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Sociology Family > Theories of the family > Flashcards

Theories of the family Flashcards

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Sociology 101 flashcards
1
Q

What does functionalists believe?

A
  • Society is based on a value consensus - a set of shared values and norms
  • They compare society to a biological organism
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2
Q

What 4 essential functions does Murdock believe is necessary to meet the needs of society and its members?

A
  1. Stable satisfaction of the sex drive
  2. Reproduction of the next generation
  3. Socialisation of the young
  4. Meeting its members economic needs
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3
Q

What are some criticisms of Murdock?

A
  • Some sociologists argue that some important functions can be performed equally well by other institutions and by non-nuclear family structures
  • Functionalism neglect conflict and exploitation
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4
Q

What is Parsons’ ‘functional fit’ theory?

A
  • He sees the nuclear family as uniquely suited to meeting the needs of modern society for a geographically and socially mobile workforce
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5
Q

What 2 basic types of society did Parsons find and what family dominated them?

A
  • Modern industrial society and the traditional pre-industrial society, the extended family began to give way to the nuclear family
  • This was because the emerging industrial society had different needs from pre-industrial society
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6
Q

What 2 essential needs did Parsons believe the industrial society needs?

A
  1. A geographically mobile workforce - easier for the compact two generation nuclear family to move than the three generation extended family
  2. A socially mobile workforce - modern society is based on constantly evolving science and technology and so requires a skilled workforce (status is achieved not ascribed)
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7
Q

How was the pre-industrial family a multi-functional unit?

A

A unit of production and consumption

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8
Q

In modern society what two essential or ‘irreducible’ functions do the nuclear family come to specialise in?

A
  1. The primary socialisation of children
  2. The stabilisation of adult personalities
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9
Q

What 2 classes do Marxist see capitalist society based on?

A

The capitalist class, who owns the means of production
The working class, who labour the capitalists exploit for profit

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10
Q

What 3 functions do Marxists see the family as fulfilling for capitalism?

A
  1. Inheritance for property
  2. Ideological function
  3. Unit of consumption
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11
Q

What does Marxists argue as the key determining factor in shaping all social institutions?

A
  • The mode of production (everything that goes into the production of the necessities for life)
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12
Q

What was primitive communism?

A

The earliest classless society, in this society there was no private property instead all members of society owned the means of production communally

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13
Q

How was private property introduced?

A
  • As the forces of production developed, society’s wealth began to increase and so did private property
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14
Q

How was the patriarchal monogamous nuclear family brought about?

A

Men were able to secure control of the means of production

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15
Q

Why was monogamy essential of the inheritance of private property?

A

In Engel’s view they had to be certain of the paternity of their children in order to ensure that their legitimate heirs inherited from them

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16
Q

What did Marxists say will be the key to women’s liberation from patriarchal control?

A

The overthrow of capitalism and private ownership of the means of production, this way there will be no need for the patriarchal family since there will be no need to have a means of transmitting private property down the generations

17
Q

How does the family today perform key ideological functions for capitalism?

A
  • Socialising children into the idea that hierarchy and in equality are inevitable
  • Parental power prepares children for accepting orders from their capitalist employers
18
Q

What does Zaretsky say?

A

Family offers an apparent ‘haven’ from the harsh exploitative world of capitalism

19
Q

How is the family a unit of consumption?

A
  • Family plays a major role in generating profits for capitalists they do this by advertisement and media
20
Q

What are some criticisms of the Marxist perspective?

A
  • Marxists tend to assume that the nuclear family is dominant in capitalist society which ignores the wide variety of family structures found in society today
  • Functionalists argue that Marxists ignore the benefits of the family
  • Feminists argue Marxists underestimates the importance of gender inequalities in the family
21
Q

What is liberal feminists view on the family?

A
  • They argue women’s oppression is being gradually overcome through changes in law
  • They believe we are moving towards greater equality
22
Q

What is Marxist feminist perspective on the family?

A
  • Women’s oppression performs many functions for capitalism:
    1. Women reproduce the labour force
    2. Women absorb anger
    3. Women are a reserve army for cheap labour
23
Q

What is radical feminists perspective on the family?

A
  • Men are the enemy
  • The family and marriage are the key institutions in patriarchal society (believe in separatism)
  • Argue for political lesbianism (creation of all female households as an alternative to the heterosexual family)
24
Q

What does Somerville say?

A

Radical feminists fail to recognise that women’s position has improved considerably

25
Q

What does difference feminists say?

A
  • We cannot generalise women’s experience
26
Q

What 2 weaknesses does the personal life perspective believe the family suffer from?

A
  1. They tend to assume that the traditional nuclear family is the dominant family type
  2. They are all structural theories, they assume that families and their members are simply passive puppets manipulated by the structure of society
27
Q

What type of approach does the personal life take?

A

Bottom-up, interactionist theory

28
Q

What are some types of relationships that individuals see as significant?

A
  1. Relationship with friends
  2. Fictive kin
  3. Gay and lesbian ‘chosen families’
  4. Relationships with dead relatives
  5. Relationships with pets
29
Q

What did Nordqvist and Smart find?

A

Some parents emphasised the importance of social relationship over genetic ones in forming family bonds

30
Q

What is an evaluation of the personal life perspective?

A

Critics argue that by including a wide range of different kinds of personal relationships, we ignore what is special about relationships based on blood or marriage

Sociology Family (7 decks)

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