Family - Finalised Flashcards
What does Murdock argue and what is his perspective?
✩ Murdock is a Functionalist who argues that the family carries out four functions that are vital for society: Economic, Sexual Regulation, Primary Socialisation, Reproduction.
Outline and explain his four functions.
Economic Function
- First, the nuclear family fulfils the economic function through the man working and providing for the family as the breadwinner. However, women also fulfil the economic function through a more domestic role as the housewife - often performing unpaid labour such as cleaning at home.
Primary Socialisation
- In addition to this, the nuclear family provides primary socialisation for their children, which is the first five years of the child’s life in which they learn the shared norms and values of society.
Sexual Regulation
- Furthermore, the nuclear family acts as a form of sexual regulation because sexual relationships between men and women within marriage control and regulate sexual urges, preventing infidelity or polygamous relationships as their sexual desires and needs are gratified.
Reproduction
- Lastly, the nuclear family performs a reproductive role as men and women reproduce children who will become the next generation of society.
How can we criticise Murdock?
One criticism of this is that Murdock ignores family diversity in his findings. Society is changing, and we are evolving from the idea of there being only one family type (which has always been considered to be the nuclear family).
It could be argued that other family types such as the same sex family are able to carry out these four vital functions. For example, the parent in the single parent family, despite not having another adult role model, is able to provide adequate primary socialisation for their child.
What does Parsons argue and what is his perspective?
✩ Parsons is a Functionalist sociologist who argues that the family is vital because they perform: primary socialisation of children and stabilisation of adult personalities.
What is Parson’s Warm Bath Theory?
Parsons’ Warm Bath Theory
- The warm bath theory was the idea that when the man, who performed the instrumental role as the breadwinner of the household, came home from a hard day of work, he could relax into his family like a warm bath.
- The woman, who performs the expressive role, provides emotional support for the man, soaking up all his stress.
- This would refresh him for the next day of work.
How does Parsons argue that primary socialisation of children occur?
Primary Socialisation of Children
- The nuclear family acts as an agency of socialisation.
- Through the process of primary socialisation, children learn the culture of their society. By absorbing this culture, they accept society’s shared values and roles. As a result, they become upstanding members of society.
- Therefore, the nuclear family helps maintain a stable society.
How can we criticise Parsons?
He interprets family life through rose-tinted glasses, creating an idealised picture of family life centred on middle class experiences.
Family life is not always perfect, and this is evident in dysfunctional families, where potential abuse and neglect may occur.
What do Liberal Feminists argue about women’s position in society?
✩ They argue that women’s oppression is being gradually overcome through changing people’s attitudes and through changes in the law such as the Equal Pay Act in 1970, which made it illegal for men or women to be treated unfavourably in terms of pay and conditions of employment.
✩ They believe we are moving towards greater equality however they argue that to achieve full equality between the sexes it would depend on further reforms in the laws and a further change of people’s attitudes.
How can we criticise Liberal Feminists?
Other feminists would also criticise liberal feminists for believing that changes in the law will be enough to bring equality, arguing that there are still inequalities between the sexes.
For example, despite the introduction of the Gender Pay Act 1970, employees discretely discriminate against women in the form of lack of promotions due to the potential of maternity leave.
Therefore, there is still inequality between the sexes despite the introduction of these new laws.
What do Marxist Feminists argue about why women’s oppression in the family occurs?
Marxist feminists such as Fran Ansley argue that the main cause of women’s oppression in the family is not men but rather capitalism.
How does this occur, fully explain my favourite concept?
✩ One way in which women are oppressed by the capitalist system is that women absorb anger that would otherwise be directed at capitalism.
✩ Fran Ansley describes traditional wives as ‘takers of shit’ who soak up the frustration of their husbands because of the alienation and exploitation that the husband’s suffer at work from the bourgeoisie.
✩ This is significant because women keep the capitalist system going by being these ‘takers of shit’ who absorb all the men’s anger that would have been directed at the capitalist system, allowing the man to keep going to work the next day.
✩ This reinforces the ruling class ideology in which the bourgeoisie continue to exploit the proletariat. Thus, Marxist feminists view the oppression of women in the family as being linked to the exploitation of the working class.
✩ Therefore, this is why Marxist feminists would argue that the main cause of women’s oppression in the family is not men but rather capitalism.
How can this concept be criticised?
Marxist feminists portray the domestic life of the family in a very negative way, where women are exploited by men in the family and the capitalist system.
While some families may be unequal and male-dominated, there may well be families that are much more equal such as symmetrical families.
What do Radical Feminists argue about the family?
✩ Lastly, radical feminists such as Delphy and Leonard argued that the family is patriarchal in nature and allows men to have a sense of authority at home.
How is the family patriarchal in nature?
—> talk about expectations
—> talk about leisure time
✩ In addition to this, the patriarchal society has created a set of expectations of being a wife and a mother to perform the household work without pay, meaning that the hard and strenuous household work that housewives have to perform is largely ignored as it is considered to be a norm to perform unpaid and tedious labour as a housewife and mother.
