Theories Of The Family Flashcards

Question

Functionalist perspective on family Evidence against Parsons Is the extended family no longer important in the modern society Wilmot and Young

Answer 1

Willmot and Young argue that from 1900 the nuclear family emerged as a result of social changes like higher standards of living that made the extended family less important.

Answer 2

Marxist institutions such as education and family is helping to maintain class inequality and capitalism, the functions of the family are performed, purely for the benefit of the capitalist system.

Answer 3

The key factor determining the shape of all social institutions is the mode of production, this is who owns and control societies productive forces. Modern society It is a capitalist class that owns and controls the means of production.

Answer 4

Marxists called the earliest class society, “primitive communism”. There were no private property, and all members of society own the means of production communally.

Answer 5

During classless society, there were no family as such. Instead, there existed, what Frederick calls the promiscuous horde or tribe in which there were no restrictions on sexual relationships.

Answer 6

As the forces of production developed, societies wealth increased as well as the development of private property. a class of men emerged who were able to secure control of the means of production, brought the patriarchal monogamous nuclear family

Answer 7

Monogamy became essential because of the inheritance of private property. Men had to be certain of the paternity of their children in order to assume that their legitimate as inherited from them.

Answer 8

Monogamy is a relationship with only one partner at a time rather than multiple partners. This relationship can be sexual or emotional, but usually both.

Answer 9

The rise of monogamous families represented a “defeat of female sex because it brought the woman’s sexuality under male control and turned her into an “instrument for the production of children”

Answer 10

Marxist argue that only with the overthrow of capitalism and private ownership of the means of reproduction will women achieve liberation from patriarchal control.

Answer 11

A class of society will be established when the means of production, our own collectively, and there will no longer be in need for the patriarchal family, As there were no longer need to have means of transmitting private property down the generations

Answer 12

Ideology mean a set of ideas or beliefs that justify inequality and maintain the capitalist system by persuading people to accept it is fair, natural or unchangeable

Answer 13

Families justify inequality by socialising children into the idea that hierarchy and inequality are inevitable. Parental power over children, accustoms their idea that there is always someone in charge which prepares them for working life.

Answer 14

The family performs an ideological function by offering an apparent “Haven” from the harsh and exploited work of capitalism, outside in which workers can be themselves and have a private life.

Answer 15

Capitalism exploits the labour of workers, making a profit by selling the products of the labour for more than it pays them to produce these commodities. The family therefore plays a major role in generating profits for capitalists.

Answer 16

The media target children ‘pester power’ to persuade their parents to spend more. Children who lack the latest clothes, or must have gadgets and mocks and stigmatised by their peers.

Answer 17

-Inheritance of private property -Socialisation into acceptance of inequality -A source of profits These functions benefit capitalism, but do not benefit the members of the family.

Answer 18

Marxists assume that the nuclear family is dominant in capitalist society. However, this ignores the wide variety of family structures found in society today like extended families.

Answer 19

Feminist argued that the Marxist emphasis on class and capitalism underestimates the importance of gender inequalities within the family. feminist argue that the family primarily serves the interest of men not capitalism.

Answer 20

They argue that it oppresses women and they have focused on issues such as unequal division of domestic labour and domestic violence against women. They do not regard gender inequality as natural or inevitable, but something created by society

Answer 21

Liberal feminists can see greater equality in private domestic environments like family and suggest that feminist should focus on campaigning for gender equality and social policies which will improve equality in the workplace.

Answer 22

They argue that women’s oppression is being gradually overcome through changing peoples attitudes and through changes in law, such as the sex discrimination act in 1975, which outlaw discrimination in employment.

Answer 23

They believe we are moving towards greater equality, but that full equality would depend on further reforms and changes and attitudes and socialisation patterns of both sexes

Answer 24

They hold a view that there is a March of progress. But they don’t believe full gender equality has yet been achieved in the family. studies suggest that men are doing more domestic labour and the way parent socialise boys and girls are more equal.

Answer 25

Other feminist criticise liberal feminists for failing to challenge the underlying causes of women’s oppression, and for believing that changes in the law and peoples attitudes will be enough to bring equality.

Answer 26

Mark is feminist argue that the main cause of women’s oppression in the family is not men but capitalism, women’s oppressions performs several functions for capitalism.

