Theories Of The Family

Question 1

The functionalist perspective on the family

Answer 1

• functionalist believe that society is based on a value consensus - a set of shared norms and values - into which society socialises its members. This enables them to cooperate harmoniously to meet societies needs and achieve shared goals
• functionalist regard society as a system made up of different parts or sub systems that depend on each other, such as the family, the education system and the economy. Functionalist often compare society to a biological organism like the human body
• e.g, just as organs such as the heart or lungs person functions vital to the well being of the body as a whole, so the family meets some of societies essential needs, such as the need to socialise children
• functionalists see the family as particularly important sub system - a basic building block of society. E.g, Murdock argues that the family persons 4 essential functions to meet the needs of society and its members

Question 2

Murdock four key functions

Answer 2

1. Sex - with the same partner, preventing the social disruption caused by a sexual ‘free for all’
2. Reproduction - without which society could not continue
3. Socialisation - into societies shared norms and values
4. Economic - such as food and shelter

Question 3

Criticisms of Murdock

Answer 3

• Murdock accepts that other institutions could perform these functions. However, he argues that the sheer practicality of the nuclear family as a way of meeting these four needs explains why it is universal - found in all human societies without exception
• however, while few sociologists would doubt that most of these are important functions, some argue that they could be performed equally well by other institutions, or by non nuclear family structures
• other have criticised Murdocks approach. Marxist and feminist reject his ‘rose tinted’ harmonious consensus view that the family meets the needs of both wider society and all the different members of the family. They argue that functionalism neglects conflict and exploitation:
• feminists - see the family as serving the needs of men and oppressing women
• Marxist - argue that it meets the needs of capitalism, not those of family members or society as a whole

Question 4

Parsons ‘function fit’ theory

Answer 4

• apart from the functions identified by Murdock, the family may meet other needs too. E.g, it may perform welfare, military, political or religious functions. In the view of parsons, the functions that the family performs will depend on the kind of society in which it’s found.
• furthermore, the functions that the family has to perform will affect its ‘shape’ pr structure. Parsons distinguishes between two kinds of family structure:
  1. The nuclear family - of just parents and their children
  2. The extended family - of three generations living under one roof
• parsons argues that the particular structure and functions of a given type of family will ‘fit’ the needs of society in which it is found
• according to parson, there are two basic types of society - modern industrial society and traditional pre industrial society. He argues that the nuclear family fits the needs of industrial society and is the dominant family type in that society, while the extend family fits the needs of pre industrial society.
• in parsons view, when Britain began to industrialise, from the late 18th century onwards, the extend family began to give way to the nuclear. This was because the emerging industrial society had different needs from pre industrial society, and the family had to adapt to meet these needs. Parsons sees industrial society as having two essential needs
  1. A geographically mobile workforce
  2. A socially mobile workforce

Question 5

1. A geographically mobile workforce

Answer 5

• in traditional pre industrial society, people often spent their whole lives living in the same village, working on the same farm. By contrast, in modern society, industries constantly spring up and decline in different parts of the country, even different parts of the world, and this requires people to move to where the jobs are
• parsons argues that it is easier for the compact two generation nuclear family to move, than for three generation extended family. The nuclear family is better fitted to the need that modern industry has for a geographically mobile workforce

Question 6

2. A socially mobile workforce

Answer 6

• modern industrial society is based on constantly evolving science and technology and so it requires a skilled, technically competent workforce. It is therefore essential that talented people are able to win promotion and take on the most important jobs, even if they come from very humble backgrounds.
• in modern society, an individuals status is achieved by their own efforts and ability, not ascribed by their social and family background, and this makes social mobility possible. E.g, the son of a labourer can become a doctor or lawyer through ability and hard work
• for this reason, parson argues, the nuclear family is better equipped to meet the needs of industrial society. In the extended family, adult sons live at home in their fathers house - where the father has a higher ascribed status as head of the household
• however, at work the son may have a higher achieved status than his father. This would inevitably give rise to tensions and conflict if they both lived under the same roof
• the solution therefore is for adult sons to leave the home when they marry and form their own nuclear family. The nuclear family therefore encourages social mobility as well as geographical mobility
• the result is the mobile nuclear family, which is ‘structurally isolated’ from its extended relatives. Though it may key in touch with them, it has no binding obligation’s towards them - unlike the pre industrial extend family, where relatives had an overriding duty to help one another

