Theories Of The Family

Question 1

The functionalist perspective on the family

Answer 1

Is seen as a strut all theory because it claims that social structures in society (e.g family, education, religion) perform a number of ‘functions’ which shape and influence our behaviour.

Question 2

George Murdock

Answer 2

Studied 250 society’s and found some form of the nuclear family existing in all of them - he believe that it was universal to all societies
He then argued that the nuclear family was essential and further argued that in all society the nuclear family performed 4 key functions

Question 3

4 key functions of the nuclear family

Answer 3

Sexual - stable stratification of the sex drive with the same partner, prevents social disruption caused by a sexual ‘free for all’
Economic - meets the members economic needs such as food shelter
Reproduction - it reproduces the next generation without which societ could not continue
Education - primary education of socialisation of the young into societies shared norms and values

Question 4

Criticisms of Murdock

Answer 4

The nuclear family is not universal - such as Nayar tribes of India practised polyandry (multiple husbands)
Marxists and feminists reject the ‘rose tinted ‘ consensus view that the family meets the needs of tooth individuals members of the family and the needs of wider society
Feminist say the family serves the needs of men and oppress women

Question 5

What is Parsons ‘functional fit’

Answer 5

As society changes, the type of family changes to fit in with society such as the extended family is more fit for traditional society and the nuclear is best suited for industrial society

Question 6

Why is the nuclear family more suited for todays society?

Answer 6

As we live in an industrial society which means that the basic family type is smaller because the family has fewer functions or perform than the extend family in a traditional society so there has been a loss of functions.
E,g children go to school instead of being home schooled

Question 7

A geographically mobile workforce

Answer 7

In traditional pre industrial society, people often spent their whole lives living in the same village however, in contrast in modern society , industries are constantly springing up. Which requires people to move around which parsons argued it is easier for the smaller nuclear family to do so.

Question 8

A socially mobile workforce

Answer 8

Modern industrial society is based on constantly evolving science and technology so it requires a skilled workforce. In modern society, an individuals Staus is achieve by their own efforts and ability, not fixed at birth by their social and family background, and r this makes a socially mobilise workforce possible.

Question 9

Loss of functions

Answer 9

The pre industrial family was a multi functional unit. For example it was both a unit of production in which family members worked together. According to parsons when society industrialises, the family not only changes structure from extended to nuclear it also loses many of its functions

Question 10

Evaluation of functionalism

Answer 10

Being out of date - ignores family diversity
Ignoring the harmful effects on the family - parents aren’t always loving and supportive e.g abuse
Feminists - ignores the exploitation of women, gender roles are socially constructed not biological and usually involve the oppression of women
Downplaying conflict - plenty of children resit parental control and rebel, ignores the fact that children actively create their pr own personalities

Question 11

The Marxist perspective on the family

Answer 11

Marxists sociologists see capitalist society as based on an unequal conflict between two social classes: the capitalist class, who own the means of production and the working class, whose labour the capitalist exploit for profit

Question 12

How do Marxist see society’s institutions

Answer 12

See all society’s institutions, such as the education system, the media, religion and the state, along with the family, as helping to maintain class inequality and capitalism

Question 13

Marxist and the function of the family

Answer 13

For Marxists, the functions of the family are performed purely for the benefit of the capitalist system. This view contrasts sharply with the functionalist view that the family benefits both society as a while and all the individual members of the family. They have identified several functions that they see as fulling for capitalism.

Question 14

Inheritance of property- Marxist function

Answer 14

Marxists argue that the key factor determining the shape of all social institutions, including the family, is the mode of production - that is, who owns and controls society’s productive forces (such as tools, machinery, raw materials, land and labour)
I’m modern society, it is the capitalist class that owns and controls theses means of production. As the mode of production evolved, so too does the family
Called the earliest, classless society, ‘primitive communism’. - in this society, there was no private property instead, all members of society owned the means of production communally
At this stage of social development, there was no family as such. Instead, there existed what friedrich engles called the ‘promiscuous horde’, or tribe, I’m which there were no restrictions on sexual relationships

Question 15

Inheritance of property - private property

Answer 15

As forces of production developed, society’s wealth began to increase. Along with with increase wealth came the development of private property, as a class of men emerged who were able to secure control of the means of production. This change eventually brought about the patriarchal monogamous nuclear family.

