Topic 3 - Theories of the family

Question 1

What do functionalists believe society is based on?

Answer 1

a value consensus - a set of shared norms and values into which society socialises its members

Question 2

What were Murdock’s 4 essential functions of the family?

Answer 2

1) Stable satisfaction of the sex drive
2) Reproduction of the next generation
3) Socialisation of the young
4) Meeting its members economic needs

Question 3

How have Marxists and feminists criticised Murdock?

Answer 3

for having a ‘rose-tinted’ harmonious consensus view that ignores conflict and exploitation

Question 4

what do feminists argue that family serves the need of?

Answer 4

the needs of men and oppressing women

Question 5

What do Marxists argue the family serves?

Answer 5

the needs of capitalism

Question 6

What is Parsons ‘functional fit’ theory?

Answer 6

the functions that the family performs depends on the kind of society it is found in

Question 7

What type of family fits the needs of pre-industrial society?

Answer 7

extended family

Question 8

What type of family fits the needs of modern industrial society?

Answer 8

nuclear family

Question 9

What two essential needs does industrial society have?

Answer 9

a geographically mobile workforce and a socially mobile workforce

Question 10

What functions did society lose after industrialisation?

Answer 10

family is no longer a unit of production and it loses functions to other institutions like schools and health services

Question 11

What are Parsons two ‘irreducible functions’?

Answer 11

The primary socialisation of children

The stabilisation of adult personalities - warm bath theory

Question 12

What do Marxists believe society is based on?

Answer 12

capitalist society is based on unequal conflict between the capitalist class and the working class

Question 13

What functions does the family have that Marxists believe fulfil the need of capitalism?

Answer 13

1) Inheritance of property
2) Ideological functions
3) A unit of consumption

Question 14

In Engel’s view, why did monogamy become essential?

Answer 14

because of inheritance of private property, men had to be sure of the paternity of their child

Question 15

In Engels’ view, how did the rise of the monogamous nuclear family represent the world historical defeat of the female sex?

Answer 15

it brought women’s sexuality under male control

Question 16

How does the family perform the key ideological functions of capitalism?

Answer 16

by socialising children into the idea that hierarchy and inequality are inevitable

Question 17

What does Zaretsky say the family offers?

Answer 17

offers workers a ‘haven’ from the exploitative, harsh world of capitalism
yet this is an illusion as it is based on the domestic servitude of women

Question 18

How is the family a ‘unit of consumption’?

Answer 18

• media target children who use ‘pester power’ on their parents
• advertisers urge families to ‘keep up with the Joneses’
• children who lack the latest clothes and must have gadgets are mocked by peers

Question 19

Why is the Marxist perspective criticised?

Answer 19

they tend to assume the nuclear family is dominant in capitalist society and ignores the variety of family structure

Question 20

How do feminists criticise the Marxist perspective?

Answer 20

The Marxists emphasise on class and capitalism underestimates that importance of gender inequality within the family

Question 21

How do functionalists criticise the Marxist perspective?

Answer 21

Marxists ignore the very real benefits that the family provides for its members

Question 22

What do Liberal feminists believe about the family?

Answer 22

That although full gender equality has not been achieved, there has been gradual progress

Question 23

What’s an example of progress they have found?

Answer 23

Men are now doing more domestic labour and parents now socialise their sons and daughters more equally

Question 24

Why are Liberal feminists criticised by other feminists?

Answer 24

for failing the challenge the underlying causes of women’s oppression and for believing legal changes will be enough to bring equality

Question 25

What do Marxists feminists believe about the family?

Answer 25

the main cause of women’s oppression in the family isn’t men, but capitalism

Question 26

How do women reproduce the labour force?

Answer 26

through unpaid domestic labour and socialising the next generation of workers

Question 27

Why does Fran Ansley describe women as the ‘takers of shit’?

Answer 27

the absorb the anger that would otherwise be directed at capitalism

Question 28

What are women a reserve army of?

Answer 28

cheap labour that can be taken on when extra workers are needed

Question 29

What does radical feminism argue that society has been founded on?

Answer 29

Patriarchy - the rule of men

Question 30

What do radical feminists see men as?

Answer 30

the enemy as they are the source of all of womens oppression and exploitation

Question 31

How does the family exploit women?

Answer 31

men take advantage of women’s unpaid domestic labour and sexual services

Question 32

What is radical feminists solution to the patriarchal family?

Answer 32

the family must be abolished and many feminists argue for ‘politcal lesbianism’ and ‘matrifocal households’

Question 33

What is ‘political lesbianism’?

Answer 33

the idea that heterosexual relationships are inevitably oppressive as they involve ‘sleeping with the enemy’

Question 34

How do liberal feminists criticise radical feminists?

Answer 34

radical feminists fail to recognise that women’s position has improved considerably

Question 35

What do difference feminists believe?

Answer 35

they argue that we cannot generalise all women’s experiences as lesbian and heterosexual women, white and black women, working class and middle class women, all have very difference experiences

Question 36

How is Black women’s experience in the family different to White women?

Answer 36

Black feminists view the Black family positively as a source of support and resistance against racism

Question 37

How is difference feminism criticised?

Answer 37

difference feminism neglects that women share many of the same experiences such as the risk of domestic violence and sexual assault

Question 38

How does the personal life perspective differ from the other view points?

Answer 38

it takes a bottom down approach and emphasises the meanings the individual family members hold
it also takes a wider view on relationships that just the traditional ‘family’ ties

Question 39

What other relationships do the personal life perspective see as family?

Answer 39

-friends
-fictive kin
-gay and lesbian ‘chosen families’
-dead relatives
-pets

Question 40

How is the personal life perspective criticised?

Answer 40

for taking a too broad of a view and by including a wide range of relationships. it ignores what is special about relationships based off blood or marriage