Is the main role of the family to maintain value consensus and social solidarity Flashcards
Define value consensus and social solidarity
Value consensus=shared by society’s members and they ensure harmony and peace in society.
Social solidarity=Social solidarity refers to peace and harmony in society.
Yes Murdock
Murdock- Male takes the instrumental role and women take the expressive role and these roles are based on biological differences between men and women which makes them suitable for these roles. So when women and men perform these roles the family is functional. He states family has 4 functions:
Sexual
Reproductive
Economic
Educational
Reproduction is when you bear children to maintain society. These roles are important to the society and Murdock claims that the NF is universal as it exists in all societies. +c=Murdock is too optimistic and positive in his views of the family; he ignores the negative aspects of family life such as abuse.
Yes as it depends on the society you live in
Functions of the family depend on the type of society one lives in. For example in pre industrial society the classic extended family was common because people worked in agriculture which required a large workforce and there was no welfare system so they had to rely on kin for support. However in modern societies the nuclear family is common as it gives people geographic mobility, increased social mobility and since the introduction of the welfare system so no longer need to rely on kin. Parsons says that the family has changed in two ways since the change. The first one is the move from CEF to NF. Secondly it has gone through structural differentiation as it has lost some of its functions and has been specialised to carry out two important functions. They are primary socialisation-passing society’s norms and values onto new generations. And stabilising adult personalities- The family is like a warm bath which means it’s a place where all the stresses of everyday life are soaked away. +C=Feminists criticise the segregated roles on which Parsons
says the ideal family is based on as sexist as it implies
women are biologically not suited to paid employmen
Yes New right
New right- Agree with functionalism view that only the nuclear family can maintain the value consensus and social solidarity. But they claim that the NF is under threat because of increase in divorce rates, generous welfare benefits and influence of feminism on marriages. As a result Murray says that there are now two groups of societies that exists:
Underclass- Unemployed single mothers who fail to raise their kids as they are not socialised properly and the men who fathered these children do not work as they have no family to support so they become dependent on benefits. This creates a dependency culture
New Victorians-respectable middle class who work, pay taxes, marry and socialise their children properly.
As a result new right recommend that all parents must be married, mothers
should stay at home and families must not receive benefits +C=Ignore the fact that many nuclear families fail to socialise their children properly. Also Cutting benefits for lone parents would make innocent children suffer.
No family is a tool used by capitalism for exploitation
Marxism: Zaretsky argues that the family spreads the ruling class ideology by presenting itself as a false haven from the harsh and exploitative world of capitalism. Furthermore he argues that this haven is an illusion as it just helps them de-stress so they can go back to work the next day to face another day of exploitation. Therefore, the love we receive in the family is false as it ultimately only serves the ruling class who benefit from our work.+C= Marxists tend to assume that the nuclear family is dominant in capitalist society. This ignores the wide variety of family structures found in society today.
No as family is patriarchal
Feminism: Radical feminists say that society is patriarchal and therefore men are the enemies as they are the source of women’s oppression and exploitation. It is within the family that men dominate women the most as they benefit from women’s free domestic labour and sexual services. Men dominate women through domestic abuse or the threat of it.According to Greer the solution to this oppression and exploitation is separatism or political lesbianism so women and men live separately and women forming matrilocal households +C= Somerville argues that radical feminists fail to recognise that women’s position has improved considerably- with better access to divorce, better job opportunities and control over fertility and their choice to marry or cohabit.
PLP overview
Personal Life perspective argues that all the other theories are outdated
because:
-they all assume the nuclear family is the dominant type when, in fact, there is family diversity today
-they all argue that people have no choice when it comes to creating their relationships and family types.
no as individuals choose their own families
they think that family ties can be defined through relationships that go beyond blood or marriage ties. So all relationships are significant as they give a sense of belonging. For example Fictive kin-close friends can be seen and treated as family, e.g. mums friend = auntie
Also Tipper found that you can have relationships with pets.
Nordqvist and Smart researched families in which children were conceived using a donor egg/sperm. In
such families, the children are legally the children of the people who are raising them, but are actually
biologically/genetically related to strangers. They found that parents of donor-conceived children emphasised the social bonds over genetic links in determining family. For example, raising a child makes you a family rather than genetics +C=criticised for ignoring the special aspects of relationships
based on blood and marriage.
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