Perspectives and the Family Flashcards
1
Q
Functionalist: GP Murdock’s functions of the family (1949)
A
- Sexual - regulates sexual behaviour, discourages promiscuity
- Economic - Allows separation of gender roles and children can rely on parents economically
- Educational - Primary socialisation
- Reproductive - having kids stabilises marriage and allows human race to continue
2
Q
Functionalist: Talcott Parsons’ functions of the family
A
- Personalities made, not born - family is personality factory through primary socialisation
- Warm Bath - stabilises adult personalities by relieving pressures of work and contemporary society
- Male = Instrumental leader - economic welfare
- Female = Expressive leader - socialisation of kids, emotional support of family
3
Q
Functionalism: Criticisms
A
- Ethnocentric - 1940s/50s USA
- Murdock’s theory is dated - too focused on nuclear family, extramarital marriage now the norm, mass media impact on socialisation, having children now seen as more optional
- Parsons’ theory is oversocialised - children are not empty vessels
- Dark side of family - 4 kids per week die by parents in UK (baby P), Domestic violence between partners
4
Q
Marxist: Friedrich Engels (19th C)
A
- Monogamous NF popular post-industrial rev. - RC wanted to protect property and wealth
- Marriage useful for providing legitimate descendants of wealth
- Family has economic function of keeping wealth within bourgeoisie through inheritance
4
Q
Marxist: Eli Zaretsky (20th C)
A
- Socialisation of kids into capitalist ideology
- NF stabilises worker away from going against oppression at capitalist workplace (married men less likely to strike)
- NF is a major unit of consumption
5
Q
Marxism: Criticisms
A
- Interpretivists: structural theory, fails to consider individual experiences
- Ignores benefits to individual - too focused on benefits to economy and the Big Boss
- Zaretsky - not all parents may teach their kids capitalist ideology
- Some aware of pitfalls of capitalism but believe that it may still be better than communist life
6
Q
Feminist: General
A
- Family is negative environment - introduced study areas such as housework and DV into sociology
- Challenged idea that family life is based on cooperation and love - men obtain greater benefits
- Not all agree on how to overcome patriarchal society
7
Q
Feminist: Liberal
A
- March of Progress View - things are gradually improving
- Anne Oakley - Malestream sociology, inequality in family is due to discrimination by indiciduals/those who run institutions (not embedded in society)
- Leonard - Patriarchal ideology underpins ideas about paid and domestic work - men resist change because current situation suits them
- Somerville - women have much more choice about marriage and employment, there is more equality in marriage
8
Q
Feminist: Criticisms of Liberal
A
- Focused on equality of opportunity - largely ignored study of social structural factors that cause inequality
- Fail to understand that all societies are fundamentally unequal in economic and social structure - women and WC men are at fundamental economic disadvantage
9
Q
Feminist: Marxist
A
- Patriarchy deliberately made by RC to reproduce/justify gender exploitation as this benefits capitalism
- Focus on domestic labour and benefit to capitalist economies
- Margaret Benston - NF produces and rears future workforce at little cost to capitalist state
- Ansley - women are ‘takers of shit’, absorb male alienation from work, which makes them angry and like masculinity is challenged
- 2012 - ONS estimates unpaid childcare is worth £343B
10
Q
Feminist: Criticisms of Marxist
A
- Too much emphasis on class relations, not enough on women’s experiences outside labour market
- Revolutionary overthrow of Capitalism is unlikely, so solution to female exploitation is not reasonable to pursue
- Patriarchal exploitation has existed in all societies - not just capitalist ones
11
Q
Feminist: Radical
A
- Call for radical reordering of society where male supremacy is eliminated
- All societies founded on patriarchy and men are the enemy
- Family/Marriage key for patriarchy - separatism/political lesbians
- Delphy - the first opression is that of women by men
- Delphy & Leonard - husbands exploit wives despite loving them
- Firestone - women should use things like IVF to exclude men from families - women’s dependence on men based on childbearing and child-rearing functions
12
Q
Feminist: Criticisms of Radical
A
- Catherine Hakim - Man hating
- Downgrade concepts like social class/ethnicity
- Overlooks positive changes for women that have happened
- Over-emphasise differences between men and women (especially biological)
13
Q
Morgan, Murray
New Right beliefs
A
- NF and moral character of the young under attack by govt policies (New Labour ‘nanny state’ for deviant families)
- NF important in shaping moral order of society
- Patricia Morgan - Benefits discourage supporting yourself and your family - argues 2/3 of avg income for one parent families comes from benefits and tax credits
- Murray - one parent families more likely to produce deviance due to lack of positive male role models and mothers losing control of kids
14
Q
New Right: Criticism
A
- Rarely consider that single parenthood may be better than DV, and it is rarely a permanent state (avg. 5 years)
- Classist, ethnocentric - overly focused on WC families, rarely criticise lone parent middle class families
- Ford & Miller - perverse incentive argument flawed when quality of life of lone parents is examined - in poverty despite benefits
- Blame the victim for problems
