Perspectives of the family and Social Policy

Question 1

What was functionalist, G P Murdock’s theory of the family (1949)

Answer 1

Nuclear family performed 4 crucial functions necessary for the running of society and personal development of individuals :

-Reproduction
-Sexual stabilisation
-Economic stability
-Socialisation

Question 2

How does the function of reproduction benefit society and the family’s members? (Murdock)

Answer 2

Society
-Produce next generation to keep society running / workers

Family
-Children = symbol of parent’s love

Question 3

How does the function of sexual stabilisation benefit society and the family’s members? (Murdock)

Answer 3

Society
-prevent social disruption caused by sexual ‘free for all’

Family
-Creates powerful and emotional bond between a couple and encourages life long commitment

Question 4

How does the function economic stability benefit society and family members ? (Murdock)

Answer 4

Society
-Productive workers = family contributing to the running of the economy

Family
-Children dependent on parents for economic needs so can protect and care for them

Question 5

How does the function socialisation benefit society and the family’s members? (Murdock)

Answer 5

Society
-Teaches norms and values and prevents crime ( deviance )

Family
-So the individual can function and thrive in society

Question 6

What are the two functions of the family (Parsons) ?

Answer 6

-Primary socialisation

-Stabilisation of adult personalities (SOAP)

Warm bath theory
Instrumental and expressive role

Question 7

Criticisms of the functionalist view of the family

Answer 7

-Family diversity
-Women now go to work
-Rose tinted perspective ‘Dark side of the family ‘
-Patriarchal: women exploited

Question 8

Evidence for support of the functionalist view of family

Answer 8

-Many still aspire for the nuclear family
-Media promotes nuclear family

Question 9

What is Parson’s functional fit theory ?

Answer 9

Parsons believed that the nuclear family had evolved historically as a result of changes to the social structure and economy to become the most common family type today

-Pre-industrial family

-Post-industrial family

Question 10

What is the pre industrial family (parsons)

Answer 10

-Extended family
-Ascribed status
-Unit of production

More people to contribute in producing what they needed

Question 11

What is the post industrial family (parsons)

Answer 11

-Isolated nuclear family
-Achieved status
-Unit of consumption

(Easier to move to city where the jobs were)

Question 12

Two essential needs of an industrial society (Parsons) and how does the post industrial family deliver these needs?

Answer 12

1.Geographically mobile workforce

-Easier for the 2 generation nuclear than the extended to move to where the jobs are in different parts of the country

2.Socially mobile workforce

-Changing one’s socio-economic status (moving up the hierarchy)
-ascribed to achieved status
-Requires a skilled technically competent workforce
-Nuclear encourages social mobility more than extended family as in pre industrial society, oldest male was head of household and had the most power

Question 13

What is the focus of the new right perspective?

Answer 13

A collection of right wing ideas that advocates neo-liberal economics, anti-welfareism, a belief in traditional morality and minimal government interference.

Question 14

What was Charles Murray’s perspective?

Answer 14

-New Right theorist

Question 15

What did Charles Murray say about anti-welfareism ?

Answer 15

-State interferes too much in people’s personal lives.Too many people have become over-dependent on the state, particularly the welfare state.This has resulted in a ‘nanny state’ (governs health, fitness, eating and drinking habits)

-State benefits need to be cut so members of the underclass are forced to look for work

Question 16

What does Murray say the welfare state has resulted in ?

Answer 16

-The emergence of the underclass

-A distinct subculture of people who are economically deprived as they have lost the inclination to look for work due to the availability of state benefits

-Reliance on the welfare state has created a dependency culture, creating perverse incentives ( rewarding irresponsible behaviour, e.g giving pregnant teenagers council houses)

Question 17

What do New Right sociologists recommend with regards to the family?

Answer 17

-Parents should be married (Heterosexual)
-Mothers stay at home and look after children full time
-Families should not receive benefits or state intervention

Question 18

Reasons why the nuclear family is under attack (New Right)

Answer 18

Because the state social policy has:

-Encouraged women to abandon family responsibilities by promoting equal opportunity and pay in the workplace
-Divorce easier = marriage undermined
-Resulted in too many families becoming dependent on benefits (often fatherless).These families become part of a deviant underclass, committing crimes as they haven’t properly been socialised

Question 19

Criticisms of the new right theory?

