Family and Social Change Flashcards
How does Murdock define family?
The family is a social group characterized by common residence, economic cooperation and reproduction. It includes adults of both sexes, at least two of whom maintain a socially approved sexual relationship, and one or more children, own or adopted, of the sexually cohabiting adults”
How does Giddens (2009) define family?
“A family is a group of persons directly linked by kin connections, (i.e. related to one another by blood ties), marriage or adoption who form an economic unit, the adult members of which are responsible for caring for the children”
How does Morgan define family practices?
“Family practices are those practices described as being in some measure about ‘family’ by one or more of the following: individual actors; social and cultural institutions; the observer. They are also practices which matter to the persons concerned and which are seen in some way as being ‘special’ or ‘different’
What is the Marxist perspective of family?
Capitalist system exploits female free domestic labour
What is the functionalist perspective on family?
The nuclear family is functional to the system
What is the feminist perspective on family?
patriarchy
What is the sociology of personal life?
“The field is therefore going through a very interesting phase as the sociological imagination stretches and reconfigures in order better to grasp and reflect the complexities of contemporary personal life.. […] A term now increasingly applied to include not only families as conventionally conceived, but also newer family forms and relationships, reconfigured kinship networks, and friendships”
(Smart, 2007)
What are the historical functions of the family? (3)
- Economic function (production of goods)
- Political function (creation of political networks and/or alliances)
- Social function (protection, education, socialization, social bonds)
What did Duncan et al., 2006; Duncan and Phillips, 2008; Roseneil and Budgeon, 2004 suggest?
the search for commitment and its moral contents are still central in people’s lives
