families and households Flashcards
What is a family?
A group of people related by kinship ties (blood, marriage, adoption etc)
What is a household?
Living with a group of people that share the same address and living arrangements or living alone
What is the difference between a family and a household?
Most families will live in a household but not all households are families
What do functionalists say the role of the family is?
Creating value consensus, integrating individuals into society which develops social solidarity - consensus view
What type of family did Murdock claim was universal?
Nuclear
What did Murdock claim the 4 functions of the family are?
Economic function
Reproduction
Socialisation
Having sexual relationships
Why are these functions beneficial?
Keeps society functioning, caring for the ageing population, creating social order, maintaining healthy relationships
What is monogamy?
Practice of having one partner
Norm in Western societies
What is serial monogamy?
Practice of having a series of monogamous relationships or marriages
What is an arranged marriage?
Families take a leading role in choosing the marriage partner but both people are free to choose whether they want to enter the marriage
What is a forced marriage?
A marriage where one or both people do not consent to the marriage , pressure and abuse is used
What is a civil partnership?
A legal recognition to the relationship of same sex couples, giving civil partners equal treatment to married couples
What are same sex marriages?
Marriage of same sex partners
What is polygamy?
Marriage to more than one person at the same time (unisex)
What is polygyny?
One husband and two or more wives
What is polyandry?
One wife and two or more husbands
Why is functionalism useful in understanding families and households?
Views it as a positive unlike marxism and feminism
Murdock’s research is representative
Is Murdock accurate to say the nuclear family is universal?
No, some children don’t live with their parents - due to care, grandparents, friends etc
Postmodernists criticise functionalists as the nuclear family is no longer diverse enough
What did Parsons focus on when looking at the family?
how the family had changed from premodern to modern society
What did Parsons argue family was for in pre-industrial societies?
most tasks such as hunting, farming, education, looking after the sick or elderly members of the family
What was developed in modern society that now performed these functions?
Specialised institutions
What did Parsons argue were the two essential functions of the family?
Primary socialisation and stabilisation of adult personalities
How does the family aid primary socialisation?
Children are encouraged to internalise the norms and values of society. Families are factories producing human personalities. Usually occurs in the household
How does the family stabilise adult personalities?
The family is a source of comfort
Achieved by the gendered division of labour
Aka the warm bath theory
Men play the instrumental role - meeting the economic needs but dealing with pressures making the personality unstable
Women play the expressive role - stabilising the mans personality and managing the emotional needs of the family
What family type does Parsons argue is the most suitable one for an industrial society?
Nuclear
What two needs does a nuclear family meet for an industrial society?
The need for geographical mobility (moving to find jobs) and the need for social mobility (adult son moves out to establish his independence and avoids tension of power with the father)
Is the family really like a warm bath?
Forced marriages
1/4 women experience domestic violence
Female genital mutilation (FGM)
sexual abuse
sibling abuse
women now also play the instrumental role
divorce rates are increasing
Are roles in the family natural?
Gender roles were reversed in Mead’s study - women were more aggressive and took on more traditionally manly roles and vice versa
Parsons wrongly assumes husbands and wives roles are fixed by biology - cross cultural studies show great variation
Out of date - rise in the symmetrical family
What was Murray (New right thinker) concerned with?
The breakdown of the traditional nuclear family and the loss of the ‘golden age’ of traditional family life and values
What evidence is there of the breakdown of the traditional family?
Lone parent families, same sex families, biracial families, increasing divorce rates, children in foster care, births outside of marriage, increase in cohabitation and step families
What class depends on state benefits?
The underclass
Who does Murray blame for the existence of the underclass?
The government for giving over generous welfare benefits (perverse incentives) creating a dependency culture
Which type of family’s children does Murray believe are most likely to turn to crime?
Lone parent families mostly headed by women
What evidence is there that single mothers can raise a child well?
Women today are better educated
Positive role models
Maturity and responsibility + life skills
Extended families can help
Married couples can also produce crimimals
What evidence is there that single mothers can not raise a child well?
Financial difficulties - income
Emotional difficulties
Loss of balance
Pressure on children to take on responsibilities
What is polyamory?
Practice of engaging in multiple loves and/or sexual relationships with consent of all people involved
What are the advantages of polyamory?
More support, is all consensual, no deception involved
What are the disadvantages of polyamory?
Can become complex, laws against it, financial issues, can be damaging emotionally and physically
How can postmodernism be applied to polyamory?
Fits into individualism, shows diversity of relationships, relationships today are unstable and fragmented, we all have choice, de-traditionalisation
What is the nuclear family?
Two generations - heterosexual parents and children living in the same hoiusehold
What is the classic extended family?
Extended family sharing the same household or living near each other
What is the beanpole family?
Multi generational extended family, long and thin with few aunts uncles and cousins
What is the patriarchal family?
Authority held by males
What is the matriarchal family?
Authority held by females
What is the reconstituted family?
One or both partners previously married, with children from previous marriages
What is the lone parent family?
Lone parent with dependent children
What is the single person household?
An individual living alone
What is a commune?
Self-contained and self-supporting communities
Why is there now greater diversity of families and households in the UK?
Secularisation led to divorce and therefore reconstituted, divorce extended and lone parent families
Changes in the law
Changes in norms and values
Sexual revolution