Families and Households Flashcards
Give two examples of patriarchy in the Victorian family.
On marrying, a women’s property became her husbands
Grounds for divorce were very unequal - a man could gain a divorce on the grounds of his wife’s adultery, but a women had to prove her husbands cruelty or another matrimonial offence in addition to adultery.
Define an instrumental role.
The husband has instrumental role, geared towards achieving success at work so that he can provide for the family. He is the breadwinner.
Define an expressive role.
The wife has an expressive role, geared towards primary socialisation of the children and meeting the families emotional needs. She is the homemaker, a full time housewife rather than a wage earner.
According to Parsons, what is the difference between an instrumental and expressive role based on?
Biological differences. Women are ‘naturally’ suited to the nurturing role and men to that of the provider.
Give two criticisms of Parsons.
Young and Willmott (1962) argue that men are now taking a greater share of domestic tasks and more wives are becoming wage earners.
Feminist sociologists reject Parsons’ view that the division of labour is natural. In addition, they argue that it only benefits men.
What is a segregated conjugal role?
Where the couple have separate roles: a male breadwinner and a female homemaker/carer, as in Parsons’ instrumental and expressive roles. Their leisure activities also tend to be separate.
What is a joint conjugal role?
Where the couple share tasks such as housework and childcare and spend their leisure time together.
According to Young and Willmott, which social class is more likely to have segregated conjugal roles?
Traditional working class extended families.
Explain what is meant by the ‘march of progress’ view.
Young and Willmott see family life as improving for all its members, becoming more equal and democratic.
Give three characteristics of a symmetrical family.
- Women now go out to work, although this may be part-time rather than full time.
- Men now help out with housework and childcare.
- Couples now spend their leisure time together instead of separately with workmates or female relatives.
According to Young and Willmott, which couples are most likely to be symmetrical?
Younger couples.
Identify four social changes that have encouraged the rise of the symmetrical family.
- Changes in women’s position, including married women going out to work.
- Geographical mobility (more couples living away from the communities in which they grew up.)
- New technology and labour saving devices
- Higher standards of living.
Why do feminists reject the ‘march of progress’ view?
They argue that little has changed: men and women remain unequal within the family and women still do most of the housework. They see this inequality as stemming from the fact that family and society are male dominated or patriarchal.
How does Oakley criticise Young and Willmott?
She argues their claims are exaggerated.
Social desirability - People may claim to help out more than they do.
What did Boulton find in relation to men’s involvement in childcare?
Fewer than 20% of husbands had a major role in childcare. Men tend to look at tasks, not responsibilities (men take on the ‘less important’ tasks).
Give two examples of sex-typing of tasks.
- Wives were 30 times more likely to be the last person to have done the washing.
- Husbands were four times more likely to be the last person to wash the car.
What is emotion work?
Where someone (usually women) is responsible for managing the emotions and feelings of family members. While at the same time exercising control over their own emotions.
Give three examples of emotion work.
- Handling jealousies and squabbles between siblings.
- Ensuring everyone is kept happy.
What three activities make up the ‘triple shift’?
- Housework
- Paid work
- Emotion work
According to Southerton, why do mothers today face greater difficulties in trying to organise quality time?
‘Achieving quality time is becoming more and more difficult as working mothers find themselves increasingly juggling the demands of work and career, personal leisure time and family, while at the same time managing and coordinating their own and their families’ social activities.’
According to Southerton, how do men’s and women’s leisure time differ?
Men are more likely to experience consolidated ‘blocks’ on uninterrupted leisure time, whereas women’s leisure is often punctuated by child care.
What were Dunne’s two findings about lesbian couples?
- Roles are equal or negotiated based on need
- Both partners jobs are viewed as equally important
How does Dunne explain the difference between lesbian and heterosexual couples?
‘Gender scripts’ are less important in same sex couples.
Which perspective would support Dunne’s explanation?
Radical feminism - ‘Political lesbianism’.
What three points do Barrett and McIntosh make about family resources?
- Men gain far more from women’s domestic work than they give back in financial support.
- The financial support that husbands give to their wives is often unpredictable and comes with ‘strings’ attached.
- Men usually make the decisions about spending on important items.
What are Pahl and Vogler’s two types of control over family income?
The allowance system and pooling.
What is the allowance system?
Where men give their wives an allowance out of which they have to budget to meet the family’s needs, with the man retaining any surplus income to himself.
What is pooling?
Where both partners have access to income and joint responsibility for expenditure; for example, a joint bank account.
Define Edgell’s three types of decisions and who tends to make these.
