Family Flashcards

Question

Reynolds - ethnicity and FD - AC families

Answer 1

noted the existence of visiting relationships where lone mothers would have a male partner who visited them frequently played an active role as a parent

Answer 2

suggests that families in the Uk can be placed on a scale ranging from old fashioned values to modern individualism - African caribbeans further along the road to individualism than white and especially south asians

Answer 3

argues that aspects of british carribean life such as lone parenthood is more traditional to the carribean culture

Answer 4

says there has been a transformation of intimacy where individuals have much greater freedom to choose what kind in intimate relationships they engage in

Answer 5

observe that many gay and lesbian people describe their households and friendship networks as chosen family

Answer 6

argues that gay men and lesbians have been traditionaly treated as family outlaws

Answer 7

found that 28% of respondents still thought that sexual relations between 2 adults of the same sex were ‘always wrong’ or ‘mostly wrong’ - park et al 2013

Answer 8

- Carried out a survey of 250 societies - Concluded that the nuclear family was present in every society Said the family performs 4 essential functions in all societies - nuclear family was the best at carrying these out Sexual function - Chanel their sex drives into socially acceptable relationships such as marriage - Helps society by minimising conflict but provides individuals with opportunities for satisfying long term relationships Economic function - Family acts as unit of production - The family provides for each other Reproduction function - Family is the main unit where children are produced - without this society would not exist Education function - Provider of primary socialisation - Individuals grow up to fit into society where there is consensus about norms and values

Answer 9

nuclear family has 2 essential functions in society Socialisation of children - Essential that children receive primary socialisation - The family is a personality factory where children learn to adopt norm and values - Argues children need to internalise their societies culture so that the norms and values are seen as normal - Parsons sees it as having a reduced role compared to secondary socialisation where other agents such as the peer group and schools have a greater responsibility Stabilisation of adult personalities - Couple can rely on each other for emotional support

Answer 10

Argues that there are biological reasons that underlie the way families are organised Suggests men and women are biologically different so women are suited to nurturing children Argues that we need a cultural script a set of guidelines for what families should be based on what he calls ‘biosocial reality’ He implies that other families are less functional than others as they are not based on the biological abilities and needs of humans Children brought up in alternative families are less likely to be damaged by their early childhood experiences

Answer 11

Functionalism makes broad generalisations about the family in all societies Functionalists try to answer questions about why most human beings tend to live in families and how families help to ensure the smooth running of society Functionalists have received extensive criticisms from a range of sociological perspectives Functionalists present a positive and optimistic view of the nuclear family - critics argue that they ignore the darkside and negative aspects of the family like child abuse and domestic violence Ignore that some families are dysfunctional - psychologist Oliver James argues that many of the problems in our adult life can be traced back to our childhood

Answer 12

Functionalists ignore the diversity of the families - Parsons makes the assumption that only the nuclear family can carry out the essential functions of the family effective while critics argue that individuals are increasingly inventing different relationships and living arrangements that can socialise children and provide adults with emotional intimacy

Answer 13

Feminists say Parsons view is sexist - assumes that men and women naturally perform their roles - feminists argue that in reality traditional nuclear families are based on male power and dominance Parsons ignores the idea of women playing a significant instrumental role - in the US in the 1950s most women were only part time jobs or full time housewives whereas today women make up 47% of the workforce in the Uk and make a significant economic contribution in the family Interactionists say parsons view can be seen as a top down process whereby parents instill norms and values of society in children who are waiting to be filled with culture Parsons seems to see the nuclear as an ideal institution - postmodernists argue that this ignores the choice available to individuals

Answer 14

Call for a return of traditional family values | Against legalisation of same sex familys argue that children need parent of each sex

Answer 15

Argues that there has been the emergence of the underclass - poorest people at the very bottom of society Argues that lone parent families headed by women mainly form a significant section of the underclass - children born in these families especially boys are likely to fare worse at school and more likely to turn to crime due to the lack of the father figure Blames govt for providing generous benefits to lone mothers - welfare dependency Says politicians have not done enough to support marriage Suggests children born outside of marriage are better of being adopted

Answer 16

Argue children raised by single mothers on average have lower educational attainment and poorer health than children from 2 parent families Boys grow up without learning about adulthood and taking responsibility for a wife and children - develop into immature, irresponsible and antisocial young men

