Sociological Theories of the Family (2) Flashcards
What were sociological theorists ideas about?
Sociological theories are ideas about how to understand and explain the relationship between individuals, social institutions (such as the family) and society. There are two approaches to understanding this relationship: structure and social action.
What is meant by the theory structuralism?
Society shapes the individual. ~Individuals are like puppets. ~Our behaviour is determined by society we live in. ~Macro approach. ~Positivists. ~Quantitative research. ~Marxism, functionalism and feminism.
What is meant by the theory social action?
Individuals create society through actions. ~Individuals have free will and choice. ~Micro approach. ~Interpretivists. ~Qualitative research. ~Interactionism. ~Postmodernism.
How does the structural view see us?
The structural view sees society as shaping the individual.
The structural view sees us as entirely shaped by the structure of society (the way society is organised or set up). It sees us as behaving according to society’s norms and expectations which we internalise through the socialisation process.
In this view, society determines our behaviour - we are like puppets on a string, manipulated by society. This is sometimes described as a ‘macro’ (large scale) approach because it focuses on how wider society influences us. The emphasis is firmly on the power of society to shape us.
How does social action view see us?
The social action view sees individuals as having choice, creating social reality through their interactions.
The social action view sees us as having free-will and choice. It emphasises the power of individuals to create society through their actions and interactions. This is sometimes described as a micro approach because it focuses on small scale face-to-face interactions between individuals.
How do functionalists sociologists see society?
Functionalists see society as based on value consensus, with interdependence parts performing functions for the good of the whole.
Functionalist sociologists see society as based on value consensus; that is, harmony and agreement among its members about basic values. According to Functionalists, society is held together by a shared culture into which all its members are socialised. Sharing the same culture integrates individuals into society by giving them a sense of solidarity or ‘fellow feeling’ with others. It enables members of society to agree on goals and how to achieve them and so allows them to co-operate harmoniously.
How do Marxists sociologists see society?
Marxists see society as based on class conflict, in which the bourgeoisie exploit the proletariat. Marxist sociologists see society as based on conflict, not consensus. They argue that society is divided into two social classes: ~The minority capitalist class, or bourgeoisie, own the means of production (ways to produce goods to buy and sell) such as the factories, raw materials and land. ~The majority working-class or proletariat own nothing but their labour, which they have to sell to the bourgeoisie in order to survive. The bourgeoisie exploit the workers and profit from the labour. This exploitation breeds class conflict.
How do feminist sociologists view society?
Feminists see society as patriarchal or male dominated. Feminist sociologists agree with Marxist that there are fundamental divisions and conflict in society, but they see gender rather than class as the most important division. This creates conflict between men and women; for example, in the family women are said to do most of the housework and childcare.
How do the postmodernists view society?
Postmodernists believe we have moved to a more fragmented society in which there are diverse sources of identity.
What is the perspective of functionalism?
A consensus perspective.
What is the perspective of the new right?
The family is breaking down perspective.
What is the perspective of Marxism?
A class conflict perspective.
What is the feminism perspective?
A gender conflict perspective.
What is the perspective of social action?
The personal life perspective.
What is the perspective of postmodernism?
A choice and diversity perspective.
What is the functionalist theory?
Structural - individuals are shaped by society.
Consensus - society is based on value consensus (a set of shared norms and values) into which society socialises its members.
Macro - large scale; society controls individuals through BIG institutions like the family and education; all parts of society are linked.
How do functionalists regard society?
A system or structure of inter-related parts (different parts that depend on each other such as the family and the economy).
A living organisms (the organic analogy) like the human body - where all parts are dependent on each other for the well-being of the whole.
What are the functionalist theories of the family?
The family is a vital ‘organ’ in maintaining the ‘body’ of society, just as the heart is an important organ in maintaining the human body (the ‘organic analogy’). According to functionalists, the family has a number of responsibilities placed upon it - these are the functions it performs in society.
What are the three key functions fulfilled by the family according to functionalists?
- Preparation of children to fit into adult society.
- Enabling society to survive - the family is a ‘functional prerequisite’ (basic needs) of all societies.
- Fitting with other social institutions (like education of the economy) so that society can function efficiently and harmoniously.
Who are the functionalist that studied into the role of the family in society?
Murdock (1949)
Parsons (1955)
What did Murdock believe about the family in regards to society? (Functionalist)
The family is a basic building blocks of society. It performs four essential functions to meet the needs of society and its members:
1. Sexual - regulation and the stable satisfaction of the sex drive with the same partner, preventing the social disruption caused by a sexual ‘free-for-all’.
2. Reproduction - of the next generation, without which society could not continue.
3. Socialisation - of the young into society’s shared norms and values.
4. Economic - providing family members with necessities such as food, clothing, warmth and shelter.
The family lives together, works together pools resources, shares domestic tasks and income and reproduce - they have children (own or adopted) and are heterosexual married adults as it is socially approved.
What are the arguments against Murdock?
- The Nayar - of south west India, before the 19th century there was no nuclear family. A woman could have sexual relations with any man she wished (up to a maximum of twelve) and the biological father of children was therefore uncertain. The mother’s brother, rather than the biological father, was responsible for looking after the mother and her children. Unlike many British families where most biological parents live together, marry or are responsible for rearing their children, amount the Nayar there was no direct link between having sexual relations, child-bearing, child-rearing and co-habitation.
- Conflict and exploitation - feminists see the family as meeting the needs of men not women and children, whereas Marxists argue that its functions for the needs of a capitalist economy, not those of family members or society as a whole.
- Outdated and irrelevant to an understanding of family and households in 21st century.
