Family Theory Concepts Flashcards
Geographical mobility
This concept describes the movement of people to areas in which there are jobs or where particular skills are in demand. According to functionalists, geographical mobility was a crucial influence on the nuclear family breaking free of extended family networks in the period immediately following the Industrial Revolution.
Social mobility
This concept describes the movement of individuals or groups up or down the class system as measured by movement within their lifetime (intragenerational mobility) or by contrast with their parents (intergenerational mobility). According to functionalist thinkers, the UK is a meritocratic state.
Isolated nuclear family
An idea, associated with Parsons, which suggests that the nuclear family has little contact with extended kin because of geographical and social mobility and because of its home-centred and privatised character.
Structural differentiation
The development of specialised agencies following industrialisation that took over many of the functions traditionally performed by the family in preindustrial society, e.g. schools are responsible for educating the young; NHS for healthcare etc.
Loss of family functions
The view held by Parsons that suggests that the family in preindustrial society was a multi-functional extended family, responsible for production, education, health etc. but lost these functions at the onset of industrialisation to specialised agencies such as the factory system and the state.
Fit thesis
Parsons’ view that nuclear families developed because they suited (i.e. fitted) the needs of industrial society where people had to be socially and geographically mobile to take advantage of the opportunities presented by capitalism.
Stabilisation of adult personality
According to functionalist sociology a key function of the family, and specifically the female expressive role, is the stabilisation of the male adult personality. The male needs to be emotionally stabilised through play with children and through emotional and sexual supports offered by wife.
Symmetrical family
A type of home-centred nuclear family identified by functionalist thinkers, Willmott and Young, in the early 1970s that was particularly characterised by joint conjugal roles, i.e. husbands and wives allegedly become more alike and equal.
New right
A conservative political perspective whose supporters believe in self-reliance and individual choice, rather than dependence on the state. They believe in applying free market principles and argue that generous welfare benefits encourage the growth of an underclass.
Dependancy culture
An idea associated with the New Right which states that certain groups in the population have become over-reliant on easily obtainable and over-generous state benefits, which has undermined their ability to look after themselves – links in with the idea of ‘nanny state’.
Underclass
A negative term used by the New Right for the group in society below the working class which socialises children into deviant social values and behaviour. A large proportion of the underclass is allegedly made up of teenage mothers who lack the parental skills to control their children.
New rabble
A negative term used by New Right thinkers, especially Charles Murray, to describe the underclass.
Traditional family values
Ideals based around socialising children adequately and instilling acceptable social norms such as manners, respect for authority, discipline, family coming together (e.g. at meal times) etc.
Family decline
The New Right idea that the traditional family (i.e. n.f.) is diminishing. The alternative forms such as same-sex couples are not perceived as suitable alternatives, i.e. not ‘families’.
Social class
A system of stratification found in modern industrial societies, consisting of 3 broad groups of people (upper class, middle class, and working class) who share similar economic positions in terms of occupation, income, ownership of wealth, and probably lifestyle.