✩ Furthermore, a man’s time in the home was used for leisure based on assumptions that work was completed outside the home whereas women did not receive such leisure time due to assumptions about them enjoying household work and childcare.
Tell me about how one particular group benefit from a patriarchal society.
In our patriarchal society, the people who most benefit from women’s work and oppression of women’s freedom and free time are men.
Alternatively, what do Difference Feminists propose?
Difference Feminists argue that Radical and Liberal Feminism is an ethnocentric view – it reflects the experiences of mainly white, middle class women.
Not all women live in nuclear families, and we cannot generalise women’s experiences as all women have different experiences.
How would Radical Feminists refute this counter-argument?
Radical Feminists would say that difference feminists neglect the fact that many women still share many of the same experiences.
For example, women are still more likely to be domestically abused in the home than men and more likely to be victims of sexual assault than men.
What does Zaretsky argue about the family and what is his perspective?
✩ As a Marxist, he believes that Modern capitalist society has created an illusion that the ‘private life’ of the family is separated from the economy.
How do families keep the capitalist system going, and give an example?
✩ Unit of consumption: Advertisers urge families to ‘Keep up with the Joneses’ by consuming all the latest products.
✩ The media target children, who use ‘pester power’ to persuade parents to spend more.
The children who lack the latest clothes or ‘must-have’ gadgets are mocked and stigmatised by their peers.
How are housewives involved in the capitalist system?
In addition to this, the capitalist system depends on the unpaid domestic labour of housewives who reproduce and support the future generation of workers.
How can we criticise the Marxist perspective on the family?
Sociologists would argue that Zaretsky’s research is old fashioned and outdated. This is because feminists would argue that it fails to take into account that women may work.
For example, women may suffer from the double shift, where women may come home from work and partake in unpaid household responsibilities such as cleaning and childcare while the father relaxes.
Therefore, Zaretsky fails to take into account the role of working women in maintaining the capitalist system –> perhaps Marxist feminism would be a better perspective on exposing the functions of the family rather than purely a Marxist perspective.
What does Engels argue about the family and what is his perspective?
✩ Engels argued that the advent of capitalism and the ownership of property changed the way in which the family had operated.
✩ The family had a distinct economic function for capitalism, which made sure that wealth and power remained with the bourgeoisie
How was wealth and power maintained within the bourgeoisie?
Fully outline this concept.
- Ownership of private property, the land and wealth needed to be inherited from the son by the father and due to practices of polygamy this was not possible.
- As a result, society had shifted to monogamous relationships rather than polygamous relationships and the bourgeoisie having to control their sexual behaviours.
- This brought about a patriarchal monogamous nuclear family and led to the ‘World historical defeat of the female sex’ where women have been turned into a mere instrument for the production of children.
- For example, patrilineal inheritance meant that in order to make sure the child is of the father, people formed monogamous relationships to protect claims on their property.
- This keeps the power and wealth within the powerful bourgeoisie, so that they can continue to exploit the proletariat.
How can Marxist Feminists criticise Engel’s viewpoint?
When compared to the Marxist feminist viewpoint, they would criticise the purely Marxist viewpoint as it fails to consider how women and children are exploited by the capitalist system.
This is because Marxist feminists would argue that the capitalist system disadvantages women. They argue that women’s exploitation within the family is due to the fact that women are encouraged to carry our unpaid work within the home.
Therefore, this helps capitalism to flourish.
What is the Radical Feminist explanation of Domestic Abuse?
Fully outline the concept
✩ Millet and Firestone argue all societies have been founded on patriarchy. We live in a patriarchal society, where men hold power over women in society, family and relationships. Within the family, men dominate women through domestic abuse or the threat of it.
✩ Therefore, radical feminists argue that widespread domestic violence is inevitable in our patriarchal society and serves to preserve the power that men have over all women.
How can this be criticised?
Radical feminists fail to explain women as the perpetrators of domestic abuse.
For example, it fails to account for child abuse by women, violence against male partners and within lesbian relationships.
What is the Materialist Explanation of Domestic Abuse?
Fully outline the concept.
✩ Wilkinson and Pickett argue that domestic violence is a result of stress caused by social inequalities between the middle and lower classes. This means that domestic violence happens due to having a lack of money and financial resources. This reduces the chances of maintaining caring relationships between family members.
✩ For example, the breadwinner of the family who is worried and stressed about paying the bills may result in domestic abuse to release his stress. Thus, those who have low income have greater stress compared to middle class families who have higher incomes.
Therefore, working class families with the least money are at the greatest risk of domestic abuse occurrence.
How can this be criticised?
The materialist explanation fails to explain domestic abuse in middle class families. Domestic abuse doesn’t only occur in working class families, it can also affect families who have a high social class.
