lack latest must haves are mocked by peers

Answer 63

argues other theories assume the nuclear family is the dominant time and they are structural theories and assume that families and members are puppets, should focus on the meaning its members give to relationships rather than on the 'functions' strongly influenced by interactionist ideas and to understand we must start from pov of individuals and the meanings they give their relationships, takes a wider view of relationships outside of blood or marriage ties- relationships with friends, fictive kin, gay and lesbian chosen families, relationships w dead relatives, relationships w pets Nordqvist and Smart studied donor conceived children and what counts as family when your child has genetic link with a relative stranger but not your partner, some parents emphasised importance of social relationships over genetic ones in forming family bonds, hard to define what family is in this case- are donor parents counted as grandparents for the child

Answer 64

helps us understand how people themselves construct and define their relationships accused of taking too broad of a view, including a wide range of diff kinds of personal relationships means we ignore what is special abt relationships based on blood or marriage

Answer 65

solution- policy must be changed with cuts in welfare spending and tighter restrictions on who is eligible for benefits, would mean taxes could be reduced, gives fathers more incentive to work and provide for their families, denying council housing to teen mums would reduce incentive to be pregnant young, supports policies to support nuclear family like taxes that favour marries over cohabiting couples evaluation- feminists argue it is attempt to justify return to patriarchal family, wrong assumes patriarchal nuclear family is natural rather than socially constructed, Wallace- cutting benefits drives poor families into greater poverty

Answer 66

Conservative gov 1979-97: Maggie T's gov banned promotion of homosexuality by local authorities, defined divorce as social problem and emphasised responsibility of parents for their kids after divorce, set up Child Support Agency to enforce maintenance payments, however did make divorce easier New labour gov 1997-2010: shared view w new right that family is bedrock of society and introduced Parenting Orders for parents of young offenders, however they rejected view that family should have one male earner, policies favoured dual earner neo conventional families like longer maternity leave, working families tax credit and the new deal, also introduced civil partnerships for gay couples, unmarried couples had same right to adopt and outlawed discrimination of sexuality Coalition gov 2010-15: Hayton- conservs long divided between modernisers and traditionalists, conserv party found it hard to maintain consistent policy line, conserv led coalition gov introduced gay marriage

Answer 67

Land- policies assume the ideal family is patriarchal nuclear family, this norm affects the policies governing family life and so effect of policies is to reinforce that type of family at expense of other types (self fulfilling prophecy) tax and benefit policies- assumes husbands are main wage earners and makes it hard for wives to claim social security benefits in their own right bc it is expected their husband will provide childcare- not enough childcare payed for by gov to allow parents to work full time, means women are restricted from working and are economically dependent on partners care for sick and elderly- gov policies assume families will provide this care and this prevents them working full time

Answer 68

not all policies directed at maintaining patriarchy like equal pay act and sex discrimination laws, right for lesbians to marry and benefits to lone parents as well as refuges for women escaping domestic violence

Answer 69

by examining policy from a comparative perspective across diff societies we can see whether social policy to reinforce patriarchy is inevitable, for example a countrys policy on taxation and childcare will all affect whether women can work full time or if they have to forgo paid work Drew- used concept of gender regimes to describe how social policies in diff countries can either encourage or discourage gender equality: Familistic gender regimes- policies are based on trad gender division between male breadwinner and female housewife, in Greece there is little state welfare and women have to rely heavily on support from extended kin Individualistic gender regimes- policies are based on belief that husbands and wives should be treated the same, in Sweden policies treat husbands and wives as equally responsible for breadwinning and domestic tasks

Answer 70

Drew argues most european countries are moving towards individualistic gender regimes however policies like publicly funded childcare are not cheap and involve major conflicts about who should benefit from social policies and who should pay for them Feminists argue that since the global recession began in 2008, cutbacks in gov spending throughout europe has led to pressure on women to take more responsibility for caring for family members as the state retreats from providing welfare, during this period there has also been trend towards neo-liberal welfare policies where individuals and families are encouraged to use the market rather than state to meet their needs like private pension differences between european countries show that social policies can play important role in promoting or preventing gender equality in the family