Topic 3- Theories of the Family Flashcards
who argued that the family performed 4 essential functions for society?
- murdock
what are the 4 essential functions murdock says that family performs for society?
- satisfaction of the sex drive with the SAME partner
- reproduction of the next nation
- socialisation of the young into shared norms and values
- meeting its members’ societal needs like food and shelter
what type of family does murdock believe it has to be in order to perform the 4 essential functions for society?
nuclear family
give 3 criticisms of murdock’s explanation for the need for a nuclear family in order to perform the 4 essential functions of society
- other family structures can perform the functions
- marxists and faminists view his explanation as a rose tinted harmonious consensus view that family meets wider societal needs
- functionalism neglects conflict and exploitation
what do feminists view family as
serving the needs of men and oppressing women
what do marxists argue about the family?
- it meet the needs of capitalism not of singular members or society as a whole
explain parsons’ functional fit theory
- family structures change along with society and that each type of family is created to ‘fit’ society at the time.
what 2 types of family structure did parsons identify?
explain what they are
- nuclear family- parents and dependent children
- extended family- 3 generations under one roof
what type of society does the extended family fit?
- pre industrial family
what type of society does nuclear family fit?
- modern industrial society
what are the 2 essential needs of an industrial society?
- a geographical mobile workforce
- a socially mobile workforce
why is the nuclear family better suited for a mobile geographical workforce?
and why
- easier for the nuclear family to relocate to new jobs
- cheaper
- less confusing (old parents)
- less to move
why is the nucler family better to have a socially mobile workforce?
- in an extended family in pre-industrial times, adult sons lived in their father’s house-their father
had a higher status as this was ascribed. - Modern industrial society relies on a skilled workforce to cope with changes in technology.
The best people need to fill the most important jobs-status is achieved. - EG.the son of a labourer may become a doctor through their efforts and ability.
- the best solution is the nuclear family- sons leave home once married.This encourages social
mobility. - There are no binding obligations to them in a nuclear family as there would have been in pre-Industrial society.
- The nuclear family is better equipped to meet the needs of modern Industrial society.
give 3 pieces of evidence against parsons’ functional fit theory and family structures
- young and wilmott found that the pre industrial family was nuclear with parents and children working together in cottage industry
- young and wilmott use exchange theory to explain that the industrial period had a rise of mum centred families where mothers and married daughters relied on eachother and individuals break off or maintain ties between them
- extended family has not diappeared and continues to exist providing financial support, childcare and emotional support
explain the loss of functions as family structures move
- the pre industrial family was a unit of production and cosumption and more self sufficient
- industrialisation caused the families to lose functions
- the modern industrial famiy was a unit of consumption only as work moved to factories
- as a result the nuclear family specialised in performing 2 functions
what are the 2 functions the modern nuclear family performs?
- primary socialisation of children to integrate them into wider society
- the stabilisation of adult personalities where tensions are relaxed to return to the workplace refreshed which is functional for the efficiency of the economy
what are the 3 functions that marxists see the family as fulfilling for capitalism
- inheritance of property
- ideological functions
- unit of consumption
how does the inheritance of private property help serve the needs of capitalism?
name one sociologist
engels
* family had a clear economic function for capitalism, by ensuring that wealth remained in the hands of the bourgeoisie.
* Family relations, based on clear legal contracts, facilitate inheritance and therefore when rich people die it is their children who keep hold of their wealth.
* made sure social mobility couldn’t occur as the wealth was passed to their own generation
how does ideological functions in family help to serve the needs of capitalism?
- The family does this by socialising children into the idea that hierarchy and inequality are inevitable.
- Parental power over children presents the idea that there will always be someone in charge-usually a man.
- This prepares them for working life- to accept orders from their capitalist employers.
how does the idea that family is a unit of consumption help to serve the needs of capitalism?
3 ways
- the family plays a role in generating profits as it is the market for the sale of consumer goods
- capitalist advertising urges families to buy the latest products
- the media target children who put pressure on parents to spend more
- children who are mocked by peers for not having the latest items ‘must have’ them
what are 3 criticisms about marxist’s approach to family serving the needs of capitalism?
- assumes the nuclear family is dominant and ignores wider society
- feminists say marxists emphasise class and underestimates gender inequalities. they say they are more fundamental than class inequalities as family serves the needs of men not capitalism
- functionalists argue that marxists ignore the benefits that family provides for its members
what are the 4 main types of feminists who have perspectives of the family
- liberal
- marxist
- radical
- difference
what do liberal feminists say about the family
- Liberal feminists argue that most of those battles for legal equality have been won, however there is clearly still inequality between the sexes
- while families currently play a part in the oppression of women, they do not have to: it is possible to have family life and gender equality.
what do radical feminists say about the family?
- all societies have been founded by men and are ruled by them
- men are the enemy
- family and marriage are the key institutions in patriarchal society
- the only way to abolish women’s oppression is through separatism
- they have to live without men in political lesbianism and not ‘sleep with the enemy’