Answer 17

New right thinkers have been accused of looking back at the ‘golden age’ of family life in the nineteenth century - nuclear family was the norm but in reality lone parent families, cohabitation and sexual relationships outside marriage always existed - were concealed before Critics argue that people should be free to choose what kind of family works best for them - Jon Bernandes reflects this message when he argues that govts need to recognise the diversity of the family and govt policy should support all family types The new rights but much of the blame on the ‘decline of family life on govt policies which they have given insufficient support to lone parent families - portray lone parent families in a very negative light Deborah Chambers 2011 argues that many of the rears about lone parent families and the decline of marriage and family life are a moral panic an over reaction to supposed to social problems

Answer 18

``` argue that capitalist societies like the UK are based on conflict due to class divisions Argue that the family serves the needs of capitalism ```

Answer 19

Argued that the family has developed in a revolutionary way As societies developed there has been more restrictions placed on sexuality Linked the development of monogamy with the development of the idea of private property ‘monogamy ensures that any children born were the legitemate heirs of the father - ignored complications associated with polygyny with which son which wfe should inherit In early societies women had control but as society develops more men have more control Women became possessions of their husbands they were another form of private property Women's role has been to provide heirs to their husbands Engels ideas of evolution in the family has been criticised for being based on very weak evidence Engels was one of the first writers of the marxist view and provided a starting point for feminist theories

Answer 20

Argues that with the rise of capitalist industrial production work and family life became separated Capitalism meant that work became a alienating experience - workers had little control over work and were unable to gain any real satisfaction from it Family life became a refuge from work Argues that the family is unable to overcome the alienating experiences of capitalism Argues that the family supports capitalism in two ways Women in the family raise and reproduce children - capitalists benefit from the unpaid labour as they create the next generation of workers with no expense Family acts as unit of consumption buying products of capitalism and allowing capitalists to continue making profits

Answer 21

Argues that family relationships reflect the poverty relationships of capitalism and that individuals develop a sense that they own their children and partners Family is an ideological conditioning device The family is a version of how society is hierarchical Children learn to submit to the capitalist ideology - they must accept their position and be obedient to those above them Children are socialised to accept their positions

Answer 22

Marxists tend to suggest that individuals personal lives are largely shaped by the economic forces such as the needs of capitalism - social action theories argue that marxists ignore the extent to which we have the capacity to make choices about our own lives like if we choose to adopt the traditional nuclear family Marxism can be seen as outdated as it tends to focus on the nuclear nuclear family rather than its alternatives. They have little to say about family diversity and contemporary relationships Marxism highlights the extent of class inequalities in family life but it fails to consider the importance of other kinds of social divisions such as gender, ethnicity and sexuality and their importance in sexual relationships Marxism mainly focuses on family life in western capitalist societies and has little to say about the nature of families in other parts of the world

Answer 23

Argue traditional form of the family especially the nuclear family represent a form patriarchal control Women's opportunities are limited by restrictive they are expected to play in the domestic sphere as wives and mothers

Answer 24

They point to the way in which men are usually regarded as the heads of the households - make key decisions Women are expected to perform unpaid domestic tasks and undertake reproductive and sexual work Delphy and leonard argue that even though women participate more in the family they receive less in return as men often control the finances and have more leisure time

Answer 25

Combine gender inequality with capitalism Margaret Benston (1972) analyses the way in which the unpaid domestic work of women helps to support the capitalist system She argues that women help to reduce labour power for capitalism in two ways Women renew men's ability to go out to work and create profits for the capitalist class They socialise and take care of the children - create a new generation of workers for capitalist employers Marxist feminists see women as being exploited in family life not for the benefit of men but also because they profit the capitalist system with unpaid work

Answer 26

Argue that there is a process of gradual reform of society is effective Point to the extent to which their approach has achieved a range of legal rights for women such as equal pay, laws against sex discrimination, access to abortion and contraception and equal opportunities in education Somerville argues that the picture of women being exploited is outdated she points to the progress women have made in achieving equality in family life and personal relationships Acknowledges that many women remain dissatisfied with many mens refusal to take on a full share of family responsibilities Points out that women have more freedom to escape unsatisfactory relationships Argues that the govt needs to give more support to working parents

Answer 27

Feminists tend to emphasis the negative aspects of the traditional nuclear family particularly for women, they have ignored the positive aspects of family life - may women gain real satisfaction Some feminist approaches can be seen as outdated as they portray families from 50 years ago they ignore the real changes in todays society - post feminists like Catherine Hakim argue that women can now make free and rational choices about their lives women choose to now only wor part time and take on a greater share of domestic responsibilities than their partners as it is their choice not because they have been forced into these roles by the power of patriarchy Radical feminists have been accused of focusing exclusively on gender inequalities and patriarchy - marxist feminists overcome this to some extent by considering capitalism and inequalities of class - black feminists like bell hooks, Patricia Hills and Collins would argue that many feminists have focused specifically on white women's experiences and ignored the experiences of family life of women from ethnic minorities

