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- outdated - contemporary fams more diverse with dofc gender roles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Outdated - assuming male breadwinner + femalw housewife - only sees negative side to emotional support + comfort that a family can provide to members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