Answer 27

1. The reproduce the labour force through the unpaid domestic labour 2. Absorb anger that would otherwise be directed at capitalism e.g Fran Ansley 3. Women are a reserve army of cheap labour that can be taken on when extra work is needed.

Answer 28

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

Answer 29

Radical feminist argue that all societies have been founded on patriarchy, and the key division in society is between men and women.

Answer 30

Men are the enemy, and they are the source of women’s oppression and exploitation. The family marriage are the key institutions in patriarchal society and men benefit from women’s unpaid domestic work.

Answer 31

For radical feminist, the patriarchal system needs to be overturned. They see the family as the root of women’s oppression which must be abolished. They argue that the only way of achieving this is through separatism.

Answer 32

Where women organise themselves to live independently from men.

Answer 33

Many radical feminist argue for political lesbianism. The idea that heterosexual relationships are inevitably oppressive because they involve sleeping with the enemy.

Answer 34

Germaine argues for the creation of all female households as an alternative to the heterosexual family.

Answer 35

Radical feminist failed to recognise that women’s position has improved considerably with better access to divorce and job opportunities. Somerville argues that heterosexual attraction makes it unlikely that separatism would work.

Answer 36

Difference feminists argue that we cannot generalise about women’s experiences as they argue that lesbian and heterosexual woman, black and white women, middle-class and working class, women have very different experiences of the family.

Answer 37

Regarding the family negatively, white feminists neglect black women’s experiences of racial oppression. black feminists view the black family positively as a source of support and resistance against racism.

Answer 38

Other feminists argue that different feminism neglect the fact that all women share many of the same experiences. Eg. Risk of domestic violence and sexual assault.

Answer 39

- They tend to assume that the traditional nuclear family is the dominant family. - They are all structural theories and assume that families are never members are simply passive puppet

Answer 40

They argue that to understand the family we need to focus on the meanings as members give to their relationships and situations rather than the families supposed functions.

Answer 41

The personal life perspective is new and is strongly influenced by interaction ideas, the perspective shares are “bottom up” approach, which emphasises the meanings that individual family members hold, and how they shape their actions.

Answer 42

The personal life perspective takes a wider view of relationships, then just traditional family relationships based on blood on marriage.

Answer 43

A woman who may not feel close to her own sister, may be unwilling to help her in a crisis, however, at the same time, she may be willing to care for someone who she is not related to. Without knowing what each of these relationships has for her, we would not be able to understand how she may act.

Answer 44

By focusing on peoples meanings, attention is drawn to a range of other personal or intimate relationships that are important important to people, even though they may not be conventionally defined as family

Answer 45

Relationships with friends, relationships with friends who are treated as relatives, gay and lesbian chosen families, relationships with dead relatives and relationships with pets

Answer 46

Found in her study of children’s Visa family relationships that children frequently saw their pets as part of the family.

Answer 47

These relationships raise questions about what counts as family. Petra and Carols research on conceived children explore what counts as family when your child shares a genetic link with a relative stranger.

Answer 48

They found the issue of blood and genes, raising a range of feelings. Some parents emphasise the importance of social relationships over genetic ones in forming family bonds.

Answer 49

Erin, the mother of an egg donor conceived child defined being a Mum in terms of time and effort she put into raising a child.

Answer 50

Difficult feel good flower for a non-genetic partner. If somebody remarks that child looked like them. Differences in appearance. Also led to parents to wonder about the donors identity and whether they counted as family.

Answer 51

Where couples knew their donor, they had to resolve other questions about who counted his family, do the donors parents count as grandparents of a donor conceived child.

Answer 52

Lesbian couples face additional problems which includes concerns about a quality between the genetic and non-genetic mothers and that the donor might be treated as the real second parent.

Answer 53

The study illustrates the value of the personal life perspective, as compared with the top down structural approaches and helps us to understand how people constructing to find their relationships as family.

Answer 54

critics argue that by including a wide range of different kinds of personal relationships, we ignore what is special about relationships are based on blood or marriage. And their view is too broad.

Answer 55

The perspective sees intimate relationships as performing the important function of providing us with a sense of belonging like functionalism. However, perspective recognises that relatedness is not always positive.