- Very important decisions: such as those involving finance, a change of job or moving house, were either taken by the husband or taken jointly but with the husband having the final say
- Important decisions: such as those about children’s education or where to go on holiday, were usually taken jointly, and seldom by the wife alone.
- Less important decisions: such as the choice of home decor, children’s clothes or food purchases, were usually made by the wife.
However, Gershuny (2000) - 70% of couples have equal say.
Income and resources are split more evenly - decisions aren’t!
How do feminists explain the differences in decision-making?
In patriarchal society, the cultural definition of men as decision makers is deeply ingrained in men and women and instilled through gender role socialisation.
Give an example of where pooling may not indicate equality.
If a man earns twice as much as his wife, but both put the same amount into the join account, does this count as equality?
Suggest why having separate money may not necessarily mean inequality in a couple.
Evidence suggests that cohabiting couples are more likely than married couples to share domestic tasks equally.
Why may same sex couples have different arrangements from heterosexual couples in relation to money?
Same sex: Gender scripts are different, less importance on money.
Cohabiting: Value independence, ‘co-independence’.
What is domestic violence?
Any incident or pattern of incidents of controlling, coercive or threatening behaviour, violence or abuse between those aged 16 or over who are or have been intimate partners or family members regardless of gender or sexuality.
Why do sociologists reject the view that domestic violence has psychological rather than social causes?
Far too widespread to be work of few disturbed individuals. Doesn’t occur randomly but follow particular social patterns and these patterns have social causes. The most striking of these patterns is that its mainly violence by man against women.
According to Dobash and Dobash, how does marriage legitimate domestic violence?
By conferring power and authority on husbands and dependence on wives. Violent incidents could be set off by what a husband saw as a challenge to his authority, such as his wife asking why he was late home for a meal.
What did Walby and Allen find out about domestic violence?
Women were much more likely to be victims of multiple incidents of abuse and of sexual violence.
What did Ansara and Hindin find out about domestic violence?
Women suffered more severe violence and control, with more serious psychological effects. They also found that women were much more likely than men to be fearful of their partners.
What did Dar point out about domestic violence?
It can also be difficult to count separate domestic violence incidents, because abuse may be continuous (for example living under constant threat), or may occur so often that the victim cannot reliably count the incidences.
Give the two main reasons why official statistics understate the true extent of domestic violence.
- May not be reported (scared of consequences and downplay).
- Police and prosecutors may be reluctant to record, investigate or prosecute those cases that are reported to them (‘family business’ not ‘police business’).
What is the radical feminist view of domestic violence?
Power and control: patriarchy
- Within families, men use treat and violence to oppress, dominate and coerce women.
- This explains why domestic violence is mainly by men against women.
What is the materialist view of domestic violence?
Wilkinson: strain of resources.
- Inequality cause stress (capitalism) which is ‘released indirectly’.
- Fewer resources (money)
- Crowded houses (stress)
- Poverty = reduced social support (beat wives)
Identify three features of childhood in our society.
- Separateness (Pilcher). Childhood is seen as a clear and distinct life stage, and children in or society occupy a separate status from adults.
- Idea of childhood as a ‘golden age’ of happiness and innocence. However, this innocence means that children are seen as vulnerable and in need of protection from the dangers of the adult world.
- There is a belief that children’s lack of skills, knowledge and experience means that they need a lengthy, protected period of nurturing and socialisation before they are ready for adult society and its responsibilities.
Give three differences of how children are treated differently in different societies.
They take responsibility at an early age - Punch’s study in Bolivia. At 5 y/o children are expected to take work responsibilities in the home or community (taken on w/o hesitation or questions).
Less value is placed on children showing obedience to adult authority - Firth found that among the Tikopia of the western Pacific, doing as you are told by a grown up is regarded as a concession to be granted by the child, not a right to be expected by the adult.
Children’s sexual behaviour is often viewed differently - Among the Trobriand Islanders of the south-west Pacific, Malinowski found that adults took an attitude of ‘tolerance and amused interest’ towards children’s sexual explorations and activities.
Explain what is meant by ‘the globalisation of western childhood’.
International humanitarians and welfare agencies have exported and imposed on the rest of the world, western norms of what childhood should be.
For example campaigns against child labour etc reflect western views about how childhood ‘ought’ to be - whereas in fact, such activity by children may be the norm for the culture and an important preparation for adult life
Give two ways in which children were seen to be the same as adults in the Middle Ages.
- Children weren’t seen as having a different ‘nature’ or needs from adults.
- Children were essentially ‘mini-adults. For example, the law made no distinction between children and adults, and children often faced the same severe punishments as those meted out to adults.