Question 16

Engles view on private property

Answer 16

Engles view, monogamy became essential because of the inheritance of private property- men had to be certain of the paternity of their children in order to ensure that their legitimate heirs inherited from them
In Engles view the rise of the monogamous nuclear family represented a ‘world historical defeat of the female sex’ this was because it brought the women sexuality under male control and turned her into ‘a mere instrument for the production of children’

Question 17

Marxist view on private property

Answer 17

Marxists argue that only with the overthrow of capitalism and private ownership of the means of production will women achieve liberation from patriarchal control. A classless society will be established in which the means of production are owned collectively, not privately. There will no longer be a need for the patriarchal family, since there will be no need to have a means of transmitting private property down the generations

Question 18

Criticisms of Engles

Answer 18

It is 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
Feminists- this theory can’t explain why gender equality exists within the family.

Question 19

Ideological functions

Answer 19

Marxist argue rear reg family today also performs key ideological functions for capitalism. By ‘ideology’, Marxists mean a set of ideas or beliefs that justify inequality and maintain the capitalist system by persuading people to accept it as fair, natural or unchangeable.
One way which the family does this if by socialising children into the idea that hierarchy and inequality are inevitable. Parental power over children accustoms them to the idea that there always has to be someone in charge and this prepares them for a working life in which they wiki accept orders from their capitalist employers.

Question 20

Ideological functions - David cooper (1972)

Answer 20

The family acts as an ‘ideological conditioning device’
The Morden 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:
1. Making us believe that hierarchy and inequality are Normal
2. Providing a ‘safe heaven’ for workers, giving them the illusion that they are in control of their lives
3. By promoting consumption, which keeps capitalism going.

Question 21

Ideological functions- Eli Zaretsky (1976)

Answer 21

According to him, the family also perform an ideological function by offering an apparent ‘safe heaven’ from the harsh and exploitative world of capitalism outside, in which workers can ‘be themselves’ and have a private life. However, zaretsky argues that this is largely an illusion - the family cannot meet its members needs. For example, it is based on the domestic servitude of women.
- the nuclear family provided comfort to alienated workers which enabled them to keep working and without the idea of family at home it would not be motivating, workers would less likely put up with exportation in order to earn money

Question 22

Althusser: the family as a ISA

Answer 22

Althusser argued that in order for capitalism to survive the working class must submit to the ruling class or bourgeoisie. He suggested that the family is one of the ISA along with education and media. 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:
- keep the workers alive (NHS) so that they can work for capitalists
- to keep people quite and make them think capitalism has a caring face
- benefits keeps people in poverty

Question 23

A unit of consumption

Answer 23

Capitalism exploits the labour of the workers, making a profit by selling the products of their labour. For more than it pays them to produce these commodities. The family therefore plays a major role in generating profits for capitalists, since it is an important market for the sale of consumer goods:
- the media target children, who use ‘pester power’ to persuade parents to spend more
- children who lack the latest clothes or ‘must have’ gadgets are mocked and stigmatised by their peers.
Thus, Marxists see the family as performing several functions that maintain capitalist society: the inheritance of private property, socialisation into acceptance or inequality, and a source of profits.
In the Marxist view, while these may benefit capitalism, they do not benefit members of the family

Question 24

Criticisms of the Marxist perspective

Answer 24

• Marxists tend to assume that the nuclear family is dominate in capitalist society. This ignores the wide variety of family structures found in society today
• feminists argue that the Marxist emphasis on class and capitalism underestimates the importance or gender inequalities within the family. In the feminist view, these are more fundamental than class inequalities and the family primarily serves the interests of men, not capitalism
• functionalists argue that Marxists ignore the very real benefits that the family provides for its members

Question 25

The feminist perspective on the family

Answer 25

Feminists take a critical view of the family they argue that it oppresses women, such as the unequal division of domestic labour. They do not regard gender inequality as natural or inevitable, but as something created by society. There are four types of feminism

Question 26

Liberal feminism

Answer 26

Liberal feminists believe in a ‘match of progress’ view of the family, such as young and willmott. This means that they believe that the family is gradually changing for the better overtime by becoming more democratic and more equal.
- they argue that evidence shows men are doing a greater share at domestic labour (housework, childcare), decision making is becoming more equal and that make and female children are socialised in a much motr similar manner with similar aspirations.

