theories of family- socioligy Flashcards
functionilist theory of family
they believe that the familys function is to
what is a household
a situation where one person lives along or group of unrelated people lve together or shared living situations
what is a family
a group of related be social ties such as blood, marrige or adpotion
what is the ideal functualist family
the cerial box, neclear family which consits of a mother, a farther and 2 children(one girl and one boy). the mother preforms the expressive role and the farther preforms the instruemntal role.)
are all families the same?
not all families are teh same, for exampe in nayar the tribal society the children are cared for by their mother her brother. the biological farther is unknown as the mother has up to 12 sexual relationships.
murdock
believes that familys are unversal and happen inside of very culture. he believes that they are a socail group characteried by residence, economic cooperation nd reproduction.
A03 for murdock
enphasiz on reproduction therfore focuses on a neuclear family. this definition is a right- wing socioligist who suggests that this is the ideal family type. femnists would arhue that this is patriarcal and not all familys can reproduce.
a familys key functions (murdock)
ress-
reproductive- controuting to society
economic- pools rescourses to provide for each other
socialisation- from both parents to riase their child right
and teach the norms and valuses of society.
sexual regulation- stable sexual relationship for adults.
a03 critisisms
determanistic - asumes all families are preforming these functions. some may not be adequatley socialising children e.g. ferel children.
murdock assumes that all neculear famillies are harminous- e.g. domestic violenc - dobs and dobs study into dv
femenists - not all famies are the same some are same sex famiies
parsons veiw of the family
the functios of the family depend on the society of which it is found in. he argues that the family will be determaned by the needs of society. he refers this to as FUNCTIONAL FIT THEORY.
functional fit theory
pre industrial- rural, farming ,family bussines- lots of children to work on the farm. need for the extended family to help run the business.
modern socierty- urbansiaion, jobs with companies- industries, private bussiness employ workers- no longer need a big family to work on farm or to help run the business. no longer need the extended family.
a03- functional fit theory
laslett- looked though documents of familys in the preindustrial time period and found that the familys betweeen 1564 and 1821 where almost always neclear.
also the life expectancy in the 1500’s -1800’s was vey low and highly unlikely for the grandparents to still be alive.
a03 functional fit theory
willnot and young- found that in modern society extended family are still very relevent as mothers are still very connected with their mothers and grandmother and sisters whcih will still help with things such as chidcare and finacial support.
the key functions- parsons
believes familys key functions are primary socilisation- teaching them their norms and values.
stabalisatotion of adult personalities- this is through the emotipnal relationship between the parents . the family is live a walm bath and is an outlet for peoples problems. their home and family s where thye can let all of their probes go.
a03- key functiions
not all families are like a walm bath for example some households have domestic sbuse and soeparents will able their children.
leach- argues that the isolation of the neclear family ha been emotionally catasrophic becuse it is isolated from wider society and their extended fmaily.
the family is multi functonal
fletcher- the necluar family has not lost its function, it is multi functional. the famly hasnt been underminded the welfare state and it is helping the family carry out its responsabilities.
flinch and mason- some core functions havent been lost. family members still preform various functions to help with the wider kin.
new right veiw
very similar to the functionalist veiw of societ. they believe that the neclear fsmily is the ideal family for fociety but there has been an increse of single parent families and teen pregancies/ families.
murray
believes that society have acsess to divorce which s cuasing the family to have an increase in lone parent =hood and a decline in sexual morals. thyw believe that the lack of the idela famly is cuasing people to not be socialised effectively as the single parent carnt do that on their own. this means that those which arnt socialised properly are more likely to tur towards crime . overlall he think that the family is being undermined by the welfare stage and it is cauing a dependancy culture.
a03
chester-this is jsut a temporary phase and usually leads to marrige . children may not be riased in a neclear family but thye be be raised n a cohabitation household where the male socialisation figure is still relevent.
femenism- welfare cuts are mainly effecting women as they are the ones which are noramlly left with the children afrter the divore.
marxsism- it isnt the welfare stat, the cuts are cuasing both parentents to work which is cuasing a lack in socialisaion.
marksists
their veiw on the fsmily is to produce children which can then carry on the mass production assembly line. they belivev that th eidela family type is the neclear family. they believe that the family have 4 key functions ress
R-reproduction
engles- ares that the family is needed for reprosuction. this is so then they can reproduce for the lbour force.it creates more members for societ y and more ‘wage slaves’
a03- marxsits fems- argue that both class and gender inequality work togehter. it is a womans reproductiv ecapability that is being expoited for the benfit og capitlism.
functionalists- aruge that thye ignore the benifits the family have for society. raising children help stabilise the adult personalities.
E-econamic
marx- argues that the famil is used as a unit of production and a unit of consumption. they create the produts for the rullign class and then they buy the products form the rullign class which are both benefiting the rullign class and making them profit.
a03- fememnists - maxists unerestimate the mportance of gender equality ithin the family and focuses on the social class inequality.
femenists- the family primarly eves patriarchy rarther than capitilists.
S-socialisation
althusser- argues that the familys function is an ideological stae apparatus( a tool for the sate - for capitslism to brainwash individuals into accepting their position in society). creates a false class concious. the family socialises hildren to the noems of society.
a03- functionalists- the family enables children to internalise the shared culture of society so they become functioning adults wich benefits all.
femenists- ignoers the fact that such s family ideoligy supports patriarch and suggts that en and women shoukd have differnt roles that lead t subordination of women.