Question 7

Loss of functions

Answer 7

• the pre industrial family was a multifunctional unit e.g, it was both a unit of production in which family members worked together, e.g, on the family farm. It was a more self sufficient unit than the modern nuclear family, providing for its members health and welfare and meeting most individual and social needs
• however according to parsons, when society industrialises, the family not only changes its structure from,m extended to nuclear, it also loses many of its functions
• e.g, the family ceases to be a unit of production: work moves into the factories and the family becomes a unit of consumption only. It also loses most of its other functions to other institutions, such as schools and the health service
• in persons view, as a result of this loss of functions, the modern nuclear family comes to specialise in performing just two essential or ‘irreducible’ functions”
• the primary socialisation of children and the stabilisation of adult personalities

Question 8

The primary socialisation of children

Answer 8

• to equip them with basic skills and society’s values, to enable them to cooperate with others and begin to integrate them into society

Question 9

The stabilisation of adult personalities

Answer 9

• the family is a place where adults can relax and release tensions, enabling them to return to the workplace refreshed and ready to meet its demands. This is functional for the efficiency of the economy

Question 10

The Marxists perspective on the family

Answer 10

• while functionalists see society as based on value consensus, Marxist sociologists see capitalist soctue as based on an unequal conflict between two social classes:
• the capitalist class - who own the means of production
• the working class - whose labour the capitalist exploit for profit
• Marxists see all society’s institutions, such as the education system, the media, religion and the state, along with family, as helping to maintain class inequality and capitalism
• thus, 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 whole and the individual members of the family
• Marxist have identified several functional that they see the family as fulfilling for capitalism:
  1. Inheritance of property
  2. Ideological functions
  3. A unit of consumption

Question 11

1. Inheritance of property

Answer 11

• 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. In modern society, it is the capitalist class that owns and controls these means of production. As the mode of production evolves, so too does the family
• Marx called the earliest classless society, ‘primitive communism’. In this society, there was no private property. Instead, there existed what engles called the ‘promiscuous horde’, in which there were no restrictions on sexual relationships

Question 12

Private property

Answer 12

• however, as the forces of production developed, society’s wealth began to increase. Along with increased 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.
• in 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 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’
• Marxist argue that only 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 13

2. Ideological functions

Answer 13

• Marxist argue that the 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 in which the family does this is by socialising children into the idea that hierarchy and inequality are inevitable. Parental power over children accustoms the to the idea that there always has to be someone in charge and this prepares them for a working in life in which they will accept orders from their capitalist employers
• according to zaretsky, the family also performs an ideological function by offering an apparent ‘haven’ from the harsh and exploitive world of capitalism outcome, 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. E.g, it is based on the domestic servitude of women

Question 14

3. A unit of consumption

Answer 14

• 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, sine it is an important market for the sale of consumers goods:
• advertisers urge families to ‘keep up with the joneses’ by consuming all the latest products
• 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: inheritance of private property, socialisation into acceptance of inequality, and a source of profits. In the Marxist view, whole these may benefit capitalism, they do not benefit the members of the family

Question 15

Criticism of the Marxist perspective

Answer 15

• Marxists tend to assume that the nuclear family is dominant in capitalist societies. Thus ignores the wide variety of family structures found in society today
• feminist argue that the Marxist emphasises on class and capitalism underestimates the importance of gender inequalities within the family. In the feminist view, these are more fundamental than class inequalities and the family primarily severe the interest of men, not capitalism
• functionalist argue that Marxist ignore the very real benefits that the family provides for its membes

