Families And Households

Question 1

What was the traditional sociological view of family?

Answer 1

In the 1930s, functionalist sociologists suggested that families are essential for the survival of society. They outlined the functions of families, seeing them as being good for individuals and society as a whole.

• Later functionalists suggested that the ideal family consisted of a heterosexual couple and their children. This idea has influenced family policy in the UK and many politicians have stated that families following this nuclear structure are superior to any other family form

Question 2

What did Weston suggest about modern families and when?

Answer 2

Suggested that many people now live in families of choice to emphasise the way that many people no longer choose traditional family forms and that any deffiniton of family should focus on emotional connection
- 1991

Question 3

What is one of the most influencial studies of family life in Britain?

Answer 3

Micheal Young and Peter Wilmott; Family and Kinship in East London (1957)

Question 4

What did Wilmott and Young’s study of Family and Kinship in East London involve, and what were the results?

Answer 4

Using ethnographic approaches to describe social attitudes and relationships in families in Bethnal Green. Little statistical data was gathered, most of the writing instead described people’s lives.
- The work challenged many of the assumptions of functionalist sociology because it discovered that working-class people in London lived in extended families, close to their parents. Women, in particular, offered each other support in terms of caring, washing and shopping.

Question 5

What ethnographic study was carried out by Charlies, Davies and Harris in Swansea and when?

Answer 5

Social Change and the Family, 2005

Question 6

What did Charlies, Davies and Harris find in their study of Social Change and the Family?

Answer 6

Families were focussed on female relationships.
- It found that nuclear families were only a short part of people’s lives
- It also suggested that while many people do not have partners or children, there are those for whom marriage and remarriage mean that large numbers of people have a series of highly complex family arrangements to which they belong at the same time

Question 7

What is kinship?

Answer 7

Kinship refers to the patterns of relationship and the sense of duty that people feel towards those they see as family. These can vary from culture to culture, with different kinship relationships being recognised and valued.

Question 8

What does the term ‘household’ refer to?

Answer 8

Refers to the people who share a house and its facilities. These people may or may not be related.

Question 9

What does the term ‘extended family’ refer to?

Answer 9

Refers to people who surround the parents and children; grandparents, aunts and uncles, cousins. In traditional working-class areas, and in some Asian heritage families, extended families may share a home or live very close together

Question 10

Talcott Parson’s view of families was the dominant sociology position until the 1970s. What was this view?

Answer 10

In the 1950s, Parsons took the view that families develop patterns and structures that are appropriate to the culture to which they belong. He claimed that in modern society, the best form of family was a nuclear family.

Question 11

How did George Murdock support Parson’s view and when?

Answer 11

He undertook a review of families in around 250 cultures (1949).

Question 12

What viewpoint did Murdock’s review in 1949 lead him to?

Answer 12

Families in all societies have the same four key functions:
- Sexual
- Reproductive
- Economic
- Educational

Question 13

What was Parson’s theory about nuclear families?

Answer 13

That nuclear families:
- Do not require the support of wider family as much as in the past
- Women choose an expressive role in families, but men are instrumental (earning the family money)
- Are a form of comfort for men, who work outside the home but can relax within it (warm bath theory)
- Are also biologically natural and have developed through evolution to fit the different biological roles of men and women
- Provide the best environment in which to bring up healthy and well-socialised children

Question 14

Explain the term beanpole family

Answer 14

In the past, families often had many children, so a structure diagram would have shown a triangular shape. Modern family trees are longer and thinner. There are fewer people in each generation, but they live longer.

Question 15

Besides there being fewer people in each generation who live longer, what is another reason for the rise in beanpole families?

Answer 15

Rising divorce rates may add to the growth of beanpole families, as some children will be part of more than one family

Question 16

Explain the term sandwich generation

Answer 16

People live longer and have children later. Children tend to leave home later in life. This leaves an estimated 2.4 million people in the UK (YouGov 2013) who are responsible for both their own dependent children and their elderly parents at the same time.
- It is argued that this puts emotional and financial strain on people, usually women in mid to later life

Question 17

Explain the term single parents by choice

Answer 17

It has now become perfectly acceptable for adults to choose to have a child without taking on a long term adult partner. This can be a direct choice, perhaps as an adoption, or as a result of a relationship break up before the birth of a child

Question 18

What did Smart and Neale suggest about single parents by choice and when?

Answer 18

The existence of divorce causes many people to hold the view that parent-child relationships are more satisfying than adult partnerships
- 1999

Question 19

What did Berrington suggest about singe parenthood and when?

Answer 19

That is is difficult to generalise what leads to single parent because of the variety of new family types preceding lone parenthood

Question 20

What tends to be the experience of single parenthood, despite Berrington’s suggestion?

Answer 20

Most single parents are people, generally women in their thirties, who have experienced marriage or relationship breakdown. Many remain single parents only until they find a new partner.

Question 21

What have numerous government reports linked lone-parenthood through relationship breakdown with?

Answer 21

Poverty and deprivation

Question 22

Explain the term blended / reconstituted family

Answer 22

In the past, these were known as step-families and usually were the result of the death of a parent; however, it is estimated that in the UK 10% of families have two adult parents but children from more than one relationship.
- It is possible that the actual number may be higher as blended families are often cohabiting rather than married

Question 23

Explain the term unmarried couples with children

Answer 23

Not all children born to unmarried mothers are the product of lone-mother relationships. Many are born into established relationships. There are slight legal differences in the relationship of the child to the father, but emotionally there seems to be little difference.
- There is some evidence that non-married couples are more vulnerable to break up than married couples, but whether that is due to a wedding certificate or other social factors is not clear

Question 24

Explain the term gay family

Answer 24

Historically, couples have always chosen to live in same-sex relationships. Recent changes to the law mean that same-sex couples have the same legal rights as heterosexual couples.

Question 25

What did Heaphy point out about gay families and when?

Answer 25

Heaphy (2013) points out that what is ‘new’ about gay families is that their equality of rights is now publicly acknowledged and they need not be hidden

Question 26

Who identified the living apart together family form and when?

Answer 26

Levin, 2004

Question 27

Explain the living apart together family form

Answer 27

Couples have a household each, although they maintain a close partnership. This family form is largely found in Scandinavia, but Levin argues it can follow cohabitation, when people become financially secure and choose to live in separate homes

Question 28

Explain the co-parenting/parenting partnerships family form

Answer 28

These are a parenting situation where there are two (or more) people parenting a child, but they have never been in a romantic relationship, married or cohabiting. Gay people have possibly always done this discreetly, but can be open about this pattern now