Family Flashcards
What are conjugal roles?
Roles divided within a marriage or a cohabiting couple
What are separated conjugal roles?
Separate/different/unequal roles divided within a marriage or cohabiting couple
What are joint conjugal roles?
Roles that are shared/equal/similar within a marriage or cohabiting couple
What is domestic division of labour?
How housework is divided in a couple
What is meant by the instrumental role?
A functionalist perspective
The role the male takes on in the family to be the breadwinner and the decision maker
What is meant by the expressive role?
The role the wife takes on in the family of primary socialisation, home maker and meeting families emotional needs
What does parsons believe about gender roles?
Gender roles have NOT changed
The nuclear family is a positive idea
- clear division of labour based on biological differences
- women naturally nurture
- men naturally provide
- beneficial for family and wider society
What do young and wilmott believe about gender roles?
Gender role HAVE changed
- march of progress view
- symmetrical family
Supported by Somerville and her belief in principled pragmatism
What is the march of progress view?
Young and wilmott believe that family life has become more equal
There has been an move from segregated to joint conjugal roles
What is a symmetrical family?
Young and willmott
Roles are not identical but much more similar
Couples spend leisure time together
Men are more involved in childcare
Why is the family more symmetrical according to young and willmott?
Changes in women’s positions
New technology/ labour saving devices
Couples live away from community so there is a closer bond with spouse
What do Pahl and vogler believe about the family
Gender roles HAVE become more equal
This is because we have moved away from an allowance system to a pooling system with money management
Critique of young and willmott views
Triple shift- duncombe and marsden
Dual burden- Oakley
Critique of Pahl and Voglers views
- men still make major financial decisions even with joint accounts
- pooling doesnt mean equality
Radical feminist
- there should be political lesbianism as there is no equality
What is a money pooling system?
When both partners have access to income
E.g. joint bank accounts
What does Oakley believe about family?
Gender roles have NOT changed
Oakleys research (semi-structured interviews) found that only 15% of husbands had high level of participation in housework
Men were more likely to help with ‘fun’ childcare
Dual burden
What is meant by Dual Burden?
When women do paid work and domestic work and end up doing more
Critique of Oakleys vie
In the semi structured interviews women might lie to make their partner seem better or worse so the data might not be valid in this instance
What do duncombe and marsden believe about the family?
Gender roles have NOT improved
Women now complete the triple shift
What is meant by the triple shift?
Women complete domestic labour, paid labour and emotional labour
Critique of Duncombe and Marsden?
Young and willmott
Symmetrical family
What does miller believe about the family?
Gender roles have NOT improved
- once paternity leave was over men fell back into gender
- men try to help but because of cultural understanding of masculinity its difficult to be equal
What is Dobash and Dobashs explanation for Domestic violence and Abuse?
- studied police and court records and held interviews with women
- most domestic violence is a result of challenges to male power
- violent incidents set off by what husband sees as a challenge to authority
-marriage legitimates violence- power sits with man
Walklates explanation for Domestic Violence and Abuse
-cause of DV&A is found in patriarchal nature of society
- men having to live up to ‘stereotypes of masculinity’
- male violence is one way of ‘doing gender’- helps to maintain control
Radical Feminist explanations for Domestic violence and Abuse
- widespread DV&A is an inevitable feature of patriarchal society
- men dominate society through DV or threat of it
- family and marriage are key institutions of patriarchal oppression
- male domination of the state= reluctance of CJS to deal with it
- this is why perpetrators are more likely to be men
Cultural explanation for inequalities within the home
Crompton and Lyorette
Ideological- what society thinks of as the ‘norm’
- stereotypes of the male/female roles
- ideas around masculinity and femininity
Evidence: couples whose parents had a more equal relationship are more likely to share housework
Younger men do more housework suggesting generational march of progress
Material explanation for inequalities within the home
Economic- women earn less than men
- in capitalist society money- status and worth
Gilligian
Sociologists that agree with the cultural explanation for inequalities within the home
Oakley
Parsons
Walklate (masculinity)
Miller (doing gender)
Sociologists that agree with the Material explanation for inequalities within the home
Ansley
Benston (unpaid domestic labour)
-> mens work is seen as more important
Gillians beliefs of Material explanation for inequalities within the home
- Much violence results form feelings of shame around poverty (material deprivation)
- in capitalist culture, money=selfworth
- amongst working class mena and men of ethnic minorities- can lead to violence against partners
Evidence of the Material explanation for inequalities within the home
- for every £10,000 a year a woman earns she does 2x less housework per weeks
- women do less housework when full time in paid work
What is the personal life perspective?
