Families Flashcards
Two parents and the child or children from their former marriages or intimate unions
Blended families
Defined by many sociologists as sets of intimate social relationships that people create to share resources to ensure their welfare and that of their dependants
Families
Include cash transfers in the form of direct payments or tax deductions and maternity and parental leave benefits
Income Support Payments
Traditional - socially approved, long-term, sexual and economic relationship between man and woman involving reciprocal rights/obligations between spouses and parents and children
Today - common-law marriage and some, including Canada and the US, allow marriage between people of the same sex
Marriage
Includes a father, mother, and children living in a privatized household
Nuclear Heterosexual Family
Involves the physical and emotional work of bringing new generations into existence and nurturing and caring for both new and older generations in families
Social Reproduction
- Policies that assume financial support
- Policies can deter relationship formation
Social Policy
- they explain sexual division of labour
- Husbands: “instrumental role”
- Wives: “expressive role”
Structural Functionalism
5 functions of families:
1) regulating sexual activity
2) economic cooperation
3) reproduction
4) socialization
5) emotional support
- scope of families were becoming smaller over time
- everyone in family has similar interests and values
Talcott Parsons ( Structural functionalism)
- explains impact of industrialization: households were now units of consumption rather than production
- Workplace not safe; women usually protected by staying in the home
Conflict Theory
- explains emergence of private property resulted in control over women’s fidelity
- When humans could accumulate wealth the traditional nuclear family emerged, where women’s fidelity was reinforced
Frederick Engels
- They develop concept of patriarchy
- Potential conflict and abuse and male dominance
- Critique idea of there being one perfect family
- Criticism - patriarchy is problematic
Feminist Theory
- They look at how we actively create “family”
- Looking at symbols related to rituals/ceremonies (rings)
- Criticism: emphasis on micro level policies and overlooking impact of larger social structures
Symbolic Interactionism
Hunting and Gathering Societies
- Fluid gender roles - men and women had similar roles
- Parents with children but not living in privatized household; on the move, in search for food and survival
Pre-Industrial Society
- Household composition determined by labour needs
- Households only supported certain amount of people
- Not clear separation of public and private aspects of the household
- Children had economic value - promoting fertility