How does the painting illustrate Aries’ view of childhood in the Middle Ages?
Children appear without ‘any of the characteristics of childhood: they have simply been depicted on a smaller scale’.
How were parental attitudes to children different in the Middle Ages?
Shorter - high death rates encouraged indifference + neglect, especially towards infants. For example, it wasn’t uncommon for parents to give a newborn baby the name of a recently dead sibling, to refer to the baby as ‘it’, or to forget how many children they had had.
Give three reasons for the emergence of the modern notion of childhood.
- Schools came to specialise purely in the education of the young. Influence of church. Children ‘fragile creatures of God.
- Growing distinction between children’s and adults’ clothing. 17th Century u/c boy would be dressed in ‘an outfit reserved for his own age group, which set him apart from adults’.
- By the 18th century, handbooks on childrearing were widely available.
State one criticism of Aries’ work.
Some sociologists has criticised Aries for arguing that childhood didn’t exist in the past. Pollock argues that it’s more correct to say that in the Middle Ages, society simply had a different notion of childhood from today’s.
State three ways in which Postman argues that childhood is disappearing.
- The disappearance of children’s traditional unsupervised games.
- The growing similarity of children’s and adults’ clothing.
- Cases of children committing ‘adult’ crimes such as murder.
According to Postman, what is the main reason for the disappearance of childhood
The rise and fall of print culture and its replacement by television culture.
Outline how in Postman’s view the information hierarchy has been destroyed.
TV is a source of information to children and this means adults are no longer the ‘gatekeepers’ to information.
Give one criticism of Postman’s view that the information hierarchy has been destroyed.
Children are still children: Adults know more than them and TV isn’t available to everyone.
Childhood is different, not disappearing.
According to Jenks, what is the difference between childhood in modernity and postmodernity?
- Social change has created uncertainty and anxiety.
- Family becomes the only ‘solid’ part of identity, therefore children become more important and protected.
(childhood will become more separate, regulated and protected).
How does Jenks see parents’ relationships with their children in postmodern society?
- Children become more important as a source of adults’ identity and stability.
- They become adults’ last refuge from the constant uncertainty and upheaval of life therefore they become overprotective of their children.
Give two criticisms of Jenks’ work.
- Evidence comes from small, unrepresentative studies.
- Jenks is guilty of over-generalising: he implies that all children are in the same position.
Give three ways in which children’s lives have improved according to the march of progress view.
- Aries and Shorter argue that todays children are more valued, better cared for, protected and educated etc.
- For example, protected by laws against child abuse and child labour.
- Better healthcare and higher standards of living means that babies have a higher chance of surviving.
According to Palmer, what are the causes of ‘toxic childhood’?
She argues that rapid technological and cultural changes in the past 25 years have damaged children’s physical, emotional and intellectual development.
Give examples of childhood health problems that are increasing.
UK youth have above average rates in international league tables for obesity, self harm, drug and alcohol abuse, teen pregnancies etc.
Give the two criticisms that the conflict view makes of the march of progress view.
- There are inequalities among children in terms of the opportunities and risks they face: many today remain unprotected and badly cared for.
- The inequalities between children and adults are greater than ever: children today experience greater control, oppression and dependency, not greater care and protection.
Give an example of the inequalities among children in relation to gender. (conflict view against mop).
According to Hillman, boys are more likely to be allowed to cross or cycle on roads, use buses, and go out after dark unaccompanied.
Give an example of the inequalities among children in relation to ethnicity.
Brannen’s study of 15-16 year olds found that Asian parents were more likely than other parents to be strict towards their daughters.
Give an example of the inequalities among children in relation to social class.
Poor mothers are more likely to have low birth-weight babies, which in turn is linked to delayed physical and intellectual development.
Give an example of each of the following ways in which adults control children:
- Neglect and abuse
- Controls over children’s space.
Neglect and abuse: In 2013, 43,000 children were subject to child protection plans bc they were deemed at risk of harm (mostly bc of their own parents).
Controls over children’s space:
- Fears of road safety and ‘stranger danger’ prevents children travelling independently.
- For example, in 1971, 86% of primary school children were allowed to travel home from school alone. By 2010, this had fallen to 25%.
Give an example of each of the following ways in which adults control children:
- Controls over children’s time
- Controls over children’s bodies
Controls over children’s time: Adults define whether a child is too old or too young for this or that activity, responsibility or behaviour. Contrasts Holmes’ findings among the Samoans.
Controls over children’s bodies: Adults restrict the ways in which children may touch their own bodies. For example, a child may be told not to pick their nose, suck their thumb or play with their genitals. Contrasts with the sexual freedoms of children in cultures such as the Trobriand Islands.
