Marriage, Divorce, Domestic Violence (INC)

Question 1

conflict theory

Answer 1

While functionalists argue that the family is organized to meet the needs of society, conflict theorists argue that the family is organized to meet the needs of the economy, and in particular, to serve the interests of the ruling class.
With industrialization, families no longer produced what they needed at home (i.e. living on farms) – instead the heads of households would find jobs in the cities and produce for the market, and in the process, earn a money wage to support their families.
Families are engaged in social reproduction, where the care and raising of children will produce future generations of workers for an industrial capitalist economy

Question 2

feminist theory

Answer 2

No one family form is inherently natural or functional.
The ‘nuclear family’ is a political and ideological ideal type.
Women’s inequality is structural: it is sustained through laws, social policies, and labour market practices.
The family is not private and separate from public spheres of life – social and economic policies affect family life.
Men’s and women’s roles in families are not the outcome of biological differences. Men can stay home and take care of children and women can be in the paid labour force