Families and Households- Nature and Role of Family in Society Flashcards
What is a household?
A group of people who live together who may or may not have family or kinship ties
What is a family?
A type of household where the people living together are related
What does kinship mean?
Being related by birth or blood
What is a nuclear family?
Two generations living together- parents and dependent children
What is a traditional extended family?
Three or more generations of the same family living together or close by with frequent contact
What is an attenuated extended family?
Nuclear families that live apart from their extended family but keep in regular contact
What are lone-parent families?
A single parent and their dependent children
What are reconstituted families?
New stepfamilies created when parts of two previous families are brought together
How do functionalists see all institutions in society?
Essential to the smooth running of society
How does Murdock view the family?
Inevitable and universal
What are Murdock’s four basic functions of the family?
Stable satisfaction of the sex drive, reproduction of the next generation, meeting society’s members’ economic needs, socialisation of the young
What did Parsons say that the two basic and irreducible functions of the family are?
Primary socialisation and satisfaction of adult personalities
How has Morgan criticised the functionalist perspective?
It idealises the family, Murdock makes no reference to alternative households or to disharmony and problems in family relationships
How do feminists criticise the functionalist perspective?
They ignore the exploitation of women
What does the functionalist perspective not look in to?
Conflict, class or violence in regards to the family
How do Marxists view the family?
Benefits the minority in power (bourgeoise) and the economy but disadvantages the working class majority (proletariat)
What does Engels say?
The family has an economic function of keeping wealth within the bourgeoisie by passing it on to the next generation as inheritance
What did Zaretsky say?
The family is one place in society where the proletariat can have power and control (a safe haven)- helps relieve some frustration workers feel about their low status which helps them to accept their oppression and exploitation
What does the woman’s role as a ‘housewife’ mean in capitalist society?
Workers are cared for and healthy to make them more productive
What does the unit of consumption mean?
The family is a unit with the desire to buy the goods produced by capitalist industry, so the bourgeoisie get the profit
How can the Marxist view of the family be criticised?
- Ignores other benefits than the economy to individuals and society
- No Marxist explanation to why family flourishes in non-capitalist or communist societies
- Assumes traditional gender roles
What do feminists say about the family?
It helps to maintain existing social order by exploiting and oppressing women
What do feminists call the existing social order?
Patriarchy which is the combination of systems, ideologies and cultural practices which ensure men have power
What do feminists argue that the family does?
Supports and reproduces inequalities between men and women
