Families and Relationships Flashcards
Young and Willmott (1973) The symmetrical family
Functionalist
‘Symmetrical family’
Each person in the family has specific functions
Oakley (1974) Negative role of housewife
Feminist
Nuclear family is harmful and people should have more open ideas of family
Rapoport and Rapoport
Study into diversity of families (class, division of labour, etc)
Murdock (1949) The universal nuclear family
4 functions of nuclear families-
- Educational (primary socialisation)- children taught norms and values
- Economic- pooling resources
- Reproductive- produces next generation
- Sexual- adult sexual relationships remain stable
Beck & Beck-Gernsheim (1995) Individualization
Social change and greater uncertainty make people spend more time and effort deciding what to do with their lives.
Spencer (2005) Lone-parent families
Combining lone-parenting and employment puts significant strain on parents, particularly when they work long and inconvenient hours or hold demanding positions.
Grant (2006) Step fathers
Stepfathers more common than stepmothers, and having a stepfather can be more beneficial for children.
Farr (2019) Same-sex families
Longitudinal Study with 100 adopted families, and found no differences in outcomes of middle-aged children between same-sex and opposite-sex families. Generally, all children were well adjusted and saw being adopted as positive, irrespective of the sexuality of their parents.
Klinenberg (2013) Living alone
People living alone make up 28 percent of all U.S. households, and these people are deeply engaged in social and civic life, and have better mental health
Roseneil & Budgeon (2004) Breaking down the heteronorm
Aspects of intimacy and emotional relationship are increasingly taking place outside the family. There were 2 key changes:
- friends taking the place of family
- the decentering of conjugal relationships
Heath (2004) The rise of the kippers
notes the rise of the kippers (kids in parents pockets) - young people who still live with their parents after they have completed their education.
Giddens (1992) Transformation of intimacy
Fletcher (1966) Linking divorce and marriage expectations
argues that higher divorce rates were linked to a higher value being placed on marriage. It has changed from a relationship based on economic and practical reasons to a relationship of love and support.
Chambers (2012) Continued stigmatization of divorce, cohabitation and lone-parenthood
Allan & Crowe (2001) Changing role of women
argue that the changing position of women in society is the main reason for the increase in divorce. In the 1940’s women did not have the resources to file for a divorce. In 2012 65% of divorces were initiated by women as since the 1970’s far more married women are employed. However most women still find themselves more financially disadvantaged after a divorce.
Jones (2011) The role of grandparents
says grandparents can be seen as part of the ‘reserve army of labour.’ Marxists use this term to describe a group of workers who replace paid workers when there is a shortage of labour, helping to keep down the cost of wages.
Brannen (2003) Beanpole families
A family of 3, 4 or even 5 generations. However they may not live together but close to each other. Beanpoles because there are many generations but not many in each generation. Therefore older generations offer support for families that are going through divorce or lone-parent families.
Crompton (2005) The family and class reproduction
Class still plays a part in ensuring class reproduction. Most children will follow their parents into the same class in society.
* This is for economic reasons as wealthier parents can pass on money giving them an advantage. They can invest in their children’s education.
Gillies (2005) Class differences in the family
She found significant class differences in parenting. Some key findings were:
* Middle class parents used a range of resources to support their children especially in developing social skills and education. Whereas working class parents teach children coping strategies for poverty.
* Middle class parents emphasised their children’s individuality and their right to be respected. However working class parents did not wish their children to be seen as special.
* Middle school parents felt confident when dealing with teachers and could draw on a range of expensive specialists to produce reports on their children. However working class parents were reluctant to have their children clinically diagnosed with a problem.
Berthoud (2001) Tradition in Asian families
suggests that South Asians remain in many ways more traditional than white people.
Weeks et al (1999) Same sex families as ‘chosen families’
Observe that many gay and lesbian relationships describe themselves as friendships networks and chosen families. They are able to choose who is in their family.
Parsons (1951) Parsons and Bales (1955) Specialisation of family functions, nuclear family
Functionalist
Families socialise children and providing emotional support for adults
Popenoe (1996) Biological imperatives of nuclear family
approach has been seen has neo-functionalist. Popenoe argues that there are biological necessities that underlie the way families are organised. For example men and women are biologically different so women are more suited to bringing up and nurturing children. Popenoe says we need a set of guidelines for how a family should be. He implies some types of families are less functional.
Dennis & Erdos (2000) Problems of families without fathers
They argued that children raised by single mother’s children on average have lower educational attainment and poorer health than children from 2 parent families. Boys don’t see a father figure taking responsibility and grow up to be immature, irresponsible and anti-social.