Question 27

What do liberal feminist believe in

Answer 27

They believe that we are moving towards a greater equality but that full equality will depend on further reforms and changed in the attitudes and socialisation patterns of both sexes. Although liberal feminists do not believe full gender equality has been achieved in the family, they argue that there has been gradual progress.
However, other feminists criticise liberal feminists for failing to challenge the underlying causes of women oppression and for believing that changes in the law or in people’s attitudes will be enough to bring equality.

Question 28

Liberal feminists - Somerville

Answer 28

Provides a less radical critique of the family than Marxists or radical feminist and suggests proposals to impose family life for women that involve modest policy reforms rather than change.
She does not class herself as a liberal feminist but can be characterised

Question 29

Marxist feminism

Answer 29

Marxist feminists argue that the main cause of women’s oppression in the family is not men, but capitalism. Women’s oppression performs several functions for capitalism
Marxist feminists see women as a reserve army of labour
Marxists such as engles and zaretsky acknowledge that women are exploited in marriage and family life. But they emphasis the relationship between capitalism and the family, rather than its effects.
- women reproduce the labour force - through their unpaid domestic labour, by socialising the next generation of workers and maintaining and servicing the current one
- women absorb anger - that would otherwise be directed at capitalism. Ansley describes wives as ‘takers of shit’ who soak up the frustration their husbands feel because of rye alienation and exploitation they suffer at work. For Marxists, this explains male domestic violence against women.
- women are a reserve army of cheap labour - that can be taken on when extra workers are needed. When no longer needed, employees can ‘let them go’ to return to their primary role as unpaid domestic labour

Question 30

Marxist feminists and the oppression of women

Answer 30

They see the oppression of women in the family as linked to the exploitation of the working class. They argue that the family must be abolished at the same time as a socialist revolution replaces capitalism with a classless society.

Question 31

Radical feminism

Answer 31

Radical feminist argue that all societies have been founded on patriarchy - rule by men. For radical feminists, the key division in society is between men and women:
- men are the enemy - they are the source of women’s oppression and exploitation
- the family and marriage are the key institutions - in patriarchal society. Men benefit from women’s unpaid domestic labour and from their sexual services, and they dominate women through domestic and sexual violence or the threat of it.

• for radical feminist, the patriarchal system needs to be overturned. In particular, the family, which they see as the most of women’s oppression, must be abolished. They argue that the only way to achieve this is through separatism - women must organise themselves to live independently from men.

Question 32

Germaine Greer - the whole women and the family (radical feminist)

Answer 32

She is a good example of a contemporary radical feminist- she argues tear the family continues to disadvantage women. She focuses on looking at the role of women as wives, mothers and daughters.

Question 33

Difference feminism

Answer 33

• difference feminist argue that we cannot generalise about women’s experiences. They argue that lesbian and heterosexual women, white and black women, middle class or working class, have very different experiences of the family from one another
  E.g by regarding the family purely negatively, white feminist neglect black womens experiences of the family of radical oppression. Instead the black family vide the black family positively as a source of support and resistances against racism
  However, other feminists argue that difference feminism neglects the fact that all women share many of the same experiences. For examine, they al, face a risk of domestic violence and sexual assault, low pay etc

Question 34

The new right perspective on the family

Answer 34

The new right us a political standpoint rather than a sociological perspective.
- they promote a family ideology, promoting a set of ideas about what constitutes an ideal family
- this ideal is the traditional, nuclear family:
Married heterosexual parents
Biological children
Male=breadwinner
Female=housewife

Question 35

The golden age of the family - the new right perspective

Answer 35

• the new right believed that there was a golden age of the family un 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 maw
• since then the nuclear family has been in decline

Question 36

The decline of the nuclear family

Answer 36

Since the 1960s the new right believe that there has been a decline in traditional family values encourage by the state.
Such as:
- legalisation of abortion, encouraged promiscuity range than stable relationships
- contraceptive pill being available in prescription
- equal pay legalisation regarding equality and equal pay took women away from home and their natural career as a mother
- 1969 divorce reform act