Answer 19

-No solution to poverty
-Fails to keep up with modern trends e.g feminisation of the workforce, increased life expectancy, changes in fertility rates

Question 20

What perspective was Friedrich Engels and what was his view of the nuclear family?

Answer 20

-Marxist perspective

-Inheritance of property-
-Monogamous nuclear family emerged only after industrialisation to protect private property

-Useful to ruling class as it conferred legitimacy on children and so they could ensure their fortunes were inherited by their heirs.

Question 21

What perspective was Zaretsky (1976) and what was his view of the nuclear family?

Answer 21

-Marxist perspective

-Directly challenged Parsons who believed nuclear family was positive for society as it promoted social order and stability

-Nuclear family mainly benefits capitalism and the ruling class at the expense of other members of society. It does this in 3 ways:

-Ideological functions
-Cult of private life
-Unit of consumption

Question 22

How does Zaretsky criticise the function of socialisation in the family?

Answer 22

Ideological functions:

-The working class experience of socialisation usually involves learning obedience ( e.g ‘ do as your told’), conformity and showing respect for those in authority etc. This results in adults who are conformists and passive citizens who accept inequality and exploitation as the ‘natural’ state of things, known as false class conciousness

Question 23

what is false class conciousness?

Answer 23

• The idea that someone’s social class position is ‘normal’ and unchangeable. This stops society from challenging inequality.

-Taught to us by the nuclear family

Question 24

How does Zaretsky criticise the function of stabilisation of adult personalities in the family?

Answer 24

Cult of Private life;

The real function is to help workers manage their resentment of the capitalist system.

-Workers tolerate their powerlessness and frustration of being at exploited at work because at home they are at the top of the hierarchy and need to focus on providing for the family.
-The family dampens these feelings as the worker is unlikely to engage in actions that threatens their income.

Question 25

How does Zaretsky criticise the economic and reproductive function of the family?

Answer 25

Unit of consumption;
the family is a unit of consumption

-‘Keeping up with the Jones’- by consuming all the latest products. Advertisements encourage this and causes competition between families

-‘Pester power’- the media targets children who use this pester power to persuade parents to buy things for their children

Question 26

Strengths of the Marxist perspective of the family?

Answer 26

-the nuclear family isn’t always good for society. Family diversity = good
-Drawn attention to the fact that powerful interests may be shaping family life in the UK

Question 27

Criticisms of the Marxist perspective of the family?

Answer 27

-Working class parents may be aware of the inequality but do not resist as they are comfortable and are willing to dismiss inequality as a lesser evil

-Ignores the amount of family diversity

-Feminists; Blame social class too much and underestimates the inequality within the family. Family serves the interests of men not capitalism.

-Functionalists; Marxists ignore the benefits to the nuclear family and that the family provides for its members.

Question 28

Is feminism a conflict or consensus theory?

Answer 28

Conflict

Question 29

What are the 4 strands of feminism?

Answer 29

-Liberal
-Radical
-Marxist
-Difference

Question 30

Who do liberal feminists blame for the gender inequality?

Answer 30

-The institutions not men (individuals who run the institutions)

Question 31

What type of feminist is Sommerville and what did she mean by ‘ a march of progress’?

Answer 31

-Liberal
-Refers to how liberal feminists acknowledge the positive changes that have already been made in society to make it more equal between genders
-For example, the Sex Discrimination Act

Question 32

What are the two key functions that feminists argue the nuclear family performs?

Answer 32

-Socialisation
-Unequal labour

Question 33

What is the meaning of gender role socialisation?

Answer 33

-The process of children learning the differences between male and female.
-Feminists argue that parents use it to teach children that males are dominant and females are subordinate

Question 34

According to Ann Oakley (liberal) how are children socialised into their gender identities?

Answer 34

-Manipulation : Rewarding gender appropriate behaviour
-canalisation: Giving gender specific toys

Question 35

What is meant by the triple shift?

Answer 35

-A term used by feminists
-Refers to the three roles that women are expected to perform for the family: Emotional support, domestic labour and paid work

(Marsden and Dunscombe)

Question 36

What is meant by the dual burden?

