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Sociology- Family > Theories on the family > Flashcards

Theories on the family Flashcards

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Sociology 101 flashcards
1
Q

5How functionalists view the family

A
  • believe it helps with the essential smooth running of society
  • Murdoch (1949) family is so useful to society that you cant avoid family units and that they’re everywhere
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2
Q

Murdoch (1949): family has 4 key functions

A
  • studied 250 societies in different cultures and found the nuclear family in all of them performing 4 key functions:
    -Sexual, reproductive, economic, educational
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3
Q

Murdoch: reproductive

A

Provide new members of society

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4
Q

Murdoch: sexual

A

provides a stable sexual relationship for adults and controls the sexual relationships of its members

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5
Q

Murdoch: Economic

A

The family uses resources and provides for all its members, adults and children. They’re consumers

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6
Q

Murdoch: Educational

A

The family teaches children the norms and values of society, which keeps the values of society going

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7
Q

Parsons (1950): family has two key functions

A

He argued the family had two vital and basic functions:
- primary socialisation of children
-stabilisation of the adult personalities

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8
Q

Primary socialisation

A

-where children learn and accept the values and norms of society
-families are ‘factories’ where the next citizens are produced

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9
Q

stabilisation of the adult personalities

A
  • the emotional relationship between parents help stablise their personalities
  • they give the support and security needed to cope in wider society as it acts as a sanctuary from the stress of everyday life
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10
Q

Functionalist criticisms: idealising the family

A

Morgan (1975) murdoch makes no reference to alternative households, disharmony and problems in family relationships

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11
Q

Functionalist criticisms: Doesnt consider more prominent aspects of the family

A
  • this view was dominant in the 1960s
  • Neither Murdoch or Parsons look at the issues of class, conflict or violence in relation to the family
  • feminists argue they ignored the issue of exploitation of women
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12
Q

Functionalist criticisms: Functionalists may look weak

A
  • overlook negative aspects of family life makes their position look weak
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13
Q

How marxists view the family

A
  • think it meets the needs of capitalist society
    -performs essential functions for the bourgeoisie and the economy
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14
Q

Engles (1884) marxist: economic function

A
  • keep wealth within the rich by passing it on through inheritance
  • rich people die kids get their money, there is no social mobility because of the family
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15
Q

Zaretsky (1976) marxist: helps capitalist economy

A
  • family is place where prolateriat can have power and control
  • when the working man gets home he is the king of his own castle
  • home is where they can release their frustration about being exploited
  • means theyre more likely to accept their oppression and not challenge the powerful
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16
Q

Marxist: womens role as a housewife

A
  • women being housewives means that employers are cared for and healthy
  • makes them more productive and beneficial towards the capitalist employers (free gain)
17
Q

Marxist: family unit is used to buy good from the powerful

A
  • they have the desire to buy goods produced by capitalist industry
  • theyre a unit of compulsion who want to have the nicest latest things in society
  • bourgeoisie profit
18
Q

Marxist criticisms: too negative

A
  • doesnt consider the nice aspects of families like trips bedtime stories or memories made
19
Q

Marxist criticisms: only focuses on economic benefit

A
  • focuses on benefits of the economy and to the ‘boss’
  • ignores other benefits to individuals and society (example)
20
Q

Marxist criticisms: no research on alternatives to the family

A
  • no marxist explanation as to why the family flourishes as an institution in non-capitalist societies
  • little research on alternatives to the family/ different types
21
Q

How feminists view the family

A
  • the family opresses and exploits women
22
Q

Feminists view: maintains social order

A
  • the family helps maintain existing social order
  • this existing order is patriarchy which is a combination of systems ideologies and culture that makes sure men have the power
23
Q

Feminists view: socialised to be dependent on men

A
  • women are oppressed because they have been socialised to be dependent on men
  • male and female roles and expectations in the family are carried out into wider society
  • there is an ideology about mens roles and females roles in the family
24
Q

Marxist feminist view

A
  • exploitation of women key to the success of capitalism
  • women provide free housework and reproduce next gen of workers
  • if women work they still do most the household work unpaid ( triple shift)
  • Benston: if household work given minimum wage there would be lots of damage to capitalist profits
25
Q

Radical feminist view

A
  • exploitation of women though housework is through men dominating in society
  • Delphy and leonard: the patriachal institution means women do most the work and men get most the benefits
26
Q

Liberal feminist view

A
  • emphasise the norms and values reinforced by the family
  • supports mainstream culture which is sexist
  • they believe social change is possible through the legal systems and governement to stop discrimination against women
27
Q

Feminist view criticisms: too passive

A
  • plays down the ability of individual women to make changes and improve their situation
28
Q

Feminist view criticisms: shared power

A
  • doesn’t consider that power may be shared within the family
29
Q

Feminist view criticisms: doesnt consider families that may not have men in them

A
  • dont consider families that dont have men and women partnerships
  • power sturctures in other family types dont get looked at
30
Q

Feminist view criticisms: women from different ethnic backgrounds

A
  • women from different ethnic backgrounds may have different life experiences
31
Q

The new right view of the family

A
  • the nuclear family is the bedrock of society
  • based on the idea that traditional nuclear families and their values are the best for society
32
Q

The new right view:
social policies

A
  • say that social policies on the family, children and divorce have undermined the values of the family
33
Q

The new right view: Charles Murray

A
  • welfare benefits are too high so there is a ‘culture of dependency’
  • individuals find it easy to accept benefits rather than work
34
Q

The new right view:
welfare state and mothers

A
  • concerned about giving welfare benefits to single mothers
  • bad idea to bring children up in families where adults arent working
35
Q

The new right view:
breakdown in traditional values

A
  • increase in lone parents and reconsituted families and easier access to divorce means the traditional values of family is lost
  • causes other social problems like crime to increase
35
Q

The new right view: criticisms

A
  • they blame the victims for their problems
36
Q

Postmodern view of the family

A
  • much wider range of living options because of social cultural changes
    -traditional nuclear, lone parent, single people flat sharing and divorced people
37
Q

Postmodern view: Judith stacey (1990)

A
  • as there is so much diversity there will never be one dominant family type again
  • family structures in western world are varied and flexible
  • can move from one family type to another and not get fixed in one structure
  • choose from different options to see what best suits their needs and arent harmed by tradition
38
Q

postmodern view criticism: O’brien and jones (1996)

A
  • questions whether movement through different family types is really typical
  • from UK research they found that there arent as many family types as stacey reported
  • most individuals actually experience only one or two types of family in their lifetimes

Sociology- Family (5 decks)

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