theories of the family

Question 1

What do Marxists believe?

Answer 1

-Society based on capitalism with conflict between ruling class and working-class
-All systems in society: education, system, church, media, family help maintain the class divide
-The working-class have developed a false class consciousness= believe that it is right that they work for the ruling class
-Revolution= when working-class realise they are being exploited they will revolt

Question 2

What do Marxists believe are the three important functions for capitalism performed by the family?

Answer 2

-inheritance of property: passing on the wealth= making sure it’s your son
-Ideological function = justifies, ruling class, position of power, and working-class acceptance
-Unit of consumption = family buy the products it makes for more than they are paid to produce it, thus make more profit for ruling class.

Question 3

Strengths of Marxist views

Answer 3

-explains inequality in society
-Explains how the working-class accept this inequality
-Explains how capitalism evolved through the building up of wealth, and the need to pass on inheritance to your own family

Question 4

Criticisms of Marxist views

Answer 4

-assumes a nuclear family is dominant and ignores growing family diversity
-Feminist criticise for ignoring the exploitation of women - family serves men not capitalism
-Functionalists say Marxists ignore the benefits. The family brings its members in mutual support and intimacy.
-Functionalists argue that we live in consensus not conflict
-There has not been a revolution

Question 5

KARL MARX

Answer 5

-society-conflict theory
-maintain power of dominant class who is accepted by the subordinate class
-working class has a false-class consciousness and there will be a revolution once they realise their exploitationi

Question 6

ENGELS

Answer 6

nuclear family’s role to pass on wealth (and private property) to heirs so monogamy became essential solely for this reason
-men had to be certain of the paternity of their children in order to ensure that that their legitimate heirs inherited from them
-this rise of the monogamous nuclear family represented a “world historical defeat of the female sex” as it brought the women’s sexuality under male control and turned her into a “mere instrument for the production of children”

Question 7

What do Functionalists believe?

Answer 7

-Society is like the human body /systems in the body work together for the benefit of the whole
-each system is dependent on each other
-has shared norms and values, so they are always in harmony/consensus
-This consensus is started with primary socialisation in the family, and then reinforced by every system in the body: education, church, media etc
-the family is an important sub-system

Question 8

Strengths of Functionalist views

Answer 8

-Family performs essential functions for society and its members
-Murdock = 4 functions
-Parsons = two functions
-Parsons = the family is ‘functionally fit’ if it fits the needs of the society it is in
-Pre-industrial society equals extended family
-Industrial society= nuclear family

Question 9

Criticisms of the Functionalist perspective

Answer 9

-assumes a family is harmonious and ignores conflict and exploitation like child abuse and women’s oppression.
-Assumes a nuclear family is universally the norm- ignores family diversity
-Criticised by Marxists to see the conflict in society
-Feminist criticised for being oppressive to women- serves the needs of men
-Functionally fit idea of Parsons has been disproved as there is evidence of nuclear families in pre-industrial times WILMOTT AND YOUNG
LASLETT
-extended families in industrial times
ANDERSON - poverty meant that this was the best type of family for mutual support

Question 10

MURDOCK

Answer 10

4 essential functions for society
1. sexual
2. Reproduction
3. Socialisation
4. Economic

Question 11

PARSONS

Answer 11

2 essential functions for society
1. Primary socialisation
2. Stabilisation of adult personalities.
-Family is somewhere that the working man can relax and be themselves- take out their frustrations in a safe environment rather than at work
-can return to the workplace refreshed and ready to meet its demands- functional for the efficiency of the economy
Nuclear = industrial society=> geographically, and socially mobile
lots of functions with industrialisation needs a family, no longer provides education healthcare , the state does

Question 12

Parsons 2 theories

Answer 12

•Warm bath theory-
-man plays instrumental role while woman plays expressive role and cares for the man
-helps stabilise his personality, so he performs better and is a better worker
•Functionally fit
-functions dependent on the type of society in which it is found

Question 13

What do Liberal feminists believe?

Answer 13

Gaining equality through campaigning
e.g. Women’s vote, sex discrimination act, equal pay act
Similar view to ‘march of progress’ view- things are getting better
-believe that we are moving towards greater equality but that full equality will depend on further reforms and changes in the attitudes and socialisation patterns of both sexes e.g. Somerville argues that there is a need for ‘family friendly’ policies e.g. more flexible working, to promote greater equality between partners

Question 14

Strengths of Liberal feminists view

Answer 14

-campaigning has brought the family closer to equality
-Gender/labour roles in the family with men doing more domestic work
-Attitudes to how boys and girls are socialised is changing

Question 15

Criticisms of Liberal feminist view

Answer 15

-changes in the law does not mean changes in attitudes
-Marxist and radical feminist criticise it for ignoring the underlying cause of inequality and oppression: changes in the law or in people’s attitudes is not enough to bring about equality

Question 16

What do Marxist feminists believe?