Question 16

Feminist perspective on the family

Answer 16

• like Marxists, feminist take a critical view of the family. They argue that it oppresses women, they have focused on issues such as the unequal dividing of domestic labour and domestic violence against women. They do not regard gender inequality as natural or inevitable, but as something created by society
• however, feminism is a broad term covering serval types. Each types approaches the family in a different way and offers different solutions to the problem of gender inequality.
  1. Liberal
  2. Marxist
  4. Radical
  5. Difference

Question 17

1. Liberal feminism

Answer 17

• liberal feminist are concerned with campaigning against sex discrimination and for equal rights and opportunities for women
• they argue that women’s oppression is being gradually overcome through changing peoples attitudes and through changes in law such as sex discrimination act, which outlaws discrimination in employment
• they believe 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
• in terms of the family, they hold a view similar to that of ‘March of progress’ theorists such as young and willmott. Although liberal feminist do not believe full gender equality has yet been achieved in the family, they argue that there has been gradual progress
• e.g, some studies suggest that men are doing more domestic labour, whole the way parents now socialise their sons and daughters is more equal than in the past and they now have similar aspirations for them
• however, other feminist criticise liberal feminist for failing to challenge the underlying causes of women’s oppression and for believing that changes in the law or in peoples attitudes will be enough to bring equality. Marxist and radical feminist believe instead that far reaching changes to deep rooted social structures are needed

Question 18

2. Marxists feminist

Answer 18

• Marxist feminist argue that the main cause of women oppression in the family is not men, but capitalism. Women oppression performs serval functions for capitalism:
• woken 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 be otherwise directed at capitalism. Ansley deprived wives as ‘takers of shit’ who soak up the frustration their husbands feel because of the alienation and exploitation they suffer at work. For Marxist, this explains male domestic violence against women
• women are a reserved army of cheap labour - that can be taken on when extra workers are needed, when no longer needed, employers can ‘let them go’ to return to their primary role as unpaid domestic labour
• Marxist feminist see the oppression of women in the family as inked to the exploitation of the working class. They argue that the family must be abolished at the same time as socialist revolution replaces capitalism with a classless society

Question 19

3. Radical feminism

Answer 19

• radical feminists argue that all societies have been founded on patriarchy - rule by men. For radical feminist, 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 for the threat of it
• for radical feminist, the patriarchal system needs to be overturned. In particular, the family, which they see as the root of women 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
• many radical feminist argue for ‘political lesbianism’ - the idea that heterosexual relationships are inevitably oppressive because they involve ‘sleeping with the enemy’. Similarly, Greer argues f9r the creation of a;; female or ‘matrilocal’ households as an alternative to the heterosexual family
• however, for liberal feminists such as Somerville, radical feminists fail to recognises that women’s position has improved considerably - with better access to divorce, better job opportunities, control over their own fertility, and the ability to choose whether to marry or cohabit
• Somerville also argues that heterosexual attraction makes it unlikely that separatism would work
• however, Somerville does recognise that women have yet to achieve full equality. She argues that there is a need for ‘family friendly’ policies, such as more flexible working, to promote greater equality between partners

Question 20

4. Difference feminism

Answer 20

• the feminist approaches we have considered so far all tend to assume that most women live in conventional nuclear families and that they share similar experiences of family life
• however, difference feminists argue that we cannot generalise about women’s experiences. They argue that lesbian and heterosexual women, white and black women, middle class and working class women, have very different experiences of the family from one another
• e.g, by regarding the family purely negatively, white feminist neglect black women’s experience of racial oppression. Instead, black feminist view the black family positively as a source of support and resistance against racism
• however, other feminist argue that different feminism neglects the fact that all women share many of the same experiences. E.g, they all face a risk of domestic violence and sexual assault, low pay and so on

Question 21

The personal life perspective on families

Answer 21

• as we have seen, there are major difference between functionalist, Marxist and feminist theories of the family. However, the personal life perspective argues that they all suffer from two weaknesses:
  1. They tend to assume that the traditional nuclear family is the dominant family type - this ignores increased diversity of families today. Compared with 50 years ago, many more people now live in other families, such as lone parent families, stepfamilies and so on.
  2. They are all structural theories - that is, they assume that families and their members are simply passive puppets manipulated by the structure of society to perform certain functions - e.g, to provide the economy with a mobile labour fore, to serve the needs of capitalism or of men
• sociologists influenced by interactionists and postmodernist perspectives reject the structural view. They argue that structural theories ignore the fact that we have some choice in creating our family relationships
• they argue that to understand the family today, we must focus on the meanings its members give to their relationships and situations, rather than on the family’s supposed ‘functions’

