Theories Of The Family

Question 1

According to George Murdock, what 4 functions does the nuclear family perform?

Answer 1

Sexual - stable satisfaction of the sex drive with the same partner, prevents social disruption caused by a sexual ‘free for all’.

Economic - meets its members economic needs such as food and shelter.

Reproduction - it reproduces the next generation without which society could not continue.

Education - primary education of socialisation of the young into society’s shared norms and values.

Question 2

What did the workforce look like pre-industrial movement?

Answer 2

Family members spend their whole lives living/working in the same area. Every member had a similar job. Status was ascribed.

Question 3

What does the workforce look like now, post industrial revolution?

Answer 3

Jobs were in factories (outside the home). People moved to where the jobs were. Parsons argues it is easier for the nuclear family to move than the extended family. Due to science and technology, society is constantly evolving and workers must meet the skills required for this to continue. Status is now ‘achieved rather than ascribed’. If both sets lived in the one household, conflict can arise.

Question 4

As a result of industrialisation, according to Parsons, the functions that the family unit performs were reduced to two essential functions. What are these two functions?

Answer 4

1. Primary socialisation of the children

2. Stabilisation of Human Personalities

Question 5

What is the primary socialisation of the children?

Answer 5

Families are ‘personality factories’. The family is central to value consensus. Parsons claims that society would cease to exist unless the new generation were socialised into accepting the basic norms and values of society. Two main forms of socialisation:

Gender-role socialisation - Children learn the cultural patterns of behaviour expected of their gender.

Social control - The family serves as an agent of discipline, alongside Religion and the Criminal Justice System.

Question 6

What is the stabilisation of human personalities?

Answer 6

The family functions to relieve the stress of modern day living (remember women were the main home-maker and thus thus was seen as part of her job). This is known as the ‘Warm Bath Theory’ in which the family institution provides a relaxing environment for the male worker to immerse himself in, after a hard, exploitative day at work. Romantic love and unconditional love for children provides members with the means to cope with the anxiety of modern life.

Question 7

What is the functionalist view of the family?

Answer 7

The family has evolved in keeping up with the needs of society. The nuclear family is a mobile work force. Families benefit society as a whole. The family socialises children into the acceptable norms and values of society. Ensures that order is maintained and deviance reduced. Positive functions of the family. Moved from extended to nuclear. The members of the family benefit themselves. The family serves itself and social institutions.

Question 8

What does Best Fit theory mean?

Answer 8

Society changes, so does the family. Family being a mobile workforce. The nuclear family fits societies changes.

Question 9

What is the ‘warm bath theory’?

Answer 9

Husband relaxing after work. Work is the husband’s sole contribution. Helps the father to manage an exploitative system. The woman has to take care of her kids by herself. The bath takes care of the man knowing he is in a safe environment.

Question 10

Evaluation of functionalist views

Answer 10

• Both Murdock and Parsons downplay conflict in the family.
• Parsons’ view of men and women is very outdated.
• Ignores the exploitation of women.
• Ignores the harmful effects of the family.
• It recognises that families have evolved with the times.
• Individuals in families do benefit from each other.
• Isn’t as narrow minded as Marxism.
• Sees the benefits of family life.
• Sees that family benefits the members.
• The nuclear family isn’t the only family that is functional.
• Functionalism only looks at the Nuclear family.

Question 11

What is the Marxist view of the functions of the nuclear family?

Answer 11

Marxists argue the function of the nuclear family is to serve the interests of the ruling class because it promotes capitalist values e.g. the desire for material items, and so discourages dissent and criticism for the way society is organised. Marx viewed society as a conflict between workers who desire higher wages, and business owners/ruling classes who want to keep wages down to increase profits. It is crucial for capitalism that the workers accept inequality, their exploitation and do not realise their actual strength as the overwhelming majority in society - the family plays a crucial role in this.

Question 12

What does Engels believe about the family?