Answer 28

He argues that we should focus on family practices rather than the family Individuals create families and other networks or intimate relationships by their daily activities We should be less concerned about the structure of the family or what its functions are Focus on what family means to the individuals

Answer 29

Has developed this further with the concept of ‘family display’ States that ‘display’ is the process by which individuals and groups of individuals convey to each other and to relevant audiences that certain actions do constitute family things Sees family diners, photographs as family displays that reinforce peoples family identity

Answer 30

Beck (1992) sees the contemporary social world as an extension of modernity refer to it as ‘high modernity’ In high modernity there is much less confidence we are much more aware of the risks posed such by science and technology Beck argues that that we now live in a risk society where social life is based on the construction of lifestyles and identities which are based on the avoidance of risks Beck and Beck- Gernsheim argue that there has been the process of individualisation occuring in high modernity Means that individuals are no longer tied to fixed roles or identities as they were in the past This helps explain the diversity of families and relationships it also explains the fluid nature of contemporary life Beck and Beck-Gernsheim are pessimistic They acknowledge the freedom and choice offered by relationships in high modernity but are concerned that families are becoming fragmented and individuals seek their own fulfillment

Answer 31

We are now in a modern era of modernity where traditional norms and structures that contained individuals to fit certain roles have dissolved Argues that life in late modernity is associated by reflexivity - individuals constantly question what they are doing in life and reflect on possible alternatives Individuals create their own lifescripts - have much greater choice about their lives The nuclear family has become an option rather than a social norm Sees intimate relationships as more fluid and open to change as people pass through their life course Suggests the idea of romantic love has been replaced by confluent love - based on deep emotional intimacy in which partners reveal their concerns to each other Argues that couples seek a pure relationship - a relationship that is pursued for its own sake especially for the emotional fulfillment Confluent love is more fragile as individuals only stay in relationships while their emotional needs are being satisfied Giddens arguments explain the high rates of separation and divorce Help to explain the growth of family diversity as reflexive individuals choose to look for confluent love

Answer 32

argues that that today we are living under the ‘postmodern condition’ Knowledge has become more relative - we can no longer be certain of what is true and what is false Individuals have to work out their own truths Postmodern sociologists have applied this to family life - point out that traditional form of family life such as the nuclear family and lifelong marriage were seen by experts as the ideal way of bringing children up - in postmodernity there is less certainty about how we should live our lives

Answer 33

argues that as a result of contemporary postmodern families have a number of characteristics Choice - individuals can choose from family types and forms of personal relationships Freedom - no longer constrained by traditional norms Diversity - families no longer conform to a single type Ambivalence - there is no longer any certainty about what is normal or correct Fluidity - family and relationships are no longer fixed but rather constantly changing as individuals move in and out of different sets of relationships

Answer 34

sees the diversity and fluidity of postmodern families as allowing individuals to develop lifestyles and relationships that suit their changing circumstances as they move through the lifecourse

Answer 35

sees many of the changes as negative - argues that contemporary family bonds have been weakened and there is a lack of certainty about roles and responsibilities in families - jeopardizing the family as an institution

Answer 36

Work of theorist in late modernity and postmodernity has been valuable in helping to explain many of the changes occurring in family life in the Uk since around the 70s Greater acceptance of different family lifes has led to sociologists to re-evaluate how they look at families Criticisms Continuities in family - emphasising changes in family life postmodernists and individualisation theories have neglected the extent of continuity in family - this challenges postmodernity as it suggests a radical break with modernity and the kind of families people lived in the recent past Neglecting social structures - a number of sociologists have argued that class, gender and ethnicity and other inequalities continue to structure the lives of individuals and can limit their choices Ethnicity - idea of choice and individualism also seems more applicable to certain groups in the white population than to some ethnic minorities Gender - writers such as Giddens argue that there has been democratisation of family life as women can now choose to leave relationships that are unfulfilling - feminists have criticised him for ignoring the persistence of patriarchal aspects of family life

Answer 37

New rights see diversity as destroying traditional family values Call for social policies that strengthen marriage and encourage raising children in traditional nuclear families See other family types as not functioning as effectively in socialising children and providing a stable family life Other sociologists are concerned about the trend towards individualisation in personal relationships e.g Beck and Beck Gernshiem do not see the nuclear family as an ideal form but express concerns in the way which individuals concerns about the risks of commitment and undermined family life

Answer 38

Giddens argues that there has been a ‘democratisation of intimate relationships’ - individuals are not forced into relationships but only engage with them when they find a fulfilling meaning Feminists also agree with aspects of family diversity arguing the nuclear family was patriarchal - there are socially acceptable lifestyles for women such as bringing up children without marriage or engage in lesbian relationships

Answer 39

