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
Why do feminists say that women are oppressed?
They are socialised to be dependent on men and put themselves in second place to men
How does the family have a central role in socialising for the oppression of women?
Male and female roles and expectations are formed in the family and then carried on into wider society
How do Marxist feminists view the family?
- Exploitation of women is essential to the success of capitalism
- Family produces and cares for next generation of workers for society at almost no cost to the capitalist system
- Women aren’t paid for the work they do inside the home
How do radical feminists view the family?
- Women are exploited due to the domination of men in society
- Men will always oppress women
- Family is a patriarchal institution
How do liberal feminists view the family?
- Emphasise cultural norms and values reinforced by the family
- Family is only sexist because it supports mainstream culture
- Social change is possible
How have feminists been criticised?
- Portrays women as too passive and plays down individual power
- Doesn’t acknowledge that power may be shared
- Doesn’t consider other households such as gay and lesbian and lone-parent
- Doesn’t address different ethnic backgrounds
What is the New Right theory based on?
The idea that the traditional nuclear family and its values are best for society
What does the New Right believe about social policies?
They have undermined the family
What does Murray believe?
Welfare benefits are too high and create a ‘culture of dependency’ where an individual finds it easy and acceptable to take benefits rather than work
What do New Right theorists think about giving welfare benefits to lone-parent families?
It’s bad for children to be brought up in families where adults aren’t working
What does the New Right say cause social problems?
Lone-parent and reconstituted families and easier access to divorce has led to a breakdown of traditional values
How has New Right theory been criticised?
‘Blaming the victim’
What is the postmodernist view?
There is a much wider range of diversity in families which is good
What does Stacey say?
Family structure in Western society are varied and flexible so there is no fixed family structure
