Theories - Family Flashcards
Family
A form of a household where all the the people who live together are related through either kinship, ties or marriage.
Household
An individual living alone, or a group of people who live together. They may or may not be related.
Types of families
Nuclear
Extended
Reconstituted
Lone parent
Same sex
Cohabitation
Beanpole
Nuclear family
Traditional family type. Married mother and father with two or more children.
Extended family
Includes grandparents, aunts and uncles.
Reconstituted family
Two families who join together after one or both partners have divorced and now remarry.
Lone parent family
Containing one parent with their child.
Same sex family
Homosexual couple living with their children.
Cohabitation
A couple that is not married but live together.
Beanpole family
Those with fewer children and multiple generations of older people.
Functionalists perspective on the family
Believe society is based on a value consensus - a shared set of norms and values into which society socialises its members enabling society to run smoothly.
Believe that social order and social cohesion are vital for the function of society.
They believe society is made up of different parts or subsystems that depend on each other such as the family, education system and economy.
Murdock - perspective on the family
Argues the family performs four essential functions to meet the needs of society and its members.
1. Sexual function
2. Reproduction
3. Primary Socialisation
4. Economic
Sexual Function
stable satisfaction of the sex drive with the same partner.
Reproduction
reproduction of the next generation, without it society would end.
Primary Socialisation
socialising the youth into society’s norms and values.
Economic
the family meets the families economic needs e.g. food and shelter
Criticism of Murdock
- These functions can equally be performed by other institutions and non - nuclear families
- Feminists see the family as serving the needs of men and oppressing women.
- Marxists would argue that it meets the needs of capitalism, not those of family members or society as a whole.
Parsons ‘functional fit’ theory -functionalist
- Argues that the functions that the family performs depends on the kind of society it is found in.
- Distinguishes between two kinds of family structures: nuclear and extended.
- He argues there are two types of society where each of the family types fit into.
- Modern industrial society = nuclear family
Post industrial society = extended family. - He further argues that the industrial society has two essential needs.
A geographically mobile workforce
In pre-industrial society people spent most of their lives in the same village and working in the same areas. But in modern society industries spring out to different areas and parts of the world which requires people to move where the jobs are. This would be easier for a nuclear family which is smaller than an extended family with more family members.
A socially mobile workforce
Modern industrial society = requires skilled workforce
Modern society = individuals status = achieved by their own efforts and abilities Because of this, Parsons argues the NF = better equipped to meet the needs of industrial society.
Extended family = adult sons live with their fathers who has a higher ascribed status. But the son = higher achieved status at work = conflict
Solution = sons move out once they get married and create their own NF which would encourage social + geographical mobility.
Parsons - loss of functions
The nuclear family fits the more complex industrial society better, but it performs a reduced number of functions.
Education has taken over many of the roles the nuclear family would have carried out but still has two influential roles. It is the only institution that can perform two core functions in society - Primary Socialisation and the Stabilisation of the Adult Personalities.
Warm bath theory - Parsons
When a man comes home from a busy day of work, his family provides him with stress relief and relaxation; just as a warm bath would.
Parsons - loss of functions
Primary Socialisation
An important part of socialisation according to Functionalists is ‘gender role socialisation’. If primary socialisation is done correctly then boys learn to adopt the ‘instrumental role’ (also known as the breadwinner) Girls learn to adopt the expressive role by doing all the housework and brining up the children.
Parsons - loss of functions
The stabilisation of Adult Personalities.
The stabilisation of adult personalities refers to the emotional security which is achieved within a marital relationship between two adults. According to Parsons working life in industrial society is stressful and the family is a place where the working man can return and be ‘de-stressed’ by his wife which reduces conflict in society.
Parsons - Evaluation
- Marxists feminist Ansley i wives are the ‘takers of shit’ who soak up the frustrations that their husband feel at work due to exploitations.
- Young and Willmott suggest that during industrial times, many families were still extended. For example, their study in Bethnal Green in the 1950s showed many extended families living on the same street.
