Topic 1 Sociological Perspectives (Part 1)

Question 1

Key features of the functionalist perspective?

Answer 1

-Functionalists believe that society is based on a value consensus, enabling cooperation to meet needs + shared goals.
-Regard society as a system made up of different sub-systems that depend on eachother
-Organic analogy; Functionalists often compare society to a biological organism, e.g. just as organs perform vital functions so does sub-systems like the family.

Question 2

According to Murdock (1949) what are the four essential functions for society performed by the family? (SEXUAL,REPRODUCTION,SOCIAL,ECONOMIC)

Answer 2

1.) Stable satisfaction of the sex drive; with the same partner, preventing social disruption.
2.) Reproduction of the next generation; without which = no society.
3.) Socialisation of the young; into shared norms + values.
4.) Meeting it’s members’ economic needs; food + shelter.

Question 3

Evaluation of Murdock

Answer 3

✅Accepts other institutions could perform these functions, argues the practicality of the nuclear family meeting these needs explain why it is universal.

❌They could be performed equally well by other institutions or non-nuclear families.
❌Feminists + Marxists argue functionalism neglects conflict + exploitation
❌Feminists see family as serving the needs of men + oppressing women.
❌Marxists argue it meets the need of capitalism.

Question 4

Parsons ‘functional fit’ theory

Answer 4

-The functions that the family performs depend on the kind of society.
-The functions that the family perform will affect it’s structure (Nuclear/Extended - 3 gen)
-The nuclear family fits the needs of the industrial society, while the extended family fits the needs of pre-industrial society.

Question 5

Parsons sees industrial society as having two essential needs:

Answer 5

1.) A geographically mobile workforce
2.) A socially mobile workforce

Question 6

1.) A geographically mobile workforce

Answer 6

-In pre-industrial society, people often spent their whole lives living in the same village.
-In modern society, industries spring up + decline in different parts of the world.
-Argues it is easier for the nuclear family to move to where jobs are.

Question 7

2.) A socially mobile workforce

Answer 7

-Modern society based on evolving science + tech, therefore talented people must be able to win promotion even if they come from humble backgrounds.
-status is achieved by efforts + ability and is not ascribed, making social mobility possible.
-The nuclear family is better equipped to meet these needs. In an extended family the father has an ascribed status, but the son may be gathering more income = conflict.
-The solution is social + geographic mobility = mobile nuclear family.

Question 8

Loss of functions

Answer 8

Pre-industrial family was a multi-functional unit (production + consumption) working in the farm and feeding each other etc.
-However according to Parsons when society industrialises, it loses many of it’s functions.

1.) Primary socialisation
2.) Stabilisation of adult personalities; how the family functions to relieve the stress of everyday living (warm-bath theory)

Question 9

Marxist perspective on the family

Answer 9

-Marxists see capitalist society as based on unequal conflict between two classes (Capitalist/Working - means of production + exploitation of labour)
-All societies institutions help to maintain class inequality + capitalism.
-Contrasting functionalists, Marxists argue the functions of the family are performed purely for the benefit of the capitalist system.

Question 10

1.) Inheritance of property

Answer 10

-The key factor determining the shape of all social institutions is the mode of production (In modern society, it is the capitalist class)
-Earliest, ‘classless society’ = primitive communism, where there was no private property + all members of society owned the mode of production.
-At this stage there was no ‘family’ instead there was no restrictions on sexual relationships.
-As the forces of production developed, society’s wealth ^ —> private property + a class of men who were able to secure control of the means of production.
-This eventually brought about the patriarchal nuclear family.
-Engels; monogamy became essential because of the inheritance of property.
-The rise of the monogamous nuclear family turned a women into “a mere instrument for the production of children”
-Marxists argue that the overthrow of capitalism + means of production will achieve women’s liberation.

Question 11

2.) Ideological functions

Answer 11

-The family socialises children into the idea that hierarchy + inequality are inevitable.
-Parental power over children accustoms them to the idea that there always has to be someone in charge + this prepares them for a working life.
-ALTHUSSER; suggested that the family is one of the ISA’S which are concerned with social control + passing on R/C ideology.
-ZERETSKY (1976); the family offers an apparent ‘haven’ from the harsh + exploitative world of capitalism. However he argues this is largely an illusion.