Answer 12

According to Engels, the monogamous nuclear family only emerged with Capitalism. Before Capitalism, traditional, tribal societies were classless, and they practised a form of ‘primitive communism’ in which there was no private property. Instead all members of society owned the limited means of production collectively. At this stage of development, there were no restrictions on sexual relationships.

Eventually the bourgeoise started to look for ways to pass on their wealth to the next generation, rather than having it shared out amongst the mass, and this is where the monogamous nuclear family comes from. It is simply the only way of guaranteeing that you are passing on your property to your son, because in a monogamous relationship you have a clear idea of who your own children are.

Ultimately what this arrangement does us right reproduce inequality - if we believe the nuclear family is the most important thing in our lives, and that it is legitimate that we should pass on our wealth to our children, all that happens is that the children of the rich grow up into wealth, while the children of the poor remain poor. Thus, the nuclear family benefits the Bourgeois more than the proletariat.

Criticisms of Engels:

• It’s not clear that the ‘promiscuous horde’ ever really existed (Murdock found that the nuclear family was universal)
• According to the Functionalist Murdock, the nuclear family existed before capitalism in many areas.
• Feminism - this theory can’t explain why gender inequality exists within the family.

Question 13

What does David Cooper believe about the family?

Answer 13

According to contemporary Marxist David Cooper, the family acts as an ‘ideological conditioning device’ - in other words the modern nuclear family functions to promote values and ways of thinking about capitalism that ensure the reproduction and maintenance of capitalism. It does this in three main ways.

Question 14

According to David Cooper, what three ways ensure the reproduction and maintenance of capitalism?

Answer 14

• Making us believe that hierarchy and inequality are normal
• Providing a ‘safe haven’ for workers, giving them the illusion that they are in control of their lives and
• By promoting consumption, with keeps capitalism going.

Question 15

How does the nuclear family promote hierarchy and inequality as normal?

Answer 15

David Cooper argues that the nuclear family socialises people to think in a way that justifies inequality and encourages people to accept the capitalist system as fair, natural and unchangeable. How often have you heard “things will never change….” from your parents regarding inequality/injustice in society? Furthermore, there is a hierarchy in most families which teachers children to accept there will always be someone in “authority” who they must obey - this is the ideal preparation for obeying your boss at work.

It is also crucial for the family to promote the belief that inequality in society is inevitable because it prevents workers from realising their true position in society. Workers i.e. people who have to sell their labour to survive, are the vast majority in society, yet they receive a fraction of the wealth they produce. If the workers realised their true position in society and their strength, they could challenge the inequality inherent in the capitalist system. However, as long as workers can buy a car, go on holiday, watch I’m a Celebrity…. they remain “happy” or in the least accepting of inequality in society. Marx described the workers lack of awareness of their combined power and their exploitation as “false class consciousness”.

Question 16

How does the nuclear family provide a ‘safe haven’?

Answer 16

Zaretsky also sees the family as a prop to the capitalist system. Zaretsky argued that work under Capitalism was harsh, exploitative and alienating, which means that workers had no control over their working conditions. The nuclear family provided comfort to alienated workers which enabled them to carry on working - both in the sense that it offered emotional support, but also because supporting a family and children gave work a purpose. Without the idea of a family at home to motivate them, workers would be less likely to put up with exploitation in order to earn money.

• One criticism - Marxists ignore the benefits of the nuclear family.

Question 17

How is the nuclear family a unit of consumption?

Answer 17

Today most people regard their families as a ‘unit of consumption’. High consumption is the norm. The bourgeoisie need families to consume the commodities produced by capitalist companies in order to maintain profits. This is maintained in 2 ways:

• Families must keep up with the material goods/services acquired by their neighbours and peers e.g. family holidays, cars - this is known as “Keeping up with the Joneses”. There are significant amounts of advertising and TV programmes influencing parents in this way
• Pester power. The media and companies target children in their advertising who then persuade their parents through pester power to buy more expensive items. This is particularly bad in the UK where there are few legal restrictions on adverts aimed at children; in Sweden advertising aimed at children under 12 is illegal.