Give an example of the following way in which adults control children:
- Controls over children’s access to resources.
Controls over children’s access to resources:
- Labour laws and compulsory schooling exclude them from all but the most marginal, low-paid, part-time employment.
- Contrast: Katz found that Sudanese children were already engaged in productive work from the age of three or four.
Define age patriarchy.
Age patriarchy is used to describe the inequalities between adults and children.
How might children resist the status of ‘child’?
‘Acting up’ - Acting like adults by doing things that children aren’t supposed to such as swearing, smoking, drinking alcohol etc. Similarly, children may exaggerate their age.
‘Acting down’ - Behaving in ways expected of younger children - is also a popular strategy for resisting adult control.
Hockey and James conclude that modern childhood is a status from which most children want to escape.
Give two criticisms of the child liberationist view
- Some adult control over children’s lives is justified on the grounds that children can’t make rational decisions.
- Although children remain under adult supervision, they aren’t powerless as the child liberationists claim. For example, the 1989 Children Act and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child establish the principle that children have legal rights to be protected and consulted.
What is meant by the idea that children are mere ‘socialisation projects’?
Children are projects for adults to mould, shape and develop, of no interests in themselves, but only for what they will become in the future.
How are children seen by the ‘new sociology of children’?
This approach doesn’t see children as simply ‘adults in the making’. Instead it sees them as active agents who play a major part in creating their own childhoods.
What methods are most appropriate for studying a child’s point of view? Give reasons for your answer.
Informal, unstructured interviews. They empower children to express their own views. This enables sociologists to explore the diverse, multiple childhoods that exist even within a single society.
Define the term ‘value consensus’.
A shared set of norms and values
According to Murdock, what are the four essential functions performed by the family?
- Stable satisfaction of the sex drive: with the same partner, preventing the social disruption caused by a sexual ‘free-for-all’.
- Reproduction of the next generation: without which society couldn’t continue.
- Socialisation of the young: into society’s shared norms and values.
- Meeting its members’ economic needs: such as food and shelter.
Give two criticisms of Murdock’s functionalist view of the family.
- Feminists see the family as serving the needs of men and oppressing women.
- Marxists argue that it meets the needs of capitalism, not those of family members or society as a whole.
Define the nuclear family.
A two-generation family of a man and woman and their dependent children, own or adopted.
Define the extended family.
Three generations living under one roof.
According to Parsons, industrial society needs a geographically and socially mobile workforce. Explain why this is the case.
- Geographically mobile: In modern society, industries constantly spring up and decline in different parts of the country, even different parts of the word and this requires people to move to where the jobs are.
- Socially mobile: Modern industrial society is based on constantly evolving science and technology and so it requires a skilled, technically competent workforce. An individual’s status is achieved by their own efforts and ability not ascribed making social mobility possible.
Explain how the nuclear family meets the needs of industrial society.
- Easier for the nuclear family to move.
- Better fitted to the need that industrial society has for a geographically mobile workforce.
Outline the two criticisms of Parsons.
- According to Young and Willmott, the pre-industrial family was nuclear, not extended, with parents and children working together, for example in cottage industries such as weaving.
- There is partial support for Parsons’ claim that the nuclear family has become to dominant family type today. Young and Willmott argue that, from about 1900, the nuclear family emerged as a result of social changes that made the extended family less important as a source of support.
What two essential or ‘irreducible’ functions does Parsons suggest that the nuclear family now performs?
The primary socialisation of children: to equip them with basic skills and society’s values, to enable them to cooperate with others and begin to integrate them into society.
The stabilisation of adult personalities: the family is a place where adults can relax and release tensions, enabling them to return to the workplace refreshed and ready to meet its demands. This is functional for the efficiency of the economy.
Define the two social classes identified by Marxists. (capitalist + w/c)
The capitalist class who own the means of production. The working class whose labour the capitalists exploit for profit.
According to Marxists, who or what does the family benefit?
The capitalist system/society.
Why did Marx claim there was no family in primitive communism?
.
According to Engels, why is monogamy essential in class society?
Because of the inheritance of private property - men had to be certain of the paternity of their children in order to ensure that their legitimate heirs inherited from them.
According to Engels, what did the rise of the monogamous nuclear family mean for women?
The rise of the monogamous nuclear family represented a ‘world historical defeat of the female sex’. This was because it brought the woman’s sexuality under male control and turned her into ‘a mere instrument for the production of children’.
According to Marxists, why will the overthrow of capitalism mean the end of the patriarchal nuclear family?
