Families and households - sociologists Flashcards
Theories of the family - Murdock
Believes that the nuclear family is the universal family type and that the family fulfils four functions:
- sexual function
- reproduction function
- education function
- economic function
Theories of the family - Parson
Disagreed with Murdock’s idea that the nuclear family is universal and believes that the family has two irreducible functions:
- primary socialisation
- stabilisation of adult personalities - warm bath theory
Functional fit theory
1) pre industrial society - extended family - ascribed status
2) Modern industrial society - geographically mobile workforce, socially mobile workforce, achieved status
Theories of the family - Murray
believes that the traditional nuclear family is self reliant. Welfare state gives out perverse incentives leading to an underclass
Theories of the family - Engels
Inheritance of property
before capitalism, property was collectively owned and polygamy was common
The nuclear family emerged with capitalism leading to monogamous relationships due to fathers needing to know their legitimate heir to pass down property so social class inequalities were maintained each generation.
Theories of the family - Althusser
In order for the w/c to survive it must submit to the values of the ruling class. The family is an ideological state apparatus as it transmits norms and values such as a fatalistic attitude and benefits the ruling class.
Theories of the family - Zaretsky
The cushioning effect is similar to parsons’ warm bath theory but prevents the proletariat from acknowledging oppression and starting revolution
modern industrial society created the illusion that the private life is seperate from the economy
Keeping up with the Joneses - families must keep up with the material goods and services acquired by neighbours and peers. Media targets children to use pester power to persuade parents to buy more.
Theories of the family - Sommerville
Takes march of progress view by saying that women’s position in the family has improved considerably by having better access to divorce, job opportunities, control over fertility and ability to choose whether to marry or cohabit.
theories of the family - Ansley
Emotional support provided by women helps to support the husband’s frustration. Women reproduce labour force, absorb angers and are a reserve army of cheap labour.
Theories of the family - Greer
Family must be abolished and the only way to achieve this is through seperatism. She argues for creation of matrilocal households through political lesbianism
Couples - Parsons
husband has the instrumental role of being a breadwinner and providing financially for the family while the wife has the expressive role. According to parsons, men and women are biologically suited to these roles.
Couples - Willmott and Young
did research in Bethnal Green going door to door and found that women have started to perform much more equal roles within the household by sharing duties including childcare which have indicated indroduction of symmetrical families - march of progress
Couples - how does Oakley criticise Willmott and Young?
women take responsibility for all aspect of household care whatever type of family they live in. In nuclear families, roles are not symmetrical. Women may now work but still have to do housework and childcare.
Couples - Duncombe and Marsden - which sociologist can I combine their research with in an essay?
Triple shift - emotion work, housework, paid work
Combine with Oakley
Couples - Dunne
lesbian couples are more likely to refer to their relationships as equal or symmetrical as traditional gender scripts do not exist for them.
Couples - Kempson
in low income families, women will often put the needs of her children before her own by skipping meals or not going out socially just to make ends meet. Even in households with adequate incomes, resources are still shared unequally leaving many women in poverty
Couples - Edgell
even when professional couples use pooling as a money management system, men still have more control and power over finances and decision making. Very important decisions are made by men while less important decisions are made by women.
Couples - Millet and Firestone
men are the enemy - they are the reason that patriarchy exists in all societies and are the cause of women’s exploitation and oppression
Couples - Elliot
not all men are aggressive and many oppose domestic violence, Radical feminists ignore DV against men and DV in lesbian relationships, CSEW (Crime survey for england and wales)- 2.9 million
Couples - Dobash and Dobash
conducted interviews with women in women’s refuges and said that DV is evidence of the patriarchy. DV incidents were set off by what men saw as a challenge to their authority
Couples - Wilkinson and Pickett
social inequality, poverty and stress caused by financial difficulty leads to DV
Childhood - Pilcher
believes in separateness - childhood is a very distinct life stage to other age groups
Childhood - Postman
believed that childhood is disappearing at a dazzling speed as a result of the information hierarchy which meant that in the past adults could keep things from children as their language was limited and they were illiterate which ensured that they remained vulnerable and innocent. Recently, TV has destroyed the information hierarchy as it does not require special skills to access.
Childhood - Opie
studied children’s books, games and songs and found that childhood is still a separate stage where a strong childhood culture still exists
Childhood - Jenks
postmodernity is unstable and leaves its membrs so insecure that parents tend to cling to their relationships with their children as a form of identity which leads to parenting methods such as helicopter and cotton wool parenting.
Childhood - Palmer
takes the conflict view of childhood and coined the term toxic childhood to describe the rapid technological and cultural changes that have damaged children’s physical, emotional and intellectual development.
Childhood - Gittens
takes the conflict view by saying that children suffer from ‘age patriarchy’ which means that parents retain control over their children - especially fathers.
Demography - Mckeown
improved nutrition accounts for up to half the reduction of death rates - particularly deaths from TB.
Demography - Harper
less people smoke now due to knowing its dangers however in the 21st century, obesity has become the next health epidemic
Demography - Hirsch
social policies will need to change to meet needs of an ageing population
Ageism - when elderly people appear in the media, they tend to appear grumpy, mentally challenged, dependent, burden or enjoying a second childhood.
Demography - Vertovec
Globalisation has led to superdiversity.
Demography - Ehrenreich and Hochschild
domestic work, sex work and care work increasingly done by women from poor countries.
Demography - Castles
assimilation policies are counterproductive because they mark out minority groups as ‘other’ leading to minority groups emphasising their differences and breeds further marginalisation.
Changing family patterns - fletcher
argue that the divorce rate has risen because couples now demand more love, companionship, understanding, compatibility and fulfilment in their relationships.
Changing family patterns - Hochschild
for many women, the home compares unfavourably with work. At work, they feel valued but at home, men’s continued resistance to housework makes the relationship less stable.
changing family patterns - Weeks
Gay people create chosen families based on the idea of ‘friendship as kinship’.
Changing family patterns - Chester
believes that the so-called decline in the nuclear family is exaggerated and that the rise in cohabitation is only due to the lifecycle and everyone will live in a nuclear family at some point in their life - he calls this the neo-conventional family.
Family diversity - the rapoports
Cultural - families differ in terms of their beliefs and values
Life course - family types change over the course of our lives
Organisational - the way a family might organise itself in terms of the roles people perform
Generational - how many children in each generation.
Social Class - availability of resources, quality of housing, leisure opportunities etc all impact nature
Family diversity - Stacey
Women created new types of family that better suited their needs – the divorce
extended family. Greater freedom of choice has benefitted women - women can break free from patriarchal oppression
Family diversity - Giddens
in postmodern society, relationships are pure meaning that they are built on love rather than norms. However, these relationships are more unstable as they are built on personal choice rather than a personal commitment.
Family diversity - beck
we live in a risk society where tradition has less influence and people have more choice. Negotiated families do not conform to the idea that people had to marry for life and so individuals are free to leave if their needs are not met causing diversity. He also says that the family is now a zombie family - it appears to be alive but in reality it is dead.
Family diversity - smart
our choices about relationships and family are influenced by networks of existing connections / relationships with others.