- It is too ‘neat’ social change does not happen in an orderly manner,
- Laslett proved the family was already nuclear before industrialisation.
The new right perspective
-Believe the traditional nuclear family is the ideal type of family. They support social policies which encourage nuclear families - they are pro marriage and against benefits for single mothers.
They believe the best type of family is the Nuclear Family where both parents are married. They believe this is the most suitable environment to raise children in who will conform to the values of society.
The new right perspective part 2
The New Right are similar to functionalists as they believe the nuclear family is the best type of family.
The new right sees this family as ‘natural’ and based on fundamental biological differences between men and women.
In their view this family is the cornerstone of society; a place of contentment, refuge and harmony.
The new right view on single parents
Believe it is important for children to have a stable home, with married mother and father, and that ideally the wife should be able to stay at home to look after the children.
The new right view on single parents part 2
The New Right hold very negative views on the growing numbers of welfare-dependent single mothers and blames a general moral decline for the increasing numbers of separations and divorces that break nuclear families into lone-parent families.
Criticisms of The New Right
- Feminists argue that higher levels of relationships breakdowns and divorce are not necessarily bad. The fact that divorce is easier today is potentially good. This is because it is better for both a woman and a child to be on their own as a single parent family rather than being trapped in unhappy or abusive relationships.
- New Right stereotypes single parents and wages a moral panic against them. Most single parents are not welfare scroungers - most want to work but find it difficult to find jobs that are flexible enough so they can balance work and child care.
New Right criticism part 2
The New Right have exaggerated the decline of the nuclear family. Most adults still marry and have children. Most children are reared by two natural parents. Most marriages continue until death . Divorce has increased but most remarry.
Marxist theory
They see society distinguished into two social classes: the capitalist class who own the means of production and the working class whose labour the capitalist exploit for profit. Marxist see all the institutions on society such as the media, education system etc as a way of maintaining capitalism. Marxists identified three functions of the family.
Inheritance of property
Marxists argue the key factor that determines the shape of all institutions including the family is the mode of production - that is who owns and controls society’s productive forces such as tools, machinery, materials, land and labour.
In modern society, it is the capitalists class who owns and controls these means of production.
Marx called the classless society ‘primitive communism’ in this society, there was no private property. Instead everyone owned the means of production communally.
There was also no such thing as family. Instead, as suggested by Engels there existed a ‘promiscuous horde’ where there were no restrictions to sexual relationships.
Private Property
As forces of production developed, so did the idea of private property. This change brought about the patriarchal monogamous nuclear family.
Engel argued this type of family was necessary because of the inheritance of private property - men had to be certain of the paternity of their children to ensure their private property was handed to their children.
He also argues that the rise of this family meant that women became a mere instrument for production of children.
Marxists argue that without overthrowing capitalism and creating a classless society, women will not achieve liberation from patriarchal control. A classless society will mean that there is no need for a patriarchal family since there will be no need to transmit private property down generations.
Marxist Ideological functions
Argue that the family performs key ideological functions for capitalism.
One way that the family does this is by socialising children into the idea that hierarchy and inequality are inevitable. Parental power over children proves the idea that there will always be someone in charge which prepares them for a working life in which they will accept orders from their capitalist employers.
Zaretsky - Marxist Ideological functions
Argues the family also performs an ideological function by offering a ‘haven’ from the harsh and exploitative world of capitalism. The family is seen as this ‘haven’ where they can come home and relax but also be ‘themselves’ and live a private life.
However, Zaretsky argues this is an illusion and the family cannot meet the family’s needs, For example, it is merely based upon the domestic servitude of women.
Zaretsky - The family and personal life
1 - The production of labour
2 - Socialisation
3 - Psychological
4 - Sexual
5 - Economic
6 - Geographical mobility
The production of labour
The family reproduces the next generation of workers
Socialisation
The function of the family is to uphold the capitalist superstructure
Psychological
The family provides space for private life.
Sexual
Before capitalism there were no restrictions on sex
Economic
the family is a unit of consumption - they must keep up with material goods and companies target children to spend.
Geographical mobility
mobile to benefit the capitalists
