Topic 3 Theories on the family

Question 1

Functionalist theory - Murdock

Answer 1

Murdock:
The family is universal, found in all societies

1. Sexual - rules limit sex outside marriage in order to stabilise the social system,
2. Economic – in the past it was a unit of production eg: farming, now it is a unit of consumption – buying goods/services the family needs.
3. Reproduction - the reproduction of children,
4. Education – socialisation process, otherwise there would be no culture, no consensus about norms and values.

Question 2

Functionalist theory - Parsons

Answer 2

The nuclear family in modern industrial society became specialised; some functions like looking after the elderly had been taken over in industrialised societies by specialist institutions like social services.

It retains two functions: Only the family can perform these ‘basic and irreducible’ functions.

1. Primary socialisation of children – individuals must learn shared norms and values of society, otherwise society will break down if there is no consensus and
2. The stabilisation of adult personalities – unstable personalities can threaten the smooth running of society; marital partners provide emotional support and parents can indulge the childish side of their personalities. It provides release from stress. Only the family can perform these ‘basic and irreducible’ functions.

Question 3

Criticisms of functionalism

Answer 3

1. The realities of family are not always so positive; married couples may not live in harmony or be effective socialisers.
2. They ignore the ‘dark side’ of family life – conflict; what about dysfunctional families which create harmful effects on society. (Domestics violence)
3. What about the diversity of families – lone parents families, cohabiting or reconstituted families and differences in social class, ethnicity and religion?
4. Sexist – sees wife has having role of emotional warmth for her working husband.

Question 4

New Right theory

Answer 4

The family is the ‘cornerstone of the society’; a normal family = a nuclear family.

The New Right talk about the family under threat, breaking down, fragmenting. Evidence of this are: lone-parent families, fatherless families, divorce rates, cohabitation and gay and lesbian couples.

Causes of this: breakdown in traditional family values, over-generous welfare state giving benefits to single mothers so fathers can opt out, feminism has de-valued marriage and child-rearing so women seek fulfillment outside the home, increased sexual permissiveness, tolerance of homosexuality.

Question 5

New Right theory - consequences and solutions

Answer 5

Consequences: The family no-longer performs its functions, leading to inadequate socialisation, children therefore underachieve at school and behave in anti-social ways, welfare dependency.

Solutions: 1. Return to traditional values – life long marriage, 2. Change government policy – re-direct benefits to help two parent families, penalising those who do not live up to the ideal.

The effect on boys is they grow up without fatehrs realising the responsibilities for a wife and children leading to immature anti-social young men; families are deteriorating without fathers.

Question 6

Criticisms of New Right views

Answer 6

1. They blame the victims, many problems result from low wages and benefits and lack of jobs.
2. They see the nuclear family as the ideal. Why should all families be the same?
3. There never was a golden age of families; we had lone parenthood in Victorian times.

Question 7

Marxist theories

Answer 7

They do not think society is based on value consensus but they see conflict of interest between the ruling class and the mass population, the subject class.

Capitalism is an economic system based on private ownership of economic institutions like banks and factories; the ruling class own these and make profits from them.

The subject class produce the goods and services and are paid wages but are exploited.

Marxists believe the economy shapes the rest of society so the family is affected and it must seek to maintain it.

Engels : The modern nuclear family developed in capitalist society; private property could only be owned by men until 1882.
The family needed legitimate heirs to pass on property. The monogamous nuclear family gave men control over women.

Marxists see family as

1. A way to reproduce labour power/future workers,
2. They consume the products of capitalism.
3. They provide emotional support for workers
4. They socialise children to accept the inequalities of capitalist society. The family helps to maintain an unjust system.

Question 8

Criticisms of Marxism

Answer 8

1. Many do not see capitalism as unjust and therefore reject their negative view of the family.
2. The economic system may not be shaped by capitalism.

Question 9

Feminist theories

Answer 9

Most societies are based on patriarchy/male domination.

Domestic labour: Unpaid housework and childcare is done by women.

Delphy and Leonard
women make the main contribution to family life and men receive the benefits. They give emotional support, listen agree, sympathise, excuse and flatter.

Benston : This is valuable to capitalism; she produces and rears future workers at no cost and keeps her husband in good working order. Wives are economically dependent giving up work to care for children and thus men control key areas of decision making.
.

Question 10

Criticisms of feminism

Answer 10

1. It ignores the positive sides to the family; many enjoy running a family.
   2 It ignores the trend to gender equality.

Question 11

The Personal Life Perspective

Answer 11

Functionalism, Marxism and Feminism are called ‘top down’ structural approaches

but the personal life perspective, which is a new perspective shares the ‘bottom-up’ approach of Interactionism, emphasising the meanings family members hold and how these shape their actions

For instance, a woman may not feel close to her sister or may help an elderly person who is sick who they are not related to. They may have intimate relationships with people who are not defined as family.

These could include relationships with friends, fictive kin – your mum’s best friend who you call auntie, gay and lesbian ‘chosen families’ – a supportive network of friends, relationships with dead relatives – those who live on in people’s memories and continue to shape their identities and actions and relationships with pets (Tipper’s study (2011) found that children saw pets as part of the family).

This perspective does recognise that relatedness may not always be positive, people may feel trapped in relationships.