Families And Households Flashcards
Murdock’s four functions if the family
Reproductive
Sexual
Educational
Economic
Parsons two functions of the family
Primary socialisation of children
Stabilisation of adult personalities
What is the warm bath theory?
Women are the foundation of the family and the family provide an environment in which the stresses of everyday working life are relived
What is Engles view in how the family reinforces the capitalist ideology?
Monogamy became essential because if the inheritance of private property- men had to be certain if the paternity if their children in order to insure that their legitimate heirs inherited from them
Women were seen as a mere instrument for the production of children
What is Zaretsky view in how the family reinforces the capitalist ideology?
Family performs an ideological function by offering a haven from the harsh and exploitative world of capitalism outside
What is Althusser view in how the family reinforces the capitalist ideology?
The family , as part of the superstructure of capitalist society, socialises children into norms and values that are useful to the capitalist ruling class
What does radical feminism believe?
All society = patriarchy
Gender inequality is key
Men are the enemy and a source of exploitation
Family and marriage help to maintain inequality and the patriarchy
What does Marxists feminism believe?
Capitalism is the cause of gender inequality
What does liberal feminism believe?
Concerned on ending gender discrimination
What are examples of relationships that are beyond blood and marriage?
Relationships with friends
Fictive kin- close friends who are treated as relatives
Gay and lesbian chosen families
Relationships with dead relatives
Relationships with pets
Family diversity
The differences between families including the roles, organisations and structures
What do functionalists believe about family diversity?
It’s bad
Nuclear families are best suited to the capitalist working structure
Other family types are dysfunctional as they are less able to support the necessary socialisation of chimdren
What do the new right believe about family diversity?
It is bad
Patriarchal nuclear family is the only natural family type
Biological differences between men and women means that they are more suited for the role of breadwinner or career
Marriage is necessary and cohabiting is a negative trend
Family diversity leads to children being more vulnerable as they may not be socialised correctly
What do feminists believe about family diversity?
Nuclear family enforces gender roles and the oppression of women
Cohabitation is a form of commitment
Oakley found that there is no evidence for biological differences between men
What does Chester (functionalist) believe about family diversity?
The movement away from gender roles and to more equal partnerships in domestic labour and wage earning is still the nuclear family it is just organised differently
Majority of families are nuclear families
Rapports five types of family diversity
Organisational = differences in the way the family is organised
Cultural = social differences
Social class = w/c vs m/c
Life course = what stage of life people are at
Cohort = differences in expectations of the family for different generations
What does post modernism believe about family diversity?
It is good
People can create their identities from various cultures, sub cultures, sexualises and social movements
What does Stacy believe about family diversity?
It is good
Expectations and Barrie’s are no longer in the way for women
What is Giddens pure relationships idea?
The minute the relationship doesn’t benefit you you can leave
What is Becks negotiated couples?
People can negotiate this roles in relationships, they are not confined by patriarchal gender roles
Social policy
A generic term for policies made by political parties when they are in government
What is the functionalist view on social policy and families?
They help families to perform their functions more effectively and make life better for their members
What does Almond (new right theorist) argue about social policy and families?
Laws making divorce easier undermined the idea of marriage as a lifelong commitment
The intro of civil partnerships sends out the message that the state no longer sees heterosexual marriage as superior
When were the divorce acts?
1969 and 1984
When was the civil partnerships and gay marriage act?
2014
Divorce frate
The number of people getting a divorce per 1000 married people per year
What is Murray’s (new right theorists) view on the rising divorce rate?
It’s negative
It eliminates the building blocks in society
Causes more welfare dependency for single mothers
What is Beck and Beck-Gernsheims (post modernist theorists) view in the rising divorce rate?
It’s good
There is more freedom of choice and greater diversity in families and society
What is Rodger’s and Pryor (new right theorists) view on the rising divorce rate?
Children of divorce experience more poverty, poor housing, behavioural problems, teenage pregnancy, and educational underachievement
What is Fletcher (functionalist theorists) view in the rising divorce rate?
Argued that people nowadays have very high expectations of marriage and when these expectations are not met they file for a divorce
What is Duncombe and Marsden (feminist theorists) view in the rising divorce rate?
Men are less capable of dealing with emotions and leave the emotional aspects of the family life to their wives
Women can now break free from the oppression of marriage
What is Baumans liquid love?
Our relationships are made yo if fragile bonds. Hence the liquidness, malleability, the ease which which elements in their liquid state can be divided
What is Giddens confluent love?
Individuals are now looking to create meaningful relationships that are based in love and respect
Secularisation
The idea that religion is become less prominent in society
What ethnicity have a higher proportion of lone parent households?
Black African and Black Caribbean
What does Bitt’s conjugal roles mean and explain the two types?
The domestic and household responsibilities of cohabiting partners
Joint = the couple share the tasks such as housework and childcare and spend their leisure time together
Segregated = the couple have separate roles and spend their leisure time apart
What is Young and Willmotts symmetrical family?
The see the family as becoming more equal
Women now go out to work
Men help with housework and childcare,scare
Couples spend their leisure time together Segregated
What is the ‘new man’?
A man that is more involved in the family life and shows that the instrumental and expressive roles are more evenly shared
What percentage of housewives in Oakley’s study were dissatisfied with their role?
70%
In Oakley’s study, why were housewives dissatisfied with their role?
Fragmentation
Loneliness
What is the march of progress view?
Women go out to work which is leading to a more equal division of labour at home
According to Vogler, what are the two main types of control over family income?