Answer 36

-A term used by feminists
-Refers to the two traditional roles that women are expected to play in the family: Paid work, domestic labour

Question 37

What is the perspective of marxist feminists?

Answer 37

• All labour ( paid and domestic) is exploited by the ruling class
  -In the capitalist society this is the upper classes, in the family this is the men.

Question 38

Benston)
3 reasons the nuclear family is beneficial to the men and capitalist class but negative for women?

Answer 38

-Women produce and socialise the future workforce ( this is unpaid domestic labour)
-Women’s unpaid domestic labour. This includes: housework as well as sexual services, which makes sure the male workforce is fit and healthy for work and are productive
-Women soak up men’s frustrations with their jobs and capitalism in form of domestic violence

Question 39

What feminist is Ansley and what does she mean by ‘women are ‘takers of shit’?

Answer 39

-Marxist feminist

-Men are frustrated with their low rank at work and take this frustration out on their wives in the form of domestic violence. This asserts their power to make up for their lack of it in the workplace.
-Women therefore act as a safety valve for capitalism as they take the frustration out on their wives instead of their bosses
(similar to cult of private life -Marxism)

Question 40

What do radical feminists believe?

Answer 40

-Men always have and always will have power over women unless we look into different ways of living E.G female only communes
-The monogamous nuclear family must be abolished

Question 41

What do Delphy and Leonard say about the family?

Answer 41

-Husbands exploit their wives despite genuinely loving them
-Women’s role within a marriage is to flatter her husband and to provide emotional support for him. In contrast men rarely perform this function

(Criticised for ‘menhating’

Question 42

What is difference feminism?

Question 43

What is the functionalist view on social policy?

Answer 43

-See it as a positive thing as it helps families to perform their functions more effectively and make life better for their members (Organic analogy- the gov introduces policies to ensure society runs smoothly

However, they do not agree with social policies regarding divorce (except Neo functionalists) because you need both the man and the woman to perform all the functions.

Question 44

What is the Neo functionalist view on divorce?

Answer 44

Fletcher (1966)-
- Divorce can be functional if it leads to reconstitution.
-If the family has broken down it can not perform its functions effectively

Question 45

What is the New Right view on social policy?

Answer 45

-The state should play a minimal role in peoples life as social policy and benefits leads to a reliance on welfare and promotes deviant family types through perverse incentives

Question 46

What is the feminist view on social policy?

Answer 46

-Liberal feminists like Sommervile, Sharpe and Oakley believe the social policies relating to equal opportunities in the workforce/ education system have improved the position of women in the home

-However, some argue that the feminisation of the economy has added to their responsibility (dual burden_

Question 47

What is the Marxist view on social policy?

Answer 47

-Leads to false class consciousness . Benefits and the welfare state are insignificant and are not actually helping as much as they think

-The state serves the interests of capitalism and they see policy as serving the following purposes: It aims to disguise or hide capitalism expoitation, it maintains the workforce, it buys off WC opposition and prevents a revolt by supporting the WC

Question 48

What does Donzelot say on social policy?

Answer 48

Conflict view

-He argues that social workers, health visitors and doctors use their knowledge to control and change families, he calls this the ‘policing of families’.

-Poor families are more likely to be seen as ‘problem’ families and as the cause of crime and anti social behaviour.

E.G they may seek to control and regulate family life by imposing compulsory parenting orders through courts

Question 49

What is The Beveridge Report and who published it and when?

Answer 49

Published by William Beveridge in 1942

Helped to establish the Welfare state after the war
People had the right to be free of the ‘five giants’ (idleness, ignorance, squalor, disease, want)

Question 50

Direct policy

Answer 50

-A policy that directly affects the family

E.G
Abortion laws
Divorce Laws
Adoption Laws

Question 51

Indirect policy

Answer 51

-A policy that does not directly affect the family, but still has some affect

E.G
Education policies
Workplace policies

Question 52

What does Somerville say about the family (liberal fem)

Answer 52

The picture of the family painted by some feminists of women being exploited by men in families is outdated

-There has been a ‘March of progress’ :women have much more choice today about whether to marry or cohabit