``` Some feminists argue that the aspects of patriarchy persist even within new forms of families and intimate relationships Wendy Langfors (1999) agrees with Giddens that love has a transforming and liberating experience bu suggest that women often end up feeling alienated because they end up being the only ones who invest emotionally in the relationship Chambers points out that women that reject traditional family forms such as single mothers and lesbians often face condemnation from more traditional sections of society and mass media ```

Answer 40

Argued that families that did not fit the nuclear model were a minority that ‘excited disproportionate attention’ Said families that were not not strictly nuclear families were neo-conventional families Said other families can be seen as variations of the nuclear family Said statistics are misleading because they are based on a snapshot - only show how many households are based on different family types at a single point in time In reality individuals move in and out of different households and families at different stages in their life course Being part of a nuclear family will be part of the experience for majority of people

Answer 41

Argues that the consensus of the nuclear family type is only maintained because there is a powerful ideology of the nuclear family Politicians have continuously attacked those who deviate from conventional family types Mass media also tends to portray the nuclear families as the norm

Answer 42

Smart does not agree with Giddens and Beck and Beck-Gernsheim arguments which suggest that we have become individualised and focused on our own personal needs and interests that this has led to a decline in commitment and family life itself Smart argues that it is more useful to think in terms of personal life than family life smart argues that people are still bonded into networks that share things like family secrets, memories, homes and possessions Who we think of family may no longer just include the nuclear family or even extended family - can be people who we share no kinship with - fictive kin

Answer 43

Parsons says there os a division of roles between men and women in families - functional necessity that ensures that each partner specialises in the roles they are most suited to Expressive role - usually performed by women - ensuring that the psychological and emotional needs are provided for - includes functions of socialising the children and stabilising adult personalities by offering support to their husbands Instrumental role - suited to men - involves providing an income for the family - husbands occupation also proved family status in society Parsons suggests that to some extent these roles are down to biology Points out as women bear children and nurse them as babies - natural that they should play a bigger role in their socialisation Parsons sees humans as the product of socialisation process - suggests that socialising males and females into different roles trains each sex to fufill the role which they are naturally suited to

Answer 44

Argued from the late nineteenth century a new family form called the symmetrical family had emerged Said the symmetrical family had 3 main characteristics Conjugal roles are joint - roles of husband and wife are more symmetrical - both paid work and unpaid domestic tasks are shared by both partners The family is nuclear - focus of family is on the relationship between a husband, wife and children - extended family ties have weakened The family is privatised - husbands and wives spend more time in the privacy of their home together rather with other extended family members - husbands are more involved with domestic tasks , likely to share responsibilities Willmott and young's view contradicts the functionalist view View is supported by Anthony Giddens (1992) argued that there has been a ‘transformation of intimate relationships’ - women no longer need to accept male dominance as they have a much wider choice - argues that this has led to a democratisation of family life with men becoming more willing to reveal their emotions and engage with women and children in an intimate way

Answer 45

Feminists have also attacked Giddens notion of democratisation - arguing that women still carry the main responsibility for maintaining family relationships and looking after members emotional needs Radical feminists - the way gender roles are organised - reflects the patriarchal nature of traditional families and the fact that men still exercise more power than women Marxist feminists would argue that by undertaking unpaid work in the family women not only look after men's needs but that they also serve the needs of capitalism Feminists argue that the family has a darkside that is ignored by the functionalists - can be seen in firm of domestic violence, child abuse - feminists argue that these acts are most commonly commited by men

