Social Structure And Social Change Flashcards
What are families & households
Family - those related to a common ancestor (family tree) - (family unit) parents living together with their children
Household - group of people who live together regardless of kinshio ties (traditional nuclear family, or group of housemates
George Murdock - functionalist theory
Families perform essential functions for individuals and society - Murdock identified 4 key functions common to all:
- educational - children taught norms & values of society (primary socialisation)
- economic - family provides to ensuree all have what they need
- reproductive - produces next generations of society
- sexual - ensures adults’ sexual relationships are controlled and stable
What’s Parsons two function theory
Primary socialization - family teach children social normal + values - however specifically associated with family or community while schools, media + religion teach universal norms + values of wider society
Stabilisation of adult personality - fams help prevent adults from behaving inndiseuptive or dysfunctional ways - emotional support to family members - warm bath theory
- man comes home from work and then relax with family, taking away stress + refreshing him
Evaluation of functionalits
Conflict theorists (Marxist + faminists) - paint too rosy picture of family tree
- families don’t serve interests of everyone in society just powerful groups ( feminists - serve interests of men )
- ansley - women are ‘takers of shit’ - absorbing men’s frustration - serves interests of capitalism
- outdated - contemporary fams more diverse with dofc gender roles
Marxists view on family
Sees it as a conservative institution, serves interest of capitalism
- weakens workers against bosses - workers will put up with lower wages + worse conditions - risk of having no job
- family acts as a unit of consumption + large numbers of consumer product are marketed directly at families ( children ‘pester power’ ) -
Provides capitalists with profits
Evaluation of Marxist
Outdated - assuming male breadwinner + femalw housewife - only sees negative side to emotional support + comfort that a family can provide to members
What does Marxist feminists argue
Women exploited by patriarchy and capitalism - family best serves the interests of men and bosses
- capitalism gets the benefit of women’s unpaid labour = maintains the workforce + next generation of workers
- suggests women also serve a reserve army of labour (available to work if necessary therefore keeping wages low)
Marxist feminists also point out women workers are often lowest paid + most insecure with the least rights
Evaluation of feminist views
Too deterministic - Some suggest feminists paint too gloomy a picture - some families are more equal + not all women/girls are obsessed by their husbands and fathers
Outdated - describe society with traditional nuclear families - families now more diverse
What’s the new right view
Nuclear family - essential for society
However - in contemporary society ( due to government policies ) it’s been undermined
What does Murray write about following on from new right views
The welfare state provides perverse incentives for people to form loneparent fams eg receiving benefits = leads children to grow up in work less households + forming underclass in society
Evaluation of new right views
Many strongly disagree - see as ‘blaming the victims’ of poverty for their own poverty
- Marxist - it’s an ideological justification for pro-capitalist policies eg cutting public spending + reducing taxes on wealthy
What did parson argue about pre industrial
Pre-industrial - large (extended) fams - acted as a unit of production working in agriculture
How did the industrial revolution change the family
Required people to move to urban areas - nuclear families were therefore more social mobile ( less expectation for a son to keep doing what his father did )
urban nuclear families - people had achieved status rather than ascribed status ( more meritocratic )
Men worked in industry and women took on domestic role
Evaluation of Parsons
Laslett - pre - industrial households often made up of nuclear families rather than extended
Young + willmott - men are now taking greater share of domestic tasks & more wives becoming wage earners
Anderson - early industrial families more likely to be extended - people moved in with relatives when they migrated to towns
March of progress by young + Willmott
alternative to Parsons account of the relationship between families and industrialisation, suggests 4 stage process: pre industrial family, early industrial family, symmetrical family, asymmetrical family
The pre industrial family
Family lives and works as a unit of production. People live with (or close to) extended family, and work together
Early industrial family
Families move to towns and cities. Men spend their work and leisure time outside the home, while women perform a domestic role
The symmetrical family
The modern nuclear family has less gender segregation - men and women both going to work, housework + spending leisure time together
- young & willmott - studying London - symmetrifalfamily more common in younger couples
The asymmetrical family
In future the family would become more asymmetrical again
-men spending leisure time out of home (without partners)
Evaluation of march progress
- suggests all families change over time - whereas there was some family diversity before and after industrialisation just in a way of life continuing to exist during and after
What are the 3 main social and economic changes that have occurred since the middle of the 20th century
Charles:
- rapid technology
- women entering the workforce on a large scale
- greater equality of opportunity
However concluded changes in family in that time were fairly minor - one major change noted was extended families maintaining contact over much greater distance (eg through social media)
What did evans and Chandler further note
Significant decrease in disposable income for families - parents have to make decisions about buying products for their children that previous generations wouldn’t of needed to consider
Instrumental role
Husband - geared towards achieving success at work so he can provide for family - breadwinner
Expressive role
Wife - geared towards primary socialization of children + meeting families emotional needs - homemaker + fulltime house wife
Feminist view on housework
Reject March of progress - little has changes: men + women still remain unequal (women still do majority of housework)
Oakley - young + willmotts view is exaggerated
- in own research she found some husbands helping in home but no trend toward symmetry
- only 15% - had high level of participation in housework
- only 25% - had high level of participation in childcare
Why is it suggested there’s a higher % of husbands helping in childcare
-more pleasurable aspects
-seen as ‘taking an interest’
good father would play with children in evenings and ‘take them off her hands’ on Sunday morning g
-however it was suggested this was seen as mothers losing the reward of childcare tone left with more time for housework