There will be no need for the patriarchal family, since there will be no need to have a means of transmitting private property down the generations.
What is the Marxist definition of ideology?
A set of ideas or beliefs that justify inequality and maintain the capitalist system by persuading people to accept it as fair, natural or unchangeable.
Explain two ideological functions of the family.
- Socialising children into the idea that hierarchy and inequality and inequality are inevitable.
- According to Zaretsky, the family also performs an ideological function by offering an apparent ‘haven’ from the harsh and exploitative world of capitalism outside, in which workers can be ‘themselves’ and have a private life.
Identify three ways in which the family is an important market for consumer goods.
- Advertisers urge families to ‘keep up with the Joneses’ by consuming all the latest products.
- The media target children, who use ‘pester power’ to persuade parents to spend more.
- Children who lack the latest clothing or ‘must have’ gadgets are mocked and stigmatised by their peers.
State three criticisms of the Marxist perspective.
- Marxists tend to assume that the nuclear family is dominant in capitalist society ignoring the variety of family structures in society today.
- Feminists: The emphasis on class and capitalism underestimates the importance of gender inequalities in families. The family serves men not capitalism.
- Functionalists: Marxists ignore the very real benefits that the family provides for its members.
What do liberal feminists campaign for and against?
For: Equal rights and opportunities for women (e.g equal pay and an end to discrimination in employment).
Against: Sex discrimination
In what way do liberal feminists agree with ‘march of progress’ theorists? What evidence do they give for this?
Some studies suggest that men are now doing more domestic labour, while the way parents now socialise their sons and daughters is more equal than in the past and they now have similar aspirations for them.
What are liberal feminists criticised by other feminists?
Failing to challenge the underlying causes of women’s oppression and for believing that changes in the law or in people’s attitudes will be enough to bring equality.
According to Marxist feminists, what is the main cause of women’s oppression?
Capitalism, not men.
Identify three ways in which Marxist feminists see women as being oppressed.
Women’s oppression performs several functions for capitalism:
- Women reproduce the labour force.
- Women absorb anger: ‘takers of shit’
- Women are a reserve army of cheap labour.
According to Marxist feminists, how will the oppression of women be overcome?
They see the oppression of women in the family as linked to the exploitation of the w/c. They argue the family must be abolished at the same time as a socialist revolution replaces capitalism with a classless society.
According to radical feminists, what are the two features of the division between men and women in patriarchal society?
Men are the enemy: they’re the source of women’s oppression and exploitation.
The family and marriage are the key institutions: in patriarchal society. Men benefit from women’s unpaid domestic labour and sexual services, and they dominate women through domestic and sexual violence or the threat of it.
Give two solutions that radical feminists propose to overcome women’s oppression.
- Patriarchal system needs to be overturned. Particularly the family. They argue the only way to do this is through separatism (live independently from men).
- ‘Political lesbianism’: hetero relationships are inevitably oppressive ‘sleeping with the enemy’.
Why do liberal feminists criticise radical feminists’ views?
Somerville: radical feminists fail to recognise that women’s position has improved considerably. Also, heterosexual attraction makes separatism unlikely to work.
What is the main argument of difference feminism? Why do other feminists reject this argument?
Argument: We cannot generalise about women’s experiences. Everyone has different experiences of the family.
Reject: Neglects the fact that all women share many of the same experiences e.g all face risk of domestic violence and sexual assault.
Identify two features that functionalist, Marxist and feminist perspectives on the family can be said to share.
- They tend to assume that the traditional nuclear family is the dominant family type.
- They’re all structural theories.
What is the main emphasis of the personal life perspective?
It emphasises the meanings that individual family members hold and how these shape their actions and relationships.
Give five examples of relationships that may give individuals a sense of belonging.
- Relationships with friends: who may be ‘like a brother or sister’ to you.
- Fictive kin: close friends who are treated as relatives.
- Gay and lesbian ‘chosen families’: made up of a supportive network of close friends, ex-partners etc who aren’t related by blood or marriage.
- Relationships with dead relatives: who live on in memories and continue to shape identities and affect actions.
- Relationships with pets: Tipper found children frequently saw pets as ‘part of the family’.
In what ways does the personal life perspective challenge the conventional ‘blood and marriage’ view of family relationships.
.
What problems may be faced by donor-conceived children, their parents and others?
.
Identify one strength of the personal life perspective.
.
State one criticism of the personal life perspective.
.
Identify two ways in which the personal life perspective differs from functionalism.
.
identify the four factors that affect the size of a country’s population.
- Births
- Deaths
- Immigration
- Emigration
Define natural change.
The difference between the number of live births and deaths per year.
