Theoretical views of the family Flashcards
Who are the 2 key functionalists?
Murdock 1949
Parsons 1959
What did Murdock study?
- Looked at 250 societies
- Found in all these societies that family was the most important institution
What was Murdock 4 Functions of the family?
Sexual
Reproductive
Education
Economic
What is the sexual function?
Where the family info is centred around a monogamous relationship between 2 adults. Controls sexual behaviour and stabilises sex drive
What is the reproductive function?
The family reproduces the next generation for society
What is the educational function?
The family socialised the next generation into the norms and values of society
What is the economic function?
The family unit financially provides for all the dependents in the unit
What does Parsons study?
Looked at the change of society from pre-industrial to industrial and how it impacted the family. Called the functional fit theory
What are Parsons 2 functions?
Primary socialisation
Stabilisation of adult personalities
What is the primary socialisation function?
The family passed on the norms and values of society to the new generation
What is the stabilisation of adult personalities?
Where the family is a relaxing place that takes away stress which prevents the overflow of emotion and served to stabilise personalities
What roles do functionalist say that men and women should have?
Men: Instrumental
Women: Expressive
What is the instrumental role?
Financially proved for the family and takes control in terms of power
What is the expressive role?
Emotionally provides for the unit and is the care giver
Why do the New Right think the bucket family has declined?
Because of the underclass
What did Charles Murray argue?
Single parents were to blame for all of society’s problems and we are too dependent on the welfare state
What did Charles’s Murray identify the underclass as?
- The New Rabble: LT unemployed, welfare dependent and single mothers
- The New Victorians: Respectable middle class who marry, socialise their children properly, work & pay tax
What doe Marxists argue?
The family is being used by the bourgeoisie to help maintain the capitalist state and ensure the rich stay rich
Who are the 2 key marxists?
Engels (1884)
Zaretsky (1976)
What key function does Engels say the family has?
To ensure that rich families passed on their inheritance to the rightful heir
What does Engels think about the family before capitalism?
Property was collectively owned and the family structured reflected this as there was tribal groups
What has capitalism done to the family?
The bourgeoisie use their wealth to benefit themselves. The monogamous NF is the best way of guaranteeing that you are passing on priestly to your son
What function does Zaretsky suggest the family have?
To transmit ideology that helps maintain the capitalist state and stop the proletariat from rebelling
What did Zaretsky say about passing on ideology?
That it’s needed to justify and legitimate the power of the ruling class
How is ideology passed on?
Through the socialisation process that the RC will always be in control and the WC will always be exploited
What other key function does zaretsky suggest the family play?
That the family acts a unit of consumption
Criticisms of the Marxist view
- Assume NF dominate capability society
- Ignore the positive functions of the family (Functionalists criticism)
- Focuses too much on class conflict not gender (Feminist criticism)
What is the Feminist view of the family?
That it oppresses women and focus on issues such as the unequal division of labour and DV
What doe feminists say about gender inequality?
That it’s not natural and is created by society
What is liberal feminism?
- Campaign against sex discrimination
- Women’s oppression is being gradually overcome through changing attitudes
What is radical feminism?
- Argue all societies have been founded on patriarchy
- Men benefit from W’s unpaid labour and sexual services
- Need patriarchal family to be overturned
- Argue for political lesbianism
What is difference feminism?
Argue that we cannot generalise about W’s experiences and that lesbian, heterosexual, diff races have very diff experiences of the family
What is marxist feminism?
- The main cause of oppression is capitalism
- Reproduce labour force through unpaid labour
- W absorb anger (Ansley 2007 describe W as takers of shit)
- Family must be abolished same time as a social revolt replaces capitalism with a classless society
What is the personal life perspective?
- Emerged due to the weaknesses in sociological perspectives
- Argue F, M & F assume NF is still dominant family and ignore increase in FD
- Suggest because F, M & F are structural theories and assume family members are passive puppets manipulated by structure of society
What is the personal life perspective influenced by?
Interactionist society
