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
What is ‘Life Course’?
Looking at peoples life events
What is ‘Confluent Love’?
People only staying together if their needs are met
What is ‘‘Divorce Rate?
Divorces per 1000 married people
What is Chambers’ individualization thesis
People have greater choice decide for themselves how to shape their lives, not affected by tradition
Name an advantage of a step family
- Combined income
- more socialization due to more family members
Name a disadvantage of a step family
- Can be bad tension
- different parenting styles
What is ‘Childhood’?
A social construct of the life stages from the age of 0 -12
Why is childhood a social construct
Because it ain’t a biological phase, people from different cultures have different versions of childhood;
- people in poor Asian countries may be child labourers while children in the west may have a ‘normal’ childhood
- Children decades ago had no childhood and were put into work immediately
Why did Aries claim the late 1900s claim it was the ‘age of the child’.
- Consumerism
- Decrease in infant mortality rate
- Compulsory education
- increased affluence
- children rights
Name 3 legislations that protected children over the years
- Driving a car, min age 17
- Paid work, age 16
- Sex, min age 16
- Cigarettes, lottery and alcohol ,age 18
What is ‘social construct’?
Something created by society
What is ‘Child- centeredness’?
Giving priority to the interests and needs of children
Name 3 reasons for the causes of child centredness
- Families have become smaller meaning more focus is on the child
- The increase in standard of living has helped children
- Welfare state provides more benefits for children
- Parental fears
1 thing that show the loss of childhood perhaps is true
- People losing their virginity at 17 instead of 22
Summarize Neil Postman’s view that childhood is disappearing
TV means that children have access to the adult world
Summarize Sue Palmer’s view on childhood disappearing
She believes TV is damaging young people, lowering their retention and exposing them to harmful adult things; porn, war, etc
What is ‘Demography’?
The study of human populations, their size and profile
What is ‘Census’?
A countrywide survey everyone MUST do, or they’d be fined and such
What is ‘Birth Rate’?
Number of live births per 1000 of the population
What is ‘Infant Mortality Rate’?
number of infant deaths per 1000 children
What is ‘Life Expectancy’?
An estimation how long someone will live
What is ‘Death Rate’?
Number of deaths per 1000 people
What is ‘Immigration’?
Number of people entering the UK to stay longer than a year
What is ‘Emigration’?
Number of people leaving the UK to go back to their origin country
What is ‘Net Migration’?
The difference between immigration and emigration
Name 2 reasons for changes in birth rate
- Change in position of women
- Decline in infant mortality rate
Name 3 reasons for the changes in death rates
- Improved nutrition
- Better healthcare
- Environmental improvements
What is the dependency ratio
(0 to 14 and 65+) / total population (15 to 64)
Name 3 pull factors
- Better education
- better healthcare
- freedom of speech
Name 3 push factors
- Natural disasters
- War
- High crime rates
Name 2 criticisms of the Functionalist/New Right approach
Exploitation of women
- women are exploited at home as having to do unpaid domestic labour and at work, by not being payed equal
Too old fashioned
- Both men and women perform expressive and instrumental roles now
Dark side of the family
- Assumes traditional family is and was rosy and perfect. Acting as if women and children don’t get abused
Name 3 reasons for the increase in cohabitation and decline in marriage
- Growing secularism
- Reduced functions of the family means marriage is less practical
- Rising divorce rates mean couples don’t wanna take the risk
- Changing role of women mean women have less need for a marriage
What’s ‘LAT’
Living Apart Together
- long term intimate relationships where they don’t share a common home
Name 2 reasons why people choose LAT over marriage and cohabitation
- May have pre existing responsibilities and commitments which unables them to live together
- Practical reasons such as cost of housing
- Avoid the risk of recreating the same conditions in which previous relationships failed
Name 2 reasons for more lone parent families
- Woman have greater economic dependence, thus not needing a partner to support them
- Secularism means less pressure to have children in marriage
- Reproductive technology allows women to have children with no men
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Name 3 advantages of an aging population
- grey pound contribu tree s to the economy
- Less crime as old people are less likely to commit crime
- retired people play a role in the community
- Grandparents provide unpaid childcare
Name 3 disadvantages of an aging population
- More work for women as they have to take care of the elderly
- more ill people
- Loss of labour force
- Family stress; overcrowding
“The high figures for remarriage suggest that heterosexual attraction (need for intimacy and companionship) means families will not disappear”
Somerville
Believes in radical feminism
- the creation of ‘matrilocal’ households as an alternative to heterosexual families
Germaine Greer
(Marxist feminist)
Women absorb anger (from husbands who are frustrated at work)
“Takers of shit”
Ansley
They talk about:
- Functional fit
- Warm Bath theory
- Stabilization of adult personality
Parsons
What sociologist claims the family performs 4 essential functions:
-sexual regulation
-economic needs
-primary socialization
-reproduction
Murdock
“Primogeniture”
Engles
there is an illusion that the family is a private space, separate from economics and capitalism.
- Family is a unit of consumption
Zaretsky
(Marxist)
“Modern society and old age
Old are excluded from labour force, made dependent and powerless –> no use to capitalism”
Philipson
“Historical differences
The idea of childhood did not exist”
Aries
“Western notion of childhood
Childhood is a separate ‘golden age’”
Pilcher
“Toxic childhood and rapid technology change is bad”
Sue Palmer
“Disappearance of childhood”
Postman
“Segregated and conjugal roles”
Bott