Answer 16

see capitalism as a source of women’s oppression
Women perform vital functions for capitalism :
-Reproducing the next labour force (through their unpaid domestic work, by socialising the next generation of workers and maintaining servicing the current one)
-Absorbing men’s anger
-Reserve army of cheap labour

Question 17

Strengths of Marxist feminist view

Answer 17

-highlights women’s oppression by capitalism
-double burden/triple burden/reserve army of cheap labour

Question 18

Criticisms of Marxist feminist views

Answer 18

-ignores modern day, life, where the woman can be the bread winner
-women were oppressed before capitalism, so no guarantee that abolition of capitalism mean end of oppression
-sees women as too passive, but not all conform to the practices and beliefs of capitalist and patriarchal oppression

Question 19

FRAN ANSLEY

Answer 19

-women are ‘takers of shit’
-they deal with their husband’s anger and frustrations (alienation and exploitation) from work
-Believes women or oppressed, dual or triple burden
-However, women are working as well as having children. Her research doesn’t acknowledge this.

Question 20

What do Radical feminists believe?

Answer 20

Key division in society is between men and women
-See patriarchy as a source of women’s oppression
-Men benefit from the family and women do not
-Believe that patriarchy leads to the subordination of women and children in the home and in wider society
-Rape and sexual assault -> male exploitation
-Want to separate the family , women can live without men- separatism

Question 21

Strengths of Radical feminist views

Answer 21

-highlights how women are subjected to male exploitation
-Highlights the power men have over women
-Shows how this power is exerted

Question 22

Criticisms of Radical feminist view

Answer 22

-ignores the fact that some women prefer to live with men and prefer being mothers
- Somerville: (liberal feminist) criticises for not seeing how women’s lives have improved- better jobs, access to divorce, control over fertility, choice about marriage and argues that heterosexual attraction makes it unlikely that separatism will work

Question 23

GERMAINE GREER

Answer 23

-heterosexual relationships = inevitably oppressive as they involve ‘sleeping with the enemy’
-‘political lesbianism’= create all-female/matrilocal households to end male exploitation

Question 24

What do Difference feminists believe?

Answer 24

-Women are different and experience oppression differently depending on sexuality, class or ethnicity
-Many black families see the family as a source of support and resistance against racism/racial oppression so by regarding the family as purely negatively, white feminists neglect black women’s experiences of racial oppression

Question 25

Strengths of the Difference feminist view

Answer 25

acknowledges that women have different experiences
we therefore cannot generalise about women’s experiences

Question 26

Criticisms of the Difference feminist view

Answer 26

-despite differences, women do share many of the same experiences
-compared to men, they face a greater risk of domestic violence, sexual assault, low pay, living in poverty and exploitation

Question 27

The personal life perspective: weaknesses of the functionalist, Marxist and feminist theories?

Answer 27

(1) They tend to assume that the traditional nuclear family is a dominant family type and ignore increased diversity of families today.
(2) they are all structural theories, assuming that families and members are simply passive puppets manipulated by the structure of society to perform certain functions and ignore the fact that we have some choice in creating our family relationships

-They argue that the family today we must focus on the meanings members give to their relationships and situation rather than on the family’s supposed ‘functions’

Question 28

The sociology of personal life

Answer 28

-A new perspective on families which are strongly influenced by interactionist ideas and argues that to understand families, we must start from the point of view of the individuals concern and the meaning they give to their relationships
-Focus on a ‘bottom up’ approach like interactionism, emphasising, the meanings that individual family members hold and how these shape their actions and relationships
-(functionalism, Marxism and feminism all take a ‘top down’ structural approach)

Question 29

Beyond the ties of blood and marriage

Answer 29

-the personal life perspective also takes a wider view of relationships than just the traditional ‘family’ relationship based on blood or marriage ties
-by focusing on peoples meanings, the personal life perspective, draws our attention to a range of other personal or intimate relationships the individuals see as significant and that gives them a sense of identity, belonging or relatedness such as:
-Relationships with friends
-Fictive kin
-gay and lesbian ‘chosen families’
-Relationships with dead relatives
-relationships with pets

Question 30

Donor conceived children: Nordqvist and Smart

Answer 30

-Research on conceived children explores “ what counts as family when your child has a genetic link with a ‘relative stranger’, but not with your partner”
-in their research, they found out the issue of blood and genes raised the range of feelings with some parents emphasising the importance of social relationships over genetic ones, in forming family bonds
-e.g. Erin, the mother of an egg donor conceived child defined being a mum in terms of the time and effort she put into raising her daughter.
-however difficult feelings could flare up for a non-genetic parent if somebody remarked that the child look like them differences in appearance. Also led parents to wonder about the donor’s identity about possible donor siblings and whether these counted as family for their child.
-where couples knew their donor, they had to resolve over questions, about who counted as family- do the donors parents come as grandparents of a donor conceived child? Is the donor conceived child, a half sibling to the donors other children?
-for lesbian couples there were additional problems including concerns about equality between the genetic and non-genetic mothers and that their donor might be treated as the ‘real’ second parent

Question 31

evaluation of the personal life perspective

Answer 31

(: Nordqvist and Smart’s study illustrates the value of the personal life perspective, as compared with top-down structural approaches, and helps us to understand how people themselves construct and defined their relationships as ‘ family’ rather than imposing traditional sociological definitions of the family from the outside
): can be criticised for taking too broad a view: buy, including a wide range of different kinds of personal relationships we ignore why special about relationships are based on blood or marriage
): reject the top of down view, taken by other perspectives like functionalism, but nevertheless it does seem intimate relationships as performing the importance function of providing us the sense of belonging and relatedness
(: unlike functionalism, the personal life perspective, recognises that relativeness is not always positive e.g. people may be trapped in violent abusive relationships or simply in once where they suffer every day unhappiness, hurt, lack of respect.