Families and households - sociologists

Question 1

Theories of the family - Murdock

Answer 1

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

Question 2

Theories of the family - Parson

Answer 2

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

Question 3

Theories of the family - Murray

Answer 3

believes that the traditional nuclear family is self reliant. Welfare state gives out perverse incentives leading to an underclass

Question 4

Theories of the family - Engels

Answer 4

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.

Question 5

Theories of the family - Althusser

Answer 5

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.

Question 6

Theories of the family - Zaretsky

Answer 6

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.

Question 7

Theories of the family - Sommerville

Answer 7

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.

Question 8

theories of the family - Ansley

Answer 8

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.

Question 9

Theories of the family - Greer

Answer 9

Family must be abolished and the only way to achieve this is through seperatism. She argues for creation of matrilocal households through political lesbianism

Question 10

Couples - Parsons

Answer 10

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.

Question 11

Couples - Willmott and Young

Answer 11

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

Question 12

Couples - how does Oakley criticise Willmott and Young?

Answer 12

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.

Question 13

Couples - Duncombe and Marsden - which sociologist can I combine their research with in an essay?

Answer 13

Triple shift - emotion work, housework, paid work
Combine with Oakley

Question 14

Couples - Dunne

Answer 14

lesbian couples are more likely to refer to their relationships as equal or symmetrical as traditional gender scripts do not exist for them.

Question 15

Couples - Kempson

Answer 15

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

Question 16

Couples - Edgell

Answer 16

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.

Question 17

Couples - Millet and Firestone

Answer 17

men are the enemy - they are the reason that patriarchy exists in all societies and are the cause of women’s exploitation and oppression

Question 18

Couples - Elliot

Answer 18

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

Question 19

Couples - Dobash and Dobash

Answer 19

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

Question 20

Couples - Wilkinson and Pickett

Answer 20

social inequality, poverty and stress caused by financial difficulty leads to DV

Question 21

Childhood - Pilcher

Answer 21

believes in separateness - childhood is a very distinct life stage to other age groups

Question 22

Childhood - Postman

Answer 22

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.

Question 23

Childhood - Opie

Answer 23

studied children’s books, games and songs and found that childhood is still a separate stage where a strong childhood culture still exists

Question 24

Childhood - Jenks

Answer 24

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.

Question 25

Childhood - Palmer

Answer 25

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.

Question 26

Childhood - Gittens

Answer 26

takes the conflict view by saying that children suffer from ‘age patriarchy’ which means that parents retain control over their children - especially fathers.

Question 27

Demography - Mckeown

Answer 27

improved nutrition accounts for up to half the reduction of death rates - particularly deaths from TB.

Question 28

Demography - Harper

Answer 28

less people smoke now due to knowing its dangers however in the 21st century, obesity has become the next health epidemic

Question 29

Demography - Hirsch

Answer 29

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.

Question 30

Demography - Vertovec

Answer 30

Globalisation has led to superdiversity.

Question 31

Demography - Ehrenreich and Hochschild

Answer 31

domestic work, sex work and care work increasingly done by women from poor countries.

Question 32

Demography - Castles

Answer 32

assimilation policies are counterproductive because they mark out minority groups as ‘other’ leading to minority groups emphasising their differences and breeds further marginalisation.

Question 33

Changing family patterns - fletcher

Answer 33

argue that the divorce rate has risen because couples now demand more love, companionship, understanding, compatibility and fulfilment in their relationships.

Question 34

Changing family patterns - Hochschild

Answer 34

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.

Question 35

changing family patterns - Weeks

Answer 35

Gay people create chosen families based on the idea of ‘friendship as kinship’.

Question 36

Changing family patterns - Chester

Answer 36

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.

Question 37

Family diversity - the rapoports

Answer 37

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

Question 38

Family diversity - Stacey

Answer 38

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

Question 39

Family diversity - Giddens

Answer 39

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.

Question 40

Family diversity - beck

Answer 40

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.

Question 41

Family diversity - smart

Answer 41

our choices about relationships and family are influenced by networks of existing connections / relationships with others.