- a different perspective of roles within the family
- a focus on the meaning of family members give their relationships
- beliefs that we have more choice in hose our family relationships work
- family is more than just blood or marriage
Why is the personal life perspective critical of structural perspectives?
- Assumes the nuclear family is the main type of family
- Assumes people are puppets who go along with gender stereotypes
What does Smart believe about the personal life perspective?
- connectedness thesis
- families of choice
- fictive kin’s
- relationality
What is smarts connectedness thesis?
Most important factors in our personal lives is not family structure or division of labour
Rather how emotionally connected we are to others?
What is meant by families of choice?
Our families can includes friends not just kin
What is meant by smarts fictive kin?
Someone treated as family but has no biological link, can also include loved ones that passed but there are still emotional connection
What is meant by relationality?
Downplays ‘official’ structures within a family, more interested in how people relate within and beyond families
Emotionally significant relationships not confirmed kin’s
What do Nordqvist and Smart talk about?
Donor-conceived children
- parents emphasised emotional connections more important than genetic are
- however difficult feelings arose
—>could child have ‘donor siblings’? Do these also count as family?
- are the donors parents the grandparents?
- In lesbian relationships is the genetic mum equal to non-genetic mum?
What does Gabb believe about the personal life perspective?
- intimacy and quality of a relationship matters not the purpose or function
- intimacy also includes pet-human relationships
- levels of intimacy with companion-species also varies
- some families are pet-oriented families
New right critique of the personal life perspective
- doesnt promote the nuclear family
- perverse incentives + encourages single parent families/same sex
-leads to state dependency
Functionalist critique of the Personal Life Perspective
Parsons
- nuclear roles= expressive and instruments
- roles are not filled which creates an imbalance
- children are not socialised properly, break value consensus and social solidarity
Marxist critique of the personal life perspective
Hoschild
- commodification of the family
Children have been commodified through donors and adoption
- increased divide between rich and poor
What are Murdocks views on the family?
Family and policy
Functionalist
The family performs 4 essential functions
1) sexual (stability and satisfaction)
2) Reproduction (next generation)
3) Socialisation (value consensus)
4) Economic (economic needs)
Nuclear family is needed to meet all of these needs
Critiques of Murdocks views of the family
Very outdated views
Same sex families can also do all of these, doesnt need to be nuclear
Marxists- ideological state apparatus, they are being used by capitalis
Radical feminists (Greer)- there shouldn’t be a nuclear family, need separatism and political lesbianism.
What does parsons believe family needs?
The Nuclear family is the now dominant family type as the family has 2 essential needs:
- Geographically mobile workforce
- socially mobile workforce
How has the family changed according to parsons?
The family has moved from extended family in pre industrial society to nuclear family in present industrial society.
Family has become solely a unit of consumption no longer production
Family has lost some of its functions due to specialised institutions e.g. nhs/hospitals
What does parsons believe are the irreducible functions of the nuclear family?
1) Primary socialisation of children
2) stabilisation of adult personalities
-> warm bath theory
Critique of Parsons family and policy ideas
Feminists- the functions that parsons talks about serve men and oppress women such as the warm bath theory
Other types of families could provide these functions not just nuclear
Laslett- pre industrial society was still nuclear most of the time as a result of short life expectancy of grandparents
What does fletcher believe about family?
The introduction of health, education and housing policies since the Industrial Revolution gradually led to welfare state that supports family in performing functions
Critiques of fletchers beliefs
Donzelot
‘Policing of families
Marxists
Policies only benefit bourgeoisie
What do young and willmott believe about family policies?
March of progress view
Social policies make family life better and better over time
similar to somervilles principled pragamtism
What does donzelot believe about family policy?
Critique of functionalist perspective
Policy is a form of state power/ control over family
‘Policing of families’- professionals carry out surveillance of family e.g. social workers and health visitors
- this is more likely to happen to poor families
Policies that support he new rights views on family
Civil partnership act 2004 created a union at that time for same sex couples (not equal to marriage)
The Marriage Act 2013- saved churches from being forced to officiate same sex marriages
Section 28 ban on teaching homosexuality as an acceptable relationship in school
New right family and policy sociologists
Morgan
Murray
Functionalist family and policy sociologists
Young and willmott
Fletcher
Parsons
Murdock
Marxism family and policy sociologists
Zaretsky
Engels
Hoschild
Feminist family and policy sociologists
Ansley
Benston
Somerville
Nicholson
Leonard
Drew
What does Morgan believe about family policy?
