Families and Households

Question 1

Perspectives:

What two Functionalists studied the family?

Answer 1

• Murdock (1949)
• Parsons (1955)

Question 2

Perspectives:

What did Murdock (1949) study and what did he find?

Answer 2

• Studied 200 different societies
• Concluded that the nuclear family was a universal characteristic of society

Question 3

Perspectives:

What were Murdock’s (1949) four functions of the family?

Answer 3

• Stabilisation of adult personalities
• Reproduction
• Primary socialisation
• Meeting the families economic needs

Question 4

Perspectives:

What did Parsons (1955) say about the family?

Answer 4

• Functional fit theory
• Lost some of its functions
• Warm bath theory

Question 5

Perspectives:

What is functional fit theory?

Answer 5

The family changes to fit the needs of society
- Pre-industrial - extended
- Industrial/post - nuclear

Question 6

Perspectives:

According to Parsons (1955) what functions has the nuclear family retained?

Answer 6

• Stabilisation of adult personalities
• Primary socialisation

Question 7

Perspectives:

What is the warm bath theory?

Answer 7

Where the woman (expressive) takes all the stress off the man (instrumental) when he comes home

Question 8

Perspectives:

What Marxists studied the family?

Answer 8

• Engels (1994)
• Althusser
• Zaretsky (1976)

Question 9

Perspectives:

What did Engels (1994) say about the family?

Answer 9

• The development of private property and monogamy ensured that bourgeois men maintained control of the means of production through inheritance

Question 10

Perspectives:

What did Althusser say about the family?

Answer 10

• Provide an ideological function
• They transmit ideas and beliefs that inequality is justified

Question 11

Perspectives:

What did Zaretsky (1976) say about the family?

Answer 11

• Provide an economic function
• They were a unit of production but now are a unit of consumption
• Children use pester power as a result of media targeting
• The family offers a haven for workers to escape and distract from their exploitation

Question 12

Perspectives:

What view is liberal feminism?

Answer 12

March of progress (similar to Young and Willmott)

Question 13

Perspectives:

What are some legislation that liberal feminists champion?

Answer 13

• Equality Act 2010
• Sex Discrimination Act 1975
• Divorce Reform Act 1971

Question 14

Perspectives:

What do radical feminist believe about the family?

Answer 14

Women are oppressed by the patriarchal structure of the family

Question 15

Perspectives:

What did Greer (2000) say about the family?

Answer 15

Only men benefit from marriage and the family

Question 16

Perspectives:

What do difference feminists argue?

Answer 16

We cannot generalise women’s experiences

Question 17

Perspectives:

What did Crenshaw (1989) come up with?

Answer 17

Intersectionality - multiple forms of inequality and disadvantage sometimes compound themselves

Question 18

Perspectives:

What two New Right thinkers studied the family?

Answer 18

• Almond
• Murray

Question 19

Perspectives:

What does Almond say about the family?

Answer 19

• Government policies have fragmented the family by undermining the nuclear family
• Divorce Reform Act 1969
• Civil partnerships
• Tax allowances

Question 20

Perspectives:

What does Murray say about the family?

Answer 20

• “Single parents are the most important social problem of our time”
• The welfare state has created a culture of dependency
• Benefits act as a perverse incentive

Question 21

Perspectives:

What families do the New Right have issues with?

Answer 21

• Fatherless families
• Unemployed parents
• Cohabiting couples
• Reconstituted families