For example, in middle class families, domestic abuse may still occur despite having high incomes to fulfil their financial needs and stress.
What do Barrett and McIntosh argue?
Men control the family’s income and have the power to make decisions about how it is spent.
Men gain far more from women’s domestic work than they give back in financial support.
Financial support provided to wives is unpredictable and often comes with strings attached. E.g. spent on children rather than their wife’s own need or leisure.
Men usually make the decisions about expenditure on important items.
How has recent evidence criticised the idea that men are in control of family income and decision making?
However, there has been recent evidence to oppose the idea that men are in control of the family’s income and decision making.
Laurie and Gershuny found that by 1995, 70% of all couples said they had an equal say in decision making. Significantly, though, they found that women who were high earning, well qualified professionals were more likely to have an equal say.
What does Kempson argue?
Research shows that family members do not share resources such as money or food equally.
For example, Kempson found in lower class families that women denied their own needs, rarely went out, ate smaller meals or even missed them out in order to make ends meet.
How is this criticised by Feminists?
However, feminists argue that inequalities in decision making are not simply the result of inequalities in earning.
In a patriarchal society, the idea of men as decision makers is deeply ingrained in both men and women through gender role socialisation. Decision-making is likely to remain unequal until this definition is challenged.
What two types of control over family income do Paul and Vogler identify?
✩ The allowance system, where men give their wives an allowance of which they have to budget to make ends meet such as how they would distribute their money for shopping, groceries and money for their children’s lunches, with the man retaining any extra income for his own needs.
✩ In Pooling, both partners have access to income and joint responsibility for expenditure. For example, a joint bank account.
What does Paul and Volger identify regarding decision-making in the household?
✩ When the pooled income is controlled by the husband, this tends to give men more power in major financial decisions
✩ Pahl and Vogler found that even during pooling, men usually made the major financial decisions.
✩ Very important decisions such as those involving a change of job or moving house were usually taken by the husband alone or when decisions were taken jointly, the husband had the final say.
Alternatively, how can this be criticised by the personal life perspective?
✩ Alternatively, the personal life perspective focuses on the meanings couples give to who controls the money. For example, there is evidence that same-sex couples often give a different meaning to control of money in a relationship.
✩ Carol Smart found that some gay men and lesbians attached no importance to those who controlled the money and were perfectly happy to leave this to their partners. They did not see the control of money as meaning either equality or inequality in the relationship.
Evaluate sociological contributions to our understanding of family diversity.
What is ‘Individualisation Thesis?’
✩ A postmodernist term. Traditional social structures have lost their importance and individuals have much more freedom to decide how to live their lives (and the types of families to create). Have less fixed roles to follow
Giddens: ‘Pure Relationship’ theory & ‘Choice and Equality’ theory.
‘Choice and Equality’
✩ Family and marriage have been transformed by greater choice and a more equal relationship between men and women.
✩ This transformation occurred because
- Contraception has allowed sex and intimacy to become the main reason for a relationship’s existence rather than reproduction.
- Women have gained independence because of the rise of feminism and greater opportunities in work and education as girls are achieving higher than boys now.
The pure relationship
✩ People now seek ‘the pure relationship’ according to Giddens one that exists to satisfy the needs of each partner rather than for the sake of the children or tradition, resulting in higher divorce rates and greater family types.
How can the individualisation thesis be criticised through the connectedness theory?
The connectedness theory states however that we live within networks of existing relationships and personal histories that influence our range of opinions and choices in relationships, restricting our freedom of choice.
This challenges the notion of the pure relationship as families include more than just couples and they aren’t pure relationships that we can walk away from at will. For example, parents who separate still remain linked by their children often against their wishes
Beck: ‘Negotiated Family’ theory
✩ We live in a risk society where tradition has less influence and people have more choice, as a result we are more aware of making risks.
✩ Originally people were expected to marry for life and once married, men were instrumental and the breadwinner and disciplinarian. This was oppressive and patriarchal but was predictable and a stable basis for the family life.
✩ There has been a rise in the negotiated families who do not conform to the traditional family norms but vary according to the wishes of the family in late modern society.
✩ The negotiated family is less stable than a patriarchal family because individuals are free to leave if their needs are not met causing diversity e.g. lone parent families.
✩ One reason why the patriarchal family has been undermined is due to greater gender equality, which has challenged male domination in all spheres of life.
✩ For example, women now expect equality both at work and in marriage.
✩ Therefore, while negotiated families do not conform to the traditional family norms, they vary according to the wishes and expectations of their members, in which they decide what is best for them through negotiation.
How is Giddens’ and Becks’ view about the individuals in families ethnocentric and based on Western bias?
Giddens’ and Beck’s view about the individual is an idealized version of a White middle-class man’ according to May. It fails to take into consideration other cultural factors that may impact choice.
They ignore the fact that not everyone has the same access to exercise choice about relationships and may be bound by cultural factors such as social pressure from someone’s family to marry someone who has the same religion as them.
