Family&Households- Topic 3(Paper2)

Question 1

According to Murdock, what are the 4 essential functions performed by the family?

Answer 1

-Stable satisfaction of the sex drive.
-Reproduction of the next generation.
-Socialisation of the young
-Meeting its members economic needs.

Question 2

2 criticisms of Murdock’s functionalist view of the family.

Answer 2

-Feminists see the family as serving the needs of men and oppressing women.
-Marxists argue that it means the needs of capitalism, not those of family members of society as a whole.

Question 3

Define the nuclear family

Answer 3

Of just the parents and their dependent children,

Question 4

Define the extended family.

Answer 4

Of 3 generations living under one roof.

Question 5

Explain how the nuclear family meets each of geographically and socially mobile workforces.

Answer 5

Parsons argues that the nuclear family fits the needs of industrial society and is the dominant family type in that society while the extended family fits the needs of pre-industrial society.

Question 6

3 criticisms of Parsons functional fit theory.

Answer 6

-Young and Willmott the pre industrial family was nuclear not extended as Parsons claims with parents and children working together for example in cottage industries such as wreaking.
-Parsons say industrialisation brought the nuclear family but Young and Willmott argue the hardship of the early industrial period gave rise to the mum centred working class extended family based on ties between mothers and their married daughters who relied on each other for finical, partial and emotional support.
-There’s partial support from Parsons claim that the nuclear family has become the dominant family type today.

Question 7

What 2 essential or irreducible functions does Parsons suggest that the nuclear family now performs?

Answer 7

-The primary socialisation of children to equip them with basic skills and society’s values to enable them to cooperate with others and begin to integrate them into society.
-The stabilisation of adult personalities- the family is a place where adults can relax and release tensions, enabling them to return to the workplace refreshed and ready to meet it’s demands. This is functional for the efficiency of the economy.

Question 8

Why did Marx claim there was no family in primitive communism?

Answer 8

In this society there was no primitive property. Instead all members of society owned the means of production communally. At this stage of social development there was no family as such.

Question 9

According to Engels, why is monogamy essential in class society?

Answer 9

Because of the inheritance of private property.
Dads didn’t know who their children were.

Question 10

According to Engels, what did the rise of the monogamous nuclear family mean for women?

Answer 10

It represented a word historical defeat of the female sex. This was because it brought the women’s sexuality under male control and turned into a mere instrument for the production of children.

Question 11

According to Marxists, why will the overthrow of capitalism mean the end of the patriarchal nuclear family?

Answer 11

The overthrow of capitalism and provide ownership of the means of production will women achieve liberation for patriarchal control.

Question 12

What is the Marxist definition if ideology?

Answer 12

A set of ideas or beliefs that justify inequality and maintain the capitalist system by persuading people to accept it as fair, natural or unchangeable.

Question 13

Explain 2 ideologuical of the family.

Answer 13

-Socialising children into the idea that hierarchy and inequality are inevitable. Parental power children accustoms then, to the idea that there always has to be someone in charge and this prepares them for a working life in which they will accept orders from their capitalist employers.
-Offering an operant haven from the harsh and exploitative world of capitalism outside in which workers can be themselves and have a private life.

Question 14

3 ways in which the family is an important market for consumer goods.

Answer 14

-Advertisers urge families to keep up with the jonses by consuming all latest products.
-The media target children who use pester power to persuade parents to spend more.
-Children who lack the latest clothes or must have gadgets are mocked and stigmatised by their peers.

Question 15

3 criticisms of the Marxist perspective.

Answer 15

-Marxists tend to assume that the nuclear family is dominant in capitalist society. This ignores the wide variety of family structures found in society toady.
-Functionalists argue that Marxists ignore the very real benefits that the family provides for its members.
-Feminists argue that the Marxist emphasis on class and capitalism under estimates the importance of gender inequalities within the family. In the feminist view, these are more fundamental than class inequalities and the family primarily serves the interests of men not capitalism.

Question 16

What do liberal feminists campaign for?

Answer 16

They are concerned with campaigning against sex discrimination and for equal rights and opportunities for men.

Question 17

In what way do liberal feminists agree with march of progress theories? What evidence do they give for this?

Answer 17

They have similar views to that of march of progress theorists such as Young and Willmott. Although liberal feminists don’t believe full gender equality has yet been achieved in the family they argue that there has been gradual progress.

Question 18

Why are liberal feminists criticised by other feminists?

Answer 18

For failing to challenge the underlying causes of women’s oppression and for believing that changes in the law or in people’s attitudes will be enough to bring equality. Marxist and radical feminists believe instead that far reaching changes to deep rooted social structures are needed.

Question 19

According to Marxist feminists, what is the main cause of women’s oppression?

Answer 19

Capitalism

Question 20

3 ways in which Marxist feminists see women as being oppressed.

Answer 20

-Women reproduce the labour force.
-Women absorb anger
-women are a a reserve army of cheap labour.

Question 21

According to Marxist feminists, how will the oppression of women be overcome?

Answer 21

They see the oppression of women in the family as linked to the exploitation of the working class. They argue that the family must be abolished at the same as a socialist revolution replaces capitalism with a classless society.

Question 22

2 features of the division between men and women in patriarchal society (radical feminists)

Answer 22

-Men are the enemy they are the source of women’s oppression and exploitation.
-The family and marriage are the key institutions in patriarchal society. Men benefit from women’s unpaid domestic labour and from their sexual services and they dominate women through domestic and sexual violence if the threat of it.

Question 23

2 solutions that radical feminists propose to overcome women’s oppression.

Answer 23

-Separatism women must organise themselves to live independently of men.
-The patriarchal system needs to be overturned. In particular the family which they see as the root of women’s oppression.

Question 24

Why do liberal feminists criticise radical feminists views?

Answer 24

They fail to recognise that women’s position has improved considerably.

Question 25

what is the main argument of difference feminism?

Answer 25

We cannot generalise about women’s experiences. They argue that lesbian and heterosexual women, white and black women, middle class women have very different experiences of the family from one another.

Question 26

Why do other feminists reject this argument?

Answer 26

They argue that difference feminism neglects the fact that all women share many of the same experiences for example they all face a risk of domestic violence and sexual assault.

Question 27

2 features that functionalists, Marxists and feminist perspectives on the family can be said to share

Answer 27

-They tend to assume the traditional nuclear family is the dominant family type.
-They are all structural theories.

Question 28

What is the main emphasis of the personal life perspective?

Answer 28

the sociology of personal life is a new perspective on families. Its strongly influenced by interactionist ideas sand argues that to understand families, we must start from the point of view of the individuals concerned and the meanings they give to their relationships.

Question 29

in what ways doe the personal life perspective challenge the conventional blood and marriage view of family relationships?

Answer 29

These and similar relationships raise questions about what counts as family from the point of view of the individuals involved.

Question 30

What problems might be faced by donor-conceived their parents and others?

Answer 30

The importance of social relationships over genetic one in forming family bonds.
Difficult feelings could flare up if a child doesn’t look like their parents.
Same sex couples concerns about equality.

Question 31

1 strength of the personal life perspective.

Answer 31

It helps us to understand how people themselves construct and define their relationships as family.

Question 32

1 criticism of the personal life perspective.

Answer 32

Critics argue that by including a wide range of different kinds of personal relationships we ignore what is special about relationships that are based on blood or marriage.

Question 33

2 ways in which the personal life perspective differs from functionalism.

Answer 33

-It rejects the top down view taken by functionalism nut t does see intimate relationship performing the important function of providing us with a sense of belonging and relatedness.
-Unlike functionalism it recognises that relatedness isn’t always positive.