New right & Feminists theories on the family

Question 1

What do the New Right believe?

Answer 1

There is only one correct family type which is the traditional nuclear family

Question 2

What do the New Right believe about an increase in family diversity?

Answer 2

• It is the cause of many social issues such as crime rates and declining moral standards
• Important to have stable mum and dad roles in familyy life

Question 3

What do Marxist feminists believe about the family?

Answer 3

Women are being exploited and there oppression performs several functions for Capitalism

1) Women reproduce the labour force – through their unpaid domestic labour, by socialising the next generation of workers and servicing the current workers
2) Women absorb anger – The Marxist-Feminist interpretation of this is that women are just absorbing the anger of the proletariat ‘ Takers of shit’
3) Women are a ‘reserve army of cheap labour’ – if women’s primary role is domestic, and they are restricted from working, this also means they are in reserve, to be taken on temporarily as necessary by the Bourgeois,

Question 4

What do Radical feminists believe?

Answer 4

• all relationships between men and women are based on patriarchy – essentially men are the cause of women’s exploitation and oppression.
• Also believe there is a dark side to the family

Question 5

What do Liberal feminists believe?

Answer 5

Many feminists have failed to acknowledge progress for women such as the greater freedom into paid work

• The increase in choice and rise of dual earner households has helped create greater equality in relationships
• However in order to achieve full equality there needs to be flexibility in paid employment

Question 6

What is the postmodernist theory of the family?

Answer 6

• we no longer live in the modern world with predictable orderly structures, such as the nuclear family.
• Instead society has entered a new, chaotic stage where family structures are incredibly varied and individuals have much more freedom of choice

Question 7

What are the two characteristics of postmodernism?

Answer 7

1. Diversity and fragmentation- Society is increasingly fragmented, with a broad diversity of subcultures rather than one shared culture.
2. Rapid social change - New technology have transformed our lives by dissolving barriers of time and space and as a result of these social changes, family life has become very diverse and there is no longer one dominant family type