What did Parson (1955) believe about the family in regards to society? (Functionalist)
Functional fit
1. Adaptation - Parsons argues that the role of the family (its function) depends on the kind if society in which it is found. E.g. if a society’s economy changes, the family are required to adapt accordingly. So, the functions the family has to perform for the economic need of society will affect its ‘shape’ or structure.
2. Industrialisation - when societies change from a pre-industrial to an industrialised one, Parsons argues that the family structure changes from a functional, extended to a function, ‘isolated’, nuclear structure. During the economic changes produced by the Industrial Revolution in England (1750-1889), a geographically and socially mobile family unit was required to enable workers to move off the land, away from farming and into factories and mass production. The emerging nuclear family FITTED the needs of the new economy. People needs to move to where jobs are and it’s easier to do this few rather than more family members.
3. Achieved status - industrialisation also requires individuals to achieve their status as individuals not as members of an ascribed family unit. In addition, children may achieve higher status at work than their parents which could result in family conflict; the modern, “structurally isolated” (from extended kin) nuclear family avoids such conflict and tension.
Parsons’ conclusion - the nuclear family is uniquely suited to the needs of industrial society.
What are the three parts of Parsons (1955) functional fit?
Adaptation
Industrialisation
Achieved status
What does Parsons (1955) say are the two essential functions of the nuclear family?
Parsons identified two specialised or “irreducible functions of the modern nuclear family” which were:
- Primary socialisation of children - to equip them with the basic skills and society’s values, to enable them to cooperate with others and begin to integrate them into society.
- Stabilisation of adult personalities (warm bath theory/SOAP!) - The family is the place where adults can relax and release tensions, enabling them to return to the workplace refreshed and ready to meet its demands. Marital partners provide each other with emotional support and patenting enables them to indulge the ‘childish side’ of their personalities - e.g. by playing with their children.
What are the arguments against Parsons?
- Has the family lost all its other function? - functionalists like Fletcher argue that far from losing its functions, the functions of the family have increased. For example, he argues that the family has more responsibilities for children as childhood has ‘extended’; and more responsibilities for the emotional needs of adults as the higher expectations of marriage and romantic love place more demands on the family to provide for satisfying and fulfilling relationships. He argues that the family still has health, education and economic functions in a modern society.
- Was the extended family dominant in pre-industrial society? - Willmott and Young stated the pre-industrial family was nuclear, not extended as Parsons claims, with children and parents working together. Similarly, Laslett’s study of English households before the industry revolution (from parish records) found that they were almost always nuclear. A combination of high infant mortality rates and low life expectancy meat that few grandparents were alive - two generations was the norm.
- Did the family become nuclear during industrialisation? - according to Willmott and Young, the hardship of industrialisation intensified some of the relationships within the extended family, especially the between mothers and daughters who relied on each other foe financial, practical and emotional support. Similarly, Anderson’s study of the 1851 census showed far from disappearing during industrialisation, the extended family was strengthened by the increased dependency of extended kin on one another to cope with the conditions of industrialisation such as poverty, sickness and the need to find paid work.
What is the New Right theory?
Political - often referred to as ‘political functionalism’ or neo-functionalism. Like functionalists, the new right argues there is only one ‘proper’ or ‘normal’ family type - the traditional nuclear family.
Conservative - committed to traditional values.
Anti-society - the ‘nanny state’; people are individuals and must stand on their own two feet rather than depend on the welfare state.
Highly influential- it has had a profound impact on the social, political, economical and cultural life of the UK since 1979.
How do the New Right regard society?
Over regulated - individuals must be responsible for themselves, ‘free’ from state intervention. Requiring free markets (limited state control of economy) to run efficiently and encourage individuals to be self-reliant; public sector (e.g. NHS) should be privatised to drive up standards and efficiency. Breaking down due to a lack of respect for traditional values and moral order, especially the irresponsible, “feral” underclass and fatherless families.
What are the New Right theories of the family?
The nuclear family performs important and beneficial functions in securing social stability, through providing emotional security for children, socialising them into the culture of society and establishing respect for and conformity to social and moral values and norms.
Like functionalists, the New Right see the traditional heterosexual nuclear family, with two natural parents and a traditional division of gender roles in the family, with men playing the instrumental roles as authority figures and providers and women playing the expressive roles of providing affection and nurture as the best (and natural) means of bringing up children to become conformist, responsible adults.
For the New Right, it is vital for society that the nuclear family should remain the dominant family type. This traditional family is under threat, according to the New Right, from social changes like feminism, the rising divorce rate, more stepfamilies, more lone parents, and cohabitation as an alternative to the commitment of marriage, birth outside marriage, gay marriage and welfare state policies that support relationships outside the conventional nuclear family.
What are key names and concepts of New Right?
Murray and Marsland - dependency culture, underclass, single parent families, moral decay, decline of the family.
Dennis and Erdos - fatherless families.
What is the difference between the New Right and functionalism?
Functionalism describes how things are and the New Right identifies policies and actions about a situation - what we want to do.
What does Murray (1984) argue about families in society? (New Right)
Murray argues that welfare benefits should be abolished as it would reduce the dependency culture that encourage births outside of marriage.
He sees the growth of single parent families (SPF’s) as dysfunctional - harmful to society and individuals. SPF’s are the result of an over-generous welfare state that provides benefits for unmarried mothers and their children. This over-generous benefits system has created a dependency culture and an underclass of people who assume the state will support them and their children - ‘Benefits Britain’.
These benefits have created a ‘perverse incentive’, rewarding irresponsible behaviour such as having children without being able to provide for them.