Question 22

The sociology of personal life

Answer 22

• the sociology of personal life is new perspective on families. It is strongly influenced by interactionists ideas and argues that to understand families, we mistakenly start from the point of view of the individuals concerned and the meanings they give to their relationships. This contrast with the other perspectives we have looked at in this topic:
• functionalism, Marxism and feminism all take a ‘top down’ structural approach
• by contrast, the personal life perspective she was the ‘bottom up’ approach of Interactionism. It emphasises the meanings that individual family members hold and how these shape their actions and relationships

Question 23

Beyond ties of blood and marriage

Answer 23

• as well as taking a bottom up approach to relationships, the personal lifer perspective also takes a wider view of relationships than just traditional ‘family’ relationships based on blood or marriage ties
• e.g, a woman who may not feel close to her sister and may be unwilling to help her in a crisis, may at the same time be willing to care for someone to whom she is not related too. Without knowing what meaning each of these relationships has for her, we would not be able to understand how she might act
• by focusing on people’s meanings, the personal life perspective draws attention to a rage of other personal or intimate relationships that are important to people even though they may not be be conventionally defined as ‘family’. These include all kinds of relationships that individuals see as significant and that give them a sense of identity, belonging or relatedness. Such as:
• relationships with friends - who may be ‘like a sister or brother’ to you
• fictive kin - close friends who are treated as relatives, for example your mums best friend who you call ‘auntie’
• gay and lesbian ‘chosen families’ - made up of a supportive network of close friends, ex partners and others, who are not related by blood or marriage
• relationships with dead relatives - who love on in peoples memories and continue to shape their identities and affect their actions
• even relationships with pets - tipper found in her study of children’s views of family relationships, that children frequently saw their pets as ‘part of their family’
• these and similar relationships raise questions about what counts as family from the point of view of the individuals Involved. E.g, smarts research on donor conceived children explores ‘what counts as family when your child shares a genetic link with a ‘relative stranger’, but not with your partner?

Question 24

Donor conceived children

Answer 24

• in their research, smart found that the issue of blood and genes raised a range of feelings. Some parents empathises the importance of facial relationships over genetic ones in forming family bonds.
• for example, mother of an egg donor conceived child, defined being a mum in terms of the time and effort she put into raising her daughter ‘that’s what makes a mother and not the cell that starts it off’
• however, difficult feelings could flare up for a non genetic parent if somebody remarked that the child looked like them. Differences in appearance could also led parents to wonder about the donors identity, about possible ‘donor siblings’ and whether these counted as family for their child
• where couple know their donor, they had to resolve other question about who counted as family. Do the donors parents count as grandparents of a donor conceived child?
• for lesbian couples, there was additional problems. These included concerns about equality between the genetic and non genetic mothers and that the donor might be treated as the ‘real’ second parent

Question 25

Evaluation of the personal life perspective

Answer 25

• smart study illustrates the value of personal life perspective as compared with top down, structural approaches. To helps us to understand how people themselves construct and define their relationships as ‘family’; rather than imposing traditional sociological definitions of the family from the outside
• however, the personal life perspective can be accused of taking too broad a view. Critics argue that, by including a wide range of different kinds of personal relationships, we ignore what is special about relationships and that are based on blood or marriage
• the personal life perspective rejects the top down view taken by other perspectives, Cush as functionalism.
• nevertheless, it does see intimate relationships as performing the important function of providing us with a sense of belonging and relatedness
  -however, unlike functionalism, the personal life perspective recognises that relatedness is not always positive. E.g, people may be trapped in violent, abusive relationships or simply in ones where they suffer everyday unhappiness, hurt or lack of respect