Question 18

What did Althusser say about the family?

Answer 18

Althusser (1971) argued that in order for capitalism to survive the WC must submit to the ruling class or Bourgeoisie. He suggested that the family is one of the ISAs (Ideological State Apparatus) along with education and media which are concerned with social control and passing on the ideology (ideas and beliefs) of the ruling class. Through socialisation in the family we come to accept and support capitalism. Social Policies made by capitalists are not to be trusted. They are in place to:

• To keep the workers alive (NHS) so that they can for the capitalists
• To keep people quiet and make them think Capitalism has caring face
• Benefits keep people in poverty and can be withdrawn or changed at anytime

Question 19

What did Foucault say about the family and surveillance?

Answer 19

Foucault (1976) developed the concept of Surveillance - (observing and monitoring) to describe the way the state can exercise social control over people.

Surveillance is traditional,y associated with external pressure through social institutions like the criminal justice system, media and education which watch over people and encourage them to conform to social norms.

He says social norms will confirm for the individual what a ‘good’ family should be like in relation to things such as family life and parenting.

However, in post-modern societies Foucault agrees that the idea of surveillance is all internalised. Individuals now police themselves and follow social norms as they believe it is in their best interest to do so.

Question 20

How did Henderson develop Foucault’s theory?

Answer 20

Henderson (2010) has developed Foucault more recently and agrees that Social institutions no longer need to enforce social control over how people behave because they do it themselves - they constantly monitor and keep an eye on their own behaviour.

Henderson applied Foucault’s concept of surveillance to the family and motherhood. He suggests that conformity to social norms relating to family life, such as those presented in the media, or by social workers, is established as mothers exercise surveillance over themselves and one another informally, as they observe, talk to, criticise, judge and reproach themselves and one another about parenting styles, about what products they buy their children, child discipline, access to computer games, internet usage and diet.

Therefore, this surveillance is maintained by the mothers guilt if they do not live up to the self-imposed parent expectations.

Question 21

Evaluation of surveillance and the ISA

Answer 21

• Some criticise Donzelot for failing to identify clearly who benefits from policies of surveillance. For Marxists it is the ruling class. For feminists it is men.
• Marxists fail to recognise the benefit of social policy for the WC and are overly critical.

Question 22

Criticisms of Marxism

Answer 22

• Too deterministic - not all families are high-consumption families, not all children accept authority.
• Marxism ignores the benefits of the nuclear family - the nuclear family may actually be the best family type for protecting children against advertising and consumerism.
• Ignores family diversity in capitalist society - nuclear families are in decline, more people living alone.

Feminists argue that the Marxist focus on class ignores the inequalities between men and women, which is the real source of female oppression.

Question 23

What is the liberal feminist view of the family?

Answer 23

Concerned with campaigning against sex discrimination, for equal rights and opportunities for women. Oppression is being gradually overcome as Jennifer Somerville says. Liber feminists are about gradual reform rather than revolt. Need to change people’s attitudes and law changes eg Sex Dissemination Act 1975 (outlaws discrimination in employment). Women now have much greater freedom to take paid work even if they are married and have young children.

Family = similar to March of progress ‘Young and Willmott’

Full gender equality has not yet been reached by gradual process.

Men doing more domestic labour?

Socialisation if children?

Question 24

What does Jennifer Somerville say?

Answer 24

Somerville argues ‘Women are angry, resentful, but above all disappointed in men’. Many mend do not take on their full share of responsibilities and often these men can be ‘shown the door’. Somerville raises the possibility that women might do without male partners, especially as so many prove inadequate, and instead get their sense of fulfilment from their children. Unlike Germaine Greer, though, Somerville does not believe that living in households without adult males is the answer. She says, ‘the high figures of remarriage suggest that children are not adequate substitutes for adult relationships of intimacy and companionship for most women’.