Question 12

3.) Unit of consumption

Answer 12

-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.
-Family therefore generates profits for capitalists (Advertisers advice family to keep up - consuming latest products, the media target children ‘pester power’, stigmatisation by peers when children don’t have latest products)

Question 13

Criticisms of the marxist perspective

Answer 13

-Marxists assume that the nuclear family is dominant in capitalist society + ignores the wide variety of family structures found in society today.
-Feminists argue they underestimate the importance of gender inequalities within the family.
-Functionalists argue they ignore the very real benefits that the family provides for it’s members.

Question 14

Feminist perspective of the family

Answer 14

-Feminists argue the family oppresses women.
-They do not regard gender inequality as natural or inevitable, but as something created by society.

Question 15

1.) Liberal feminism

Answer 15

-LF concerned with campaigning about sex discrimination + for equal rights.
-Women’s oppression can be overcome by changing people’s attitudes.
-Helped to bring about (1970) equal pay act + (1975) Sex discrimination act.
-Believe change can come about through different socialisation patterns, e.g, discouraging gender stereotyping.
-Believe gender inequality is gradually being achieved (power in family decisions + sharing of domestic chores)
-Oakley (1981) says gender inequality in the family is simply a product of discrimination by individuals + those who run institutions.

Question 16

Evaluation of liberal feminism

Answer 16

-Exaggerate the march of progress in families, with UK women still performing the majority of childcare + domestic chores.
-Some women may not benefit from legal changes due to other forms of discrimination.
-We cannot generalise (DF)

Question 17

2.) Marxist feminism

Answer 17

-MF argue the main cause of women’s oppressions in the family is patriarchy.
-Women produce the labour force, absorb anger and are a reserve army of cheap labour.

Question 18

3.) Radical feminism

Answer 18

-RF argue all societies have been founded on patriarchy.
-Men are the enemy: they are the source of women’s oppression + exploitation.
-The family + marriage are the key institutions in patriarchal society, with men benefitting from women’s unpaid domestic labour + from their sexual services.
-Men dominate women through Domestic + Sexual violence / threat.
-The patriarchal system + family must be abolished —> achieved through separatism.
-Many argue for ‘political lesbianism’ where heterosexual relationships are oppressive due to ‘sleeping with the enemy’

Question 19

What are the criticisms of radical feminism?

Answer 19

-LF Somerville (2000) argue RF fail to recognise that women’s position has improved; better access to divorce, job opportunities, control over fertility and the ability to choose whether to marry or cohabit.
-Somerville argues heterosexual attraction makes separatism impossible.

Question 20

4.) Difference feminism

Answer 20

-DF argue we cannot generalise women’s experiences,
-All women have different experience of the family.
-Regarding the family as negative, white feminists neglect black women’s experience of racial oppression.
-Instead, black feminists view the family as a source of support against racism.

Question 21

What are the criticisms of Difference feminism?

Answer 21

-Other feminists argue DF neglects the fact all women share many experiences.

Question 22

The sociology of personal life

Answer 22

-To understand families, we must start from the POV of the individuals concerned + the meanings they give to their relationships.
-Func, Marxism + Feminsism all take a ‘top down’ structural approach.
-The personal life perspective shares the ‘bottom up’ approach of interactionism, emphasising the meanings individual family members have.

Question 23

Beyond ties of blood and marriage

Answer 23

-The personal life perspective takes a wider view of relationships that just traditional ‘family’ relationships based on blood or marriage ties.
-E.G. A woman who may not feel close to her sister + may be unwilling to help her in a crisis, may at the same time care for someone whom she is not related.
-Without knowing what meaning each relationship has for her, we would not be able to understand how she might act.
-The PLP draws attention to a range of other personal or intimate relationships that are important to people even though they may not be ‘family’
-A family can be anything that people want it to be:
1.) Relationships with friends; ‘like a sister/brother’ to you
2.) Fictive kin; close friends treated as relatives
3.) Gay + lesbian ‘chosen families’; supportive network of close friends, ex partners + others who are not related by blood nor marriage.
4.) Relationships with dead relatives; who live on in memories + shape their identities and actions.
5.) Relationships with pets

Question 24

Evaluation of the personal life perspective

Answer 24

+Helps us to understand how people themselves construct + define their relationships as ‘family’.
-The personal life perspective can be accused of taking too broad a view. By including a wide range of different relationships, we ignore what is special about blood+marriage relations.
+The personal life perspective recognises that relatedness is not always positive, e.g. abusive relationships.