Answer 46

Ann Oakley (1974) argued that the housewife role remained the primary role for married women and showed in her small scale study that only a minority of men could be classified as having a high participation in housework and childcare

Answer 47

See gender roles as shaped by the needs of capitalism Argue that unpaid labour performed by family members, especially women, benefits the capitalist class - makes sure workers - men - are fit to return to work the next day

Answer 48

Point out the diverse nature of families and relationships Point to the extent to which family members can create their own practices Roles and relationships change over time Would argue that sociological research has focused too much on roles and relationships in traditional nuclear families and point out that these can not be generalised to other family types

Answer 49

Feminists note that work also includes a variety of forms of unpaid work Have pointed out to the way in which work is gendered Women increasingly take part time jobs but often earn less than men - they may work part time to allow them to take care of family responsibilities Division of tasks - division of labour Women face a dual burden - struggle with balancing employment and house works

Answer 50

Criticised feminists for constantly complaining that men are not doing their fair share of domestic work Argued that in reality most men do more than their fair share Argued that we need to add all types of work together in comparing what men and women do States that on average men and women do the same amount of productive work when works hours and paid work is added up - roughly 8 hours a day Men do more hour of paid work Women's time is divided more evenly between paid and unpaid work found that the pattern of equality in total productive work hours is found among couples aged 20 -40 than those aged those aged 40-60 An analysis by Susan Harkness shows that British men work longer hours than women do when there are children in the home largely because men often work more overtime to boost family income at this stage while wives switch to part-time employment or drop out of employment ( Harkness 2008) Couples with no children at home and both in full time jobs emerge as the only group where women work more hours in total than men, once paid and unpaid work hours are added together

Answer 51

``` Analysis of secondary data by Man Yee Kan (2008) suggests that middle class women do less work than their white counterparts Suggested that every £10,000 increase in a woman's annual income reduces the time on chores every week by nearly 2 hours and educated tend to do less housework than women who left school at 16 Well off women can afford to employ others to do their housework for them rather than middle class men contributing help to domestic labour ```

Answer 52

Berthouds study of ethnicity and family life suggests that south asian families are far more likely to adopt traditional gender roles than whites High proportion of african-carribean families are headed by lone mothers meaning that in these households, mothers often combine paid work with caring responsibilities for housework and childcare - have some support from extended families

Answer 53

Studies of gay and lesbian couples suggest that they are more likely to have shared roles and responsibilities - consciously rejecting the heterosexual norms of traditional nuclear families Weeks found that same sex couples saw issues such as domestic labour as a matter for discussion and negotiation rather than making assumptions based on tradition

Answer 54

Divisions of labour vary between generations Research suggests that young couples are more likely to adopt equal roles Research also shows that when couples choose to settle down and have children women take on a greater burden of children and domestic work

Answer 55

Suggests that in addition to practical tasks members of households carry out ‘emotion work’ Emotion work refers to people giving love, understanding, praise, reassurance and attention - required for successful relationships Interviewed 40 established white couples - women felt that it was the emotion work that helped maintain their relationships Women were dissatisfied by the lack of emotion work from men Most men said they contributed to the family through their paid work Their study suggests that emotion work can be another dimension to the unequal nature of couple relationships highlighted by feminists Suggests women perform a triple shift - paid work + housework emotion work

Answer 56

Functionalists do not see the division in family based on inequality Parsons work suggests that men and women play equal and complementary roles Feminists say men exercise power in most heterosexual family relationships and traditional gendered roles are a form of social inequality Fact that women perform majority of the domestic labour and receive no financial rewards and little social status can be seen as a form of power difference

Answer 57

notes the growing individualisation in couples finances especially in younger couples where both individuals have paid jobs - men and women have their own bank accounts and pay for their own thing In her studies in the 80s she found that older working class couples - the men had controlled majority of the finances and gave their housewives allowances to control housekeeping Paul points out that individualised finances puts women at a disadvantage if they work part time, not in paid work or are retired - as men earn more so they have more spending power If couples share expenses but women earn less they are more likely to have a surplus of income - greater control of family/ spending power Pauls research suggests that there will be real equality in financial decision making when there is equality in relation to earnings