Heterosexual families will not disappear. However, nor will conflict and inequality between women and men in relationships. Feminists need to devise policies to encourage greater equality within relationships and to help women cope with the practicalities of family life. What is particularly important is the introduction of new policies to help working parents so that they can balance work and family life and so that both parents can play a full role in childcare.

Feminist ideals have only been partly achieved and society’s institutions still make it difficult to attain genuine equality between heterosexual partners, if that institutional framework can be changed, for example by increased flexibility in paid employment, then the liberal feminist dream of egalitarian relationships between men and women will move closer to being a reality.

Question 25

Criticism of liberal feminists

Answer 25

• Ethnocentric…. Most LFs are middle class white women, the theory reflects their experience.
• Women still do the majority of the housework - Worse, most women now face the dual burden of paid work and housework.
• Women are still the primary child-carers - 90% of families
• Women still more likely to be victims of DV - 1/4 women are victims.

Question 26

What do Marxist feminists say?

Answer 26

Main cause of oppression in the family is capitalism, not men. Functions women perform for capitalism:

• Reproduce the labour force
• Absorb anger
• Reserve army of cheap labour

Family must be abolished alongside a socialist revolution to replace capitalism with a classless society.

When a husband pays for the production and upkeep of future labour by supporting a wife who raises children to the point where they can become workers, this acts as a string discipline on his behaviour at work. He cannot easily withdraw his labour to go on strike with a wife and children to support. These responsibilities weaken his bargaining power commit him to wage labour. Not only does the family produce and rear cheap labour, it also maintains it at no cost to the employer. In her role as housewife, the woman attends to her husband’s needs, thus keeping him in good running order to perform his role as a wage labourer.

The social reproduction of labour power does not simply involve producing children and maintaining them in good health. It also involves the reproduction of the attitudes essential for an efficient workforce. Within the family, children learn to conform and to submit to authority. The foundation is therefore laid for the obedient and submissive workforce required by capitalism.

Question 27

What does Ansley say about the position of women in the family?

Answer 27

Ansley sees the emotional support provided by the wife as a safety valve for the frustration produced in the husband by working in a capitalist system. Rather than being turned against the system which produced it, this frustration is absorbed by the comforting wife. In this way the system is nit threatened. In Ansley’s words, “When wives play their traditional role as takers of shit, they often absorb their husbands’ legitimate anger and frustration at their own powerlessness and oppression. With every worker provided with a sponge to soak up his possibly revolutionary ire, the bosses rest more secure”.

Question 28

Criticisms of the Marxist feminist perspective

Answer 28

• No regard to possible variations in family life between social classes, ethnic groups, heterosexual and gay and lesbian families, and lone parent families. As Morgan notes in his criticism of both functionalist and Marxist approaches, both assume that families are based on nuclear families in which the husband is the main breadwinner and nearly all housework is done by wives. This pattern is becoming less common and the critique of this type of family may therefore be becoming less important.
• Liberal feminists argue that women in general have greater equality and freedom in Capitalist (not communist) societies.
• Radical feminists… argue patriarchy is found in all societies, not just capitalist ones.

Question 29

What is the radical feminist perspective of the family?

Answer 29

All relationships between men and women are based in patriarchy - men are the cause of women’s exploitation and oppression. As Tong says, ‘women’s oppression as women is more fundamental than other forms of human oppression’. Women are systematically dominated and oppressed in every area of society, from politics and the jobs market to the family.

Against liberal feminism - paid work has not been ‘liberating’. Women have acquired the ‘triple shift’ (Duncombe and Marsden).

Dark side of family life - 1 in 4 women will experience Domestic Violence.

Advocate separatism and political lesbianism (‘sleeping with the enemy’).

Question 30

What does Germaine Greer say?

Answer 30

Greer argues that being a wife is the most important female role. The wives of predigests and prime ministers get considerable publicity but they have to be very much subservient to their husbands. Such a role demands that the woman ‘must not only be seen to be at her husband’s side on all formal occasions, she must also be seen to adore him, and never to appear less than dazzled by everything he may say or do. Her eyes should be fixed on him but he should do his best never to be caught looking at her. The relationship must be clearly seen to be unequal’.

