Families and households Flashcards
Parsons two main functions? (functionalist)
- Primary socialisation
- Stabilisation
Criticisms of functionalist perspective on family?
- Downplaying conflict
- Out of date
- Ignores exploitation of women
- Ignoring harmful effects of family
Marxist perspective on family?
- Likes the Nuclear family
- Acceptance of hierarchy
- Family pass down wealth
3 Key Marxist sociologists?
- Engels
- Althusser
- Zaretsky
Criticisms of marxist perspective on family?
- Deterministic
- Ignores family diversity in capitalist society
- Ignores inequality between men and women.
Impacts of gay marriage on the family?
- Reduces stigma around gay relationships which encourages it
- Rise in adoption, IVF, fertility clinics
- Undermines nuclear family
What are Murdocks 4 functions? (functionalism)
- Sexual
- Reproduction
- Socialisation/ educational
- Economic
Functionalist perspective on family?
- See family as a ‘basic building block’ to society
- Family helps prepare children to adult society
Impacts of maternity/paternity act on the family? (social policy)
- Makes gender roles equal
- Expressive and instrumental roles shared
Impact of the divorce act on the family? (social policy)
- Easier to divorce which increases it
- More single parent & reconstituted families
- Benefits abusive relationships
- Undermines nuclear family
Polygamy
Having more than one partner
Lone parent families
Family that consists one parent and 1 or more biological or adopted children
Infant mortality rate
The number of deaths in the first year of life for every 1,000 live births
Fertility rate
total number of live births per 1000 women aged 15-44.
Birth rate
ratio of live births in an area to the population of the area.
life expectancy
average number of years an individual can be expected to live.
Ageing population
population in which the percentage of those over 65 years increasing.
serial monogamy
someone who has had multiple divorces.
conjugal roles
roles played by a man and woman in a domestic setting.
symmetrical family
both partners take on both roles in the households
cereal packet family
ideological happy nuclear family
triple shift
role of women: paid work, unpaid and work and emotional work
plastic sexuality
sex for purely pleasure not for children
confluent love
love that doesn’t last
Giddens
postmodernist, confluent love, plastic sexuality.
radical feminism
everything is patriarchal
marxist feminism
capitalism causes patriarchy
liberal feminism
patriarchy stems for history and culture
patriarchy
male dominance
functions of the family according to Murdock
sexual, economic, reproduction and educational
functions of family according to Parsons
primary socialisation, stabilisation of adult personalities.
empty shall marriage
a couple continue to live under the same roof but remain married in name only.
Child centred society
A society focusing on the safety and education of children
postman
1994, childhood is disappearing due to new technology
3 critics of theories examine the dark side of families
child abuse, domestic violence, mental illness