Allowance system = men give their wives an allowance out of which they have a budget to meet the families needs, with the man retaining any surplus income for himself
Pooling = where both partners have access to income and joint responsibility for expenditure
Why are there more make perpetrators of domestic violence?
We live in a oatriafchal society so women are seen as the subordinate gender and are more likely to be victims of violence
In poorer families, men are likely to take out their frustration over their poverty on their wives
Traditional wedding vows say that women should love and obey their husbands which could make men believe that they have a right to abuse their wife if they want to
What can be done to reduce the cases of domestic violence?
Promote healthy and successful relationships
Have local hotlines directed at all genders
Have rewards schemes to drive people to report cases
Educate students
What do functionalists view society as?
A body or collection of separate systems working together to maintain the whole. They view the family as integral system to keep society functioning
What do post modernists view society as?
Believe that we are in a new era, where we have moved away from being forced into roles and instead have a greater freedom to choose out own identities and can ‘pic ‘n’ mix’ from different cultures, social classes and generations
What is the personal life theory?
Focuses on the individuals own definitions and perspectives of the family. Thy believe that there are still social norms that people feel tied to
Examples of family types
Nuclear
Blended/reconstituted
Single/lone parent
Extended
Kinship
Bean pole
Cohabiting
Same sex
Matrifocal
Patrifocal
Empty nest
Empty shell
What is an empty nest household?
A household where the couple have had children but the children have left the family home
What is an empty shell household?
A marriage in name only, where a couple continues to live under the same roof but as separate individuals
What did Dobash and Dobash find about domestic violence?
Violent incidents could be set off by what a husband saw as a challenge to his authority, such as a wife asking why he was late home for a meal. They argue that marriage legitimates violence against women by conferring power and authority on husbands and dependency on wives
What are the two reasons why officials stats on domestic violence understate the true extent of the problem?
Victims may be unwilling to report it to the police
Police and prosecutors may be reluctant to record, investigate or prosecute those cases that are reported to them
What do Wilkinson and Pickett see domestic violence as a result of?
Stress on family members caused by social inequalities
Neoconventional family
Both spouses go out to work. Not just the husband. They are a dual earner family
Cushioning effect
The family softens each other from the alienation of the workplace
What do radical feminists believe are the mai sources of women’s oppression?
Family and marriage
Who claims that all men benefit from the violence against women?
Elliot- radical feminist
What does Ansley (Marxist feminist) describe wives as and why?
‘Takers if shit’
She argues that domestic violence is a product of capitalism- the male workers are exploited at work and take out their frustration in their wives
What reason did Edgell give for why men have more power to influence family decision making?
Men earn more money than women
What do most sociologists argue childhood is?
A social construct
What does Pilcher argue about childhood?
It is a distinct and clear life stage where children occupy a different status from adults
Children separateness
What was a Victorian childhood like?
Family life:
Larger families
Parents die so children have to survive alone
High infant mortality rate
Living conditions:
Overcrowded
Damp
Infested with lice and vermin
Health:
Dirty water
Weak children
Untreatable diseases
Education:
Genders studied different subjects
Children hit by teachers
No education for the poor
Laws:
1880- children aged 5-10 had to go to school
Few laws to protect children
What does Aries argue about childhood in the Middle Ages?
It didn’t exist
Children had to work from a young age, faced the same punishments as adults, etc
How has childhood changed since the 19thC?
Laws restricting child labour put in place
1880- into to compulsory schooling
Child protection and welfare legislation
Laws and policies to protect children
Reduced family size
What are some arguments that suggest that childhood had improved?
Aries and Shorter argue that todays children are more values and better protected
Babies have a better chance of survival due to better healthcare
Family have become child-centred
What are some arguments that childhood has gotten worse?
Palmers toxic childhood- rapid technological and cultural changes, e.g. junk food and video games, have damaged children’s physical, emotional and intellectual development
March of progress- modern childhood is based on a false and idealised image that ignores important inequalities
Postman’s disappearing childhood- the line between childhood and adulthood is blurring and children have similar rights to adults and more access to info
How have families changes?
Higher divorce rate
More same sex couples
Women have children later
More diverse
More expensive
More symmetrical
15% of families are lone parents
Decreased in size
What is the percentage rise of how much it costs to raise a child since 2003?
63%
Demography
The statistical study of human populations. Demographers use census data, surveys and statistical models to analyse the size, movement, and structure of populations
Factors that influence the size of a population
Immigration
Birth rate
Death rate
Emigration
What are the reasons for the declining birth rate?
Changing position of women
Improved healthcare
Improved social care
Child-centredness
Cost of living/higher standard of living
What are the reasons for a declining death rate?
Social policies
Improved standard of living
Education
Medical knowledge and access to healthcare
What are the three factors that cause an ageing population?
Increased life expectancy
Declining infant mortality
Declining fertility
What does Phillipson (Marxist) argue about older people and capitalism?
The old are no use to capitalism because they are no longer productive
What are some inequalities among the old?
Class- m/c have better occupational pensions and greater savings while w/c have a shorter life expectancy
Gender- women’s lower earnings and career breaks mean lower pensions
Birth rate
Number of births per 1,000 of the population each year
Death rate
Number of deaths per 1,000 per year
Natural change
Difference between number of births and number of deaths in the population
Net migration
Immigration - emigration
Total fertility rate
The total number of children a women can have in her fertile years
Dependency ratio
The relationship between the size of the working or productive part of the population and the size of the non-working or dependent part of the population