‘He feels that in marrying her he has done all that is necessary in making her happy’. Yet, Germaine Greer argues this is a ‘con’ because it is men who need marriage more. Married men score much higher in all measures of psychological well-being than unmarried men, whereas single women tend to be more content than married women.

‘Wives are not sexy’.

Question 31

Criticisms of radical feminism

Answer 31

• Highlights the extent of domestic abuse suffered by women within the nuclear family
• There tends to be more equality with lesbian relationships than heterosexual relationships.
• Ignores the progress that women have made in many areas, e.g. work, controlling fertility, divorce.
• Ignores domestic/emotional abuse suffered by men who often don’t report it.

Question 32

What is the difference feminist view of the family?

Answer 32

Difference feminists argue that we cannot generalise about women’s experiences as if they are all from a conventional nuclear family. For example, black feminists argue that white feminists neglect black women’s experience of racial oppression. Black feminists argue that black families are a positive course if support and resistance against oppression. Others dispute this arguing that women share many of the same experiences when compared with men, they face greater risk of domestic violence, sexual assault, low pay etc.

Question 33

What is the new right perspective of the family?

Answer 33

The New Right promote a familial ideology, promoting a set of ideas about what constitutes an ideal family. This ideal is the traditional, nuclear family. New Right thinking encouraged the Conservative government to launch the Back to Basics campaign 1993 to encourage a return to traditional family values. This was criticised for being unsuccessful, and hypocritical due to some Conservative MPs being found to be having affairs or being divorced.

The New Right believed that there was a golden age of the family in the 1950s. This was a time in which husbands and wives stayed together and children were brought up to respect their elders and social institutions such as the Law.

Since then, the nuclear family has been in decline. Since the 1960s the New Right believe that there has been a decline in traditional family values encouraged by the state.

• Legislation of abortion encouraged promiscuity rather than stable relationships.
• Contraceptive pill being available on prescription.
• Equal pay legislation regarding equality and equal pay took women away from the home and their natural career as a mother.
• Lowering of homosexual age of consent
• 1969 Divorce Reform Act

The New Right believe that the introduction of the Welfare state has led to a culture where people depend on hand outs…

• making them less likely to exist in the traditional nuclear family set up…
• … leading to a generation of children who are work-shy and deviant.

“The natural state should be the 2 adult family caring for their children” John Redwood, Conservative MP.

Question 34

Why, according to the New Right is cohabiting rather than marriage bad for children?

Answer 34

The rage of family breakdown is much lower amongst married couples. Children from broken homes are almost 5x more likely to develop emotional problems. Young people from broken homes are 3x more likely to become aggressive or badly behaved. Children from broken homes are 9x as likely to become young offenders. The New Right believes in this theory.

Lone parent families are more than twice as likely to live in poverty than two parent families. In fairness, some in the New Right have the decency to blame that the - absent mums/dads rather than the single mothers/fathers.

Marriage is best: the rate of family breakdown is much lower amongst married couples (6% compared to 20%). Children from broken homes are the cause of social problems. Children raised in broken homes suffer more.

Question 35

Criticisms of the New Right

Answer 35

• It is still only an extreme minority of single parent families/broken families which are a problem. 90% suffer no significant emotional/behavioural problems’. NR problems of reporting stats in a misleading way.
• Conversely the Nuclear Family is too idealised. A radical feminist would argue that single parent families and divorce might be lesser evils than abuse and domestic violence.
• Marxists argue poverty is the main factor which causes problems in the family, not the family type in particular and poverty is a problem for nuclear families and single parents alike.
• Marxists and feminists argue that the New Right create a ‘moral panic’ over single parent families and families of welfare - to divert attention away from the real cause of social problems - capitalism and patriarchy.

Question 36

What is the postmodern view of the family?

Answer 36

Postmodernists argue that technological changes and globalisation have ushered in a new globalised media-saturated, fragmented, unstable society which is fundamentally different to the more stable and orderly society of the modern period.

