Family and Households Flashcards
Define family
Define household
One person who live lone or a group of people who live at the same address + who share facilities
What are all the types of family?
Nuclear, extended, empty nest, vertically extended, horizontally extended, empty shell, lone parent, bean pole, reconstituted, same sex, cohabiting couple
What is polygamy?
Marriage to more than one person at a time
What is polyandry?
A woman having more than one husband at the same time
What is polygyny?
A man having more than one wife at the same time
What are the reasons for lone-parent families?
Divorce, greater social acceptance, welfare state benefits, changing attitudes to marriage, teen pregnancy, death of a partner
What are the reasons for the increase in one person households?
Ageing population, solo living among younger people, civil partnership act
What are the expressive and instrumental roles and who explained this idea?
Expressive- wife has the role of meeting the families emotional needs, socialising children
Instrumental- husband has the role of providing financial support for the family and achieving success at work
What is the domestic division of labour
Household work divided between family members
Bott
There are two types of conjugal roles: joint + segregated
Oakley
Idea of the dual burden: where women take on two jobs— career and housework
Duncombe + Marsden
Idea of the triple shift: where women take on three jobs— career, housework and emotional work
What does the dark side of the family reef to?
Domestic abuse
What are the five types of abuse?
Physical, psychological, neglect, sexual and financial
What are criticisms of national statistics on domestic abuse?
Inaccurate- as not everyone speaks up
Masculinity- not all men report due to embarrassment
What are the 4 stages that the family have gone through?
- Pre-industrial
- Early industrial
- Symmetrical family
- Principle of stratified diffusion
What is the symmetrical family?
A nuclear family where here are similar roles in terms of housework and decision making
What are some features of the symmetrical family?
Leisure time is shared, egalitarian, child-centred, dual career
What are criticisms of the symmetrical family?
Feminists question n option of symmetry as women are still oppressed by men in the family
There is an over-focus on harmonious families and real problems are ignored (domestic abuse)
Define social construction.
Something that is created + defined by society, rather than simply a biological state
What is the ‘March of progress view’ on childhood?
That childhood has improved, due to:
-laws protecting children
-better healthcare
-child-centred family
-own brands, media…
Why is childhood seen to be unequal/toxic?
Idea of toxic childhood, not all children have equal opportunities, adults controlling children
What points are there to explain how childhood is socially constructed?
-length of childhood varies between history+cultures
- status of children in different societies — rights + laws
What points are there to support the view that hold hood is disappearing?
-same rights as adults
-similarities between adult and children’s clothing
-committing adult crimes
How has childhood changed over the last century?
-child labour used to be common but isn’t now
-children use more technology
-changes in laws and rights for children
What is the functionalists ideal family type?
Nuclear
Why do functionalists favour the nuclear family?
-its beneficial and necessary for the smooth running of society
-Murdock four functions
-maintains social order and stability
-constructs and maintains the economy
-individuals benefit from emotional support of woman
What are criticisms of the functionalist view of the family?
Feminists- family serves the needs of men and they family oppresses women
Marxists- family meets the needs of capitalism, not the needs of family members + society as a whole
What are the two needs of the industrial society?
Geographically mobile workforce + socially mobile workforce
What is the Marxist perspective of the family?
-Family reproduces, nurtures and maintains a workforce to support capitalism
-reproduces inequality + transmission of wealth between generations
What are criticisms of the Marxist view of the family?
-Out-dated
-They express a very negative view but family life can be harmonious and fulfilling
- assume nuclear family is dominant family types and ignore wide variety of family types in society
-underestimates the importance of gender inequalities
What are the feminists views of the family?
The family is a patriarchal institution which reproduces the inequality of women
Liberal feminist view on family
Best way to combat effects of patriarchy the family is by:
- avoiding gender stereotyping during primary socialisation
- implementing laws
- prevention of sex discrimination
- making maternity and paternity leave equal
Radical feminist view on family
Men exercise power and control over women, men benefit from women’s unpaid domestic labour
Marxist feminist view on family
Emphasises the way women are doubly exploited as workers and women
What are the criticisms of the feminists view of the family?
- women’s roles aren’t the same in all families
- changes in women’s employment gives them more independence
- more women than men initiate divorce
What are the postmodernist views of the family?
The family is more diverse and view focusses on the personal relationships within families
-based on individualism- if family doesn’t serves needs one will leave
What evidence is there for the rise in individualism?
- disintegration of the nuclear family
- growing diversity of households
- personal relationships in which people to choose to live
What evidence is there for the decline in tradition?
- rising divorce rates
- Cohabitation
- multiple partners
- stepfamilies
- gay couples
- births outside marriage
What do intersectional feminists think of the family?
That not all women are the same and many dont live in nuclear families and have different experiences
-women suffer from more Tahoe thing (class, gender, race…)
What is the personal life perspective on the family?
To understand the family/family life we must look at the individuals and the meanings they give to their relationships
- wider view of family:
>relationships with friends
>gay and lesbian families
>pet
>dead relatives
>close friends
what is demography?
a word for who makes up society + the study of statistics which illustrates the changing structure of human populations
what is natural change?
the number of births - the number of deaths
what is net migration?
the number of immigrants-number of emigrants
what is birth rate?
number of live births per 1000 of the population per year
what is total fertility rate?
the average number of children a woman will have in her fertile years
what factors have contributed to Britains birth rate decreasing?
–changing position of women
–fall in infant mortality rate
–children as an economic liability
–child-centredness
what is dependency ratio?
the proportion of the population that is dependent on the welfare state in comparison with the population in employment
what is general fertility rate?
the number of children born to women of a childbearing age in one year
what are the causes of declined fertility rates?
–reliable birth control
–feminisation in the economy
what impacts has the change in fertility rates had?
–smaller families so women are more likely to go to work
–fewer schools, child health + maternity services needed
–ageing populaiton
–less children= less dependency on WC parents
what does death rate mean?
the number of deaths per 1000 of the population per year
what are the population trends for deaths in the UK?
–number of deaths have remained the same over the past 100 years
–death rate has fallen – due to population increasing
what has caused death rates to decrease?
–better nutrition- better knowledge of balanced diets= better health/fitness
–medical improvements– improved NHS, free healthcare + better treatments
–public health– improved and laws restricting harmful drugs
–social changes– better education, infrastructure and technology
