Families and households Flashcards
Name 3 family types
Nuclear family - The ‘perfect family’, woman plays the expressive role, while the man plays the instrumental role
Extended family - Your relatives; aunts, uncles, cousins, etc
Beanpole family - 3 generations that live together; grandparents, parents, kids
Matrifocal family - The mother is dominant
Lone parent family - (self explanatory)
Serial monogamy - having many different monogamous families
Summarize the Functionalist view on the family
Functionalists see the family as a vital ‘organ’ that maintains the ‘body’ of society, and sociologist Murdock coined the 4 main functions of education;
Sexual - expressing sexuality in a socially approved context
Reproduction - reproducing for the next generation
Socialization - Unit of primary socialization, children learning
Economic - The family provides food and shelter for family
Who brought up the 4 functions of education
Murdoch
What are the 4 functions of the family
Sexual - expressing sexuality in a socially approved context
Reproduction - reproducing for the next generation
Socialization - Unit of primary socialization, children learning
Economic - The family provides food and shelter for family
What is ‘Monogamy’?
Having various relationships one after the other, but no cheating
Feminist view on family
A unit based on patriarchy, reproducing and supporting a society which men have power and authority
Marxist view on family
Marxists see the family as a means of teaching its members to submit to the ideology of the bourgeoise
What are Talcott Parsons’ two functions of the family
- Primary socialisation of the young
- Stabilisation of adult personalities
Summarize Parsons’ ‘Functional Fit’ theory
Parsons argues that the particular structure and functions of a family will fit the needs of the society in which it is found in, and according to Parsons there are two types of families;
- Modern industrial family
- Preindustrial family
Name 3 characteristics of a pre industrial family
- The family produced most of the goods necessary
- Reproduction and nurturing of children
- The family being a source of education
Name 3 characteristics of a post industrial family
- Work was moved outside the house and people bought things with their wages
- Increase in reproduction of children
- Education is now the responsibility of professional teachers rather than parents
Summarized view of the New Right
- Similar to functionalists, they believe the nuclear family as important for performing functions in securing social stability
- Also believing the nuclear family is under threat by social changes
What is ‘Foucault’s idea of surveillance’?
Throughs social institutions, the state exercises social control by external pressure, the system watches over them and encourages them through persuasion to conform to social norms
Liberal feminist view on family
They believe the best way to improve the position of women in society is to reform measures within the present system; like stop stereotyping women into housewife roles
Radical feminist view on family
Believe men are the main obstacle for equality for women, and believe women should stay clear of patrichal families
Marxist Feminist view on the family
They believe women are doubly exploited as workers and wives; getting unequal pay and having to play the expressive role
What is Engels and Zaretsky’s (Marxists) view on the family
They see the main function of the family within a capitalist society is to act as a ‘unit of consumption’; the family buys the products necessary to keep capitalism running.
By having monogamous relationships they can keep al the wealth within a tight knit circle (within the bourgeoise)
What did the Conservative Party Policy do
- Encouraged women to stay at home
- Preferred the nuclear family
- The welfare system may encourage non - traditional family forms
What did the Labour Party Policy do
- Cuts to lone parent benefits; to promote women doing more work
- Civil partnership act; allowing same sex relationships to be acknowledged as marriages 2004
What did the Coalition Party Policy do
Mixture of new rights approach which promoted the nuclear family
Post- modernist view on the family
- They believe the family is very diverse and there is no longer one dominant family type (nuclear family); generalisations are invalid
- People are no longer bound by traditional ideas, and social changes like monogamy and family structure are just a reflection of people’s choices
What are ‘Conjugal roles’?
roles of a husband and a wife within the home
What are ‘Segregated roles’?
The clear separation in roles of a male and female;
- Man doing DIY work
- Women staying at home and doing housework
What are ‘Joint roles’?
The husband and wife are more flexible and shared with tasks
What did Willmott and young believe
There’d be an increase in symmetrical families
What is ‘Primogeniture’?
Passing wealth on to the son, a nuclear family idea
Name 2 criticisms of Marxist views on the family
- Ignore benefits individuals receive from the family
- Ignore different family types
What do divorces not show
- The number of people separated, not divorced
- The number of people who live in empty shell relationships; people want to leave but are deterred by their parents
- All the unstable and unhappy relationships there were before divorces were made easier
Name 3 reasons for the increase in divorce rates
- Changes in law make it easier to get divorces
- Secularisation has made it socially acceptable to get divorces
- Changes in positions of women
- Functionalists believe people now expect way more in their relationships than older generations
- Due to reduced functions in the family, marriage is seen as less practical
- Increasing life expectancy means more time for marriages to go wrong
Name a divorce stat
- 70K divorces in 1971 and 130K divorces in 2006
- From 1966 (40,000), divorces went up by 5000 every year
- In the 19th century, only men could make divorces
- The Divorce Law Reform Act pf 1969 meant people can get divorces other than the fact if a partner was having an affair
What is ‘Individualization’?
Individualization is caring about your wants and needs, instead of identifying your self in a group
What is a ‘Pure Relationship’?
A relationship that exists for the needs of both in the relationship