Modernity (1650-1950) - clear social structure, the nuclear family, jobs for life, nation states and politics, trust in science, a belief in ‘progress’

Post and Late modernity (1980-present day) - globalisation, uncertainty, consumerism, more individual freedom, more diversity, the media and hyperreality (Garrod).

Postmodernists argue that social changes since the 1950s have resulted in a world in which individuals have much more choice and freedom than is suggested by modernists social theories such as functionalism, Marxism and feminism (less so interactionism) are no longer used in helping us to understand our post modern society.

Question 37

What are the 5 types of family diversity?

Answer 37

Unlike Chester, Rhona and Robert Rapoport (1982) argue that diversity is of central importance in understanding family life today. They believe that we have moved away from the traditional nuclear family as the dominant family type, to a range of different types. Families in Britain have adapted to a pluralistic society - that is, one in which cultures and lifestyles are more diverse. In their view, family diversity reflects greater freedom of choice and the widespread acceptance of different cultures and ways of life in today’s society. Unlike the New Right, the Rapoports see diversity as a positive response to people’s different needs and wishes. They identify five different types of family diversity in Britain today:

Organisational diversity: This refers to differences in the ways family roles are organised. For example, some couples have joint conjugal roles and two wage-earners, while others have segregated conjugal roles and one wage earner.

Cultural diversity: Different culture, religious and ethnic groups have different family structures. For example, here is a higher proportion of female headed lone parent families among African Caribbean households and a higher proportion of extended families among Asian households.

Social class diversity: Differences in family structure are partly the result of income difference between households of different social classes. Likewise, there are class differences of child-rearing practices.

Life stage diversity: Family structures differ according to the stage reached in the life cycle - for example, young newlyweds, couples with dependent children retried couples whose children have grown up and left home, and widows who are living alone.

Generational diversity: Older and younger generations have different attitudes and experiences that reflect the historical periods in which they have lived. For example, they many have different views about the morality of divorce or cohabitation.

Question 38

What did Cheal say?

Answer 38

In Cheal’s view, society has entered a new, chaotic, postmodern stage. In postmodern society, family structures have become, fragmented into many different types and individuals now have much more choice in their lifestyles, personal relationships and family arrangements. Some writers argue that this greater diversity and choice brings with it both advantages and disadvantages: - It gives individuals greater freedom to plot their own life course - to choose the kind of family and person,a relationships that meet their needs - but greater freedom of choice in relationships means a greater risk of instability, since these relationships are more likely to break up.

Question 39

What did Stacey say?

Answer 39

Stacey associates changes in the family with a movement away from a single dominant family type to greater variety in family relationships. She believes that today, families in Western societies are varied, constantly changing and tend to lack a fixed shape, form or structure. The old and the new are frequently blended together as families improvise new ways of living in a rapidly changing world. In more recent writing, she argues that in a globalised world a wide variety of family forms exists not just in the USA and Europe but in most of the rest of the world as well.

Question 40

What did Giddens say?

Answer 40

Giddens argues that in recent decades the family and marriage have been transformed by greater choice and a more equal relationship between men and women. This transformation has occurred because:

• Contraception has allowed sex and intimacy rather than reproduction to become the main reason for the relationship’s existence.
• Women have gained independence as a result of feminism and because of greater opportunities in education and work. By contrast today couples are free to define their relationship themselves, rather than simply acting out roles that have been defined in advance by law or tradition. What holds relationships together today is based on individual choice and equality.

Question 41

What did Beck say?

Answer 41

As individuals gained more personal choice they were free from the restrictions produced by an obligation to live in traditional families, but they also lost the support and security that came with the traditional family life. Instead, individuals now have to try to create personal relationships that will provide their needs. Beck and Beck - Gemsheim say the nuclear family seems to offer ‘a sort of refuge in the chilly environment of our affluent, impersonal, uncertain society, stripped of its traditions and scarred by all kinds of risk. Love will become more important than ever and equally impossible’.