Theories Flashcards
Post-modernity Giddens
People have more choice in terms of relationships and families
They relationships are pure of last Relationships - long as they are happy so cohabitation serial monogamy are more common
Post-modernity Stacey
Women have more freedom now to shape the family arrangements to suit their needs and our freedom from oppression leads to more single-parent families
Lead to divorce extended families members of two families become connected through divorce
Post-modernity and criticisms
Traditional gender roles are still the norm in post modern society
Functionalism
Family is a vital organ in maintaining the body of society and is a key building block within it
Functionalism Murdock
Sexual- provide a stable sexual relationship for adults
Reproduction-provides new members of society
Socialisation-teaches children norms and values of society
Economic-pools of resources and provide for all its members
Functionalism Murdock criticisms
Feminism-implies woman’s main role is to nurture a child most families now dual career both seen as equal
many women choosing have children outside marriage as well as decline in children
functionalism Parsons
Socialisation-provides primary socialisation for children
Stabilisation of the family-emotional relationships between parents give support and security to cope in wider society and acts as a sanctuary from every day life
Functionalism Parsons criticisms
Out of date expressive and instrument rolls
East London lots of extended families 1970s contradicts Parsons view nuclear family’s best fit for industrial societies
Marxism
Family performs essential functions of society which benefits the burgosie and the economy but disadvantage the proletariat
Marxism Engles
Inheritance of wealth-family stay wealthy as it is passed on through inheritance
Marxism zakretaky
Cushioning affect-provide haven to comfort those who are oppressed at work and relieve frustration by having power in the home
Unit of consumption-act as a unit of consumption as family buy goods developed by capitalist industry which helps increase burgousie profit
Marxism aultheseer
Socialisation-passes on dominant ideology so children which support the capitalist system are allowing exploitation to continue into the next generation
Marxism criticisms
Ignores any other benefit of society
Assumes only males have full time paid employment
Doesn’t explain why the family changes
Feminism
Emphasises the harmful effects of family life upon women as it contributes to their continuing Oppression as family and marriage or major sources of oppression and gender inequality in society
Liberal feminists
Culture and norms are reinforced by the family the family is only sexist as it supports mainstream culture
Social change is possible if enough pressure is placed on legal system and government
Marxist feminists
The exploitation of women is essential to capitalism as they help reproduce and care for the next generation of workers at almost no Cost capitalism
radical feminists
Housework exploit women but it is down to a patriarchal society not capitalism
Delphy and Leonard-family is a patriarchal institution where women must do the work whilst men get most of the benefits
Criticisms of feminism
Portray women as passive
Ignores gay and lone parent households
Women from different ethnic backgrounds they have different experiences
The sociology of personal life smart
Family not in decline just more complex than before
Focuses on relationships that are important but not necessarily called family for example pets
Sociology of personal life evaluation
Helps understand how people construct and define relationships
Takes to broad of a view. by including wider ranges of different kinds of personal relationships we are ignoring what is special about relationships that are based on blood or marriage