The New right
The state has become too involved in the family
It has become the breadwinner and the child carer
State has allowed high divorce rates which is damaging for children
What does state as the ‘bread winner’ mean?
Benefits for workless single parents- financial incentive to separate/ stay single because less is paid in benefits to two married parents
What does state as the ‘child carer’ mean?
Increased support for childcare- mothers no longer need male breadwinners support. Encourages women to work rather than care for their own children
What does Murray believe about family policy?
New Right
Critical of welfare policy as it provides perverse incentives
Cureernt polices encourage dependency culture and the emergence of an underclass
Solution
Cuts to welfare spending and tighter restrictions on who qualifies for benefits
What is meant by ‘perverse incentives’?
Rewarding irresponsible behaviour through the welfare state
E.g. benefits, housings
Critiques of Murrays view
Marxists- new right is making the gap bigger as a result of cuts of welfare, forces people to get jobs and contribute of capitalism
Critiques of Morgans views
What does Zaretsky believe about family policy?
Critique of Zaretskys ideas
functionalists believe that this is a positive thing ‘warm bath theory’
What does Engles believe about family and policy?
Marxism
As we have moved from primitive communism mode of production has changed and so has family.
Private property has emerged which has made monogamy essential to make it obvious who inherits private property
Women forced to produce children
Critique of engles idea
It is very outdated and doesnt include the proletariat
Feminists this traps women to reproduce when they might not want to. Radical feminists believe we should liberate women
What does Hoschild believe about family policy?
All aspects of life have been commodified including family- emotional life
E.g. Party planners, care workers, surrogacy
Forms of emotional labour become consumer services for capitalist profit
Results in alienation
Critiques of Hoschild views
Liberal Feminists- women need freedom from taking on domestic labour and paid labour, this helps women feel less tied down as they already have lots of work to do
What do liberal feminists believe about family and policy?
Principled pragmatism helps to liberate women and have them become more free form the patriarchy
Patriarchy is enforced through family
Gender roles are a social construct taught to children
More men are now doing domestic work
Critique of liberal feminist views on family policy
Radical feminists think this is too optimists , we need faster change
Difference feminists they essentialise family, assumes that women all have the same experience
What do radical feminists believe about family policy?
Women should live in matrilocal families as nuclear families enforce patriarchy
Women have no life outside mother, wife and daughter
Most families are male dominated
Men benefits from women’s domestic labour and sexual services
What does Greer believe about family policy
Women are oppressed by their roles in the family
wives- subservient to husband
- duty to keep husband sexually interests
- men need marriage more than women
mothers- not valued by society
- children have no duty to mother despite all she does
- expected to get figure back after pregnancy
daughters- more likely to be sexually abused by family member
- have higher expectations than brothers
Critiques of Radical Feminist perspectives of family policy
- unrealistic expectations
- dont account for positive change
-some women do want to live in a nuclear family
What do Marxist feminists believe about family policy?
Ansley
- family and capitalism should be abolished
- absorption of anger
- wives are the ‘takers of shit
Benston
- unpaid domestic labour
- reserve army of labour
- familial ideology
Critiques of Marxist Feminist views of family policy
Anger might not come from workplace/ capitalism but instead from mental health issues
Radical Feminists- capitalism isn’t the problem its the patriarchy
What do difference feminists (Nicholson) believe about family policy?
Nicholson
The nuclear family is a myth and so is the ideology constructed to support it
- alternative families are devalued because they dont conform to this ideology
- there are great variations in family types
Critique of Difference feminist (Nicholsons) views on family policy
Doesn’t consider possible benefits the nuclear family can provide form some individuals
What does Leonard believe about family policy?
Even when policies appear to support women they end up enforcing patriarchal control
E.g. mat + pat leave
Policies turn into self fulfilling prophecy as it reinforces patriarchal control
E.g women should take care of children > women will take time off of work > mat leave longer than pat leave> women taking care of children more
Critique of Leonards beliefs
Liberal Feminists- principled pragmatism
Examples of policies
2020- divorce, dissolution and separation act
2010- equality act- pregnancy is a protected characteristic
What does Drew believe about family policy?
There are 2 regimes
Familistic gender regimes
- policies based on traditional male breadwinner and female housewife
- e.g. Greece- little state welfare
Individualistic gender regimes
- policies based on equality between husbands and wives
- wives not assumes to be financially dependent on husbands
- e.g. Sweden- equal opportunities
