Defining the Family Flashcards
(14 cards)
Why sociologists study family life
- Primary socialisation
- Further develop the nature vs nurture argument
- Early socialisation can affect future education and offending
- Different types of families can affect future behaviours and personalities
- Families form the ‘bedrock of a stable society’
‘Family’ - definition
People who are related to each other through blood or marriage (kinship ties) or legal processes (adoption).
Family types
What the structure of families looks like and what the roles people preform whithin the family looks like.
Households
People who live under the same roof, but who might not be related. Can be a person solo living.
Murdock - What is ‘family’?
Studied 250 civilisations to conclude the definiton of family.
The family is a social group characterised by common residence, economic cooperation and reproduction. It includes adults of both sexes whom maintain a socially approved sexual relationship, one or more children, own or adopted.
Murdock - What is ‘family’? - criticisms
- People living solo is increasing
- Family is relative
- Some families don’t like together
- Divorced families don’t often share residence
- Cohabitation is becoming more popular (fastest growing household types)
- Marriage is not needed to have children
- Polygamy relationships exist
- Teen parents aren’t adults
- Same-sex relations can exist
- Families don’t always consist children
- Inter-ethnic families are rapidly increasing
- Financial abuse is not cooperation and often coercive
- Teenage pregancies are often looked down upon
- Same sex couples can be parents
Murdock - What is ‘family’? - criticism - The IK of Northern Uganda (Adapted from Moore, Aiken and Chapman, 2001)
‘Family life’ is not a huge notion and often means very little. The daily struggle of survival due to drought and famine means poor health and starvation is very common. Anyone who can’t take care of themselves is considered a burden. ‘Family’ implies the need for dependants to rely on others to be clothed, fed, housed and protected. To ‘love’ is a luxary that can’t be afforded in such times. Children are often considered to be useless - they use up resurces, can’t do anything for themselves, just like the elders (the mindset: ‘the sooner they pass, the better’ is present). Anthropologists found little evidence of ‘childhood’ among the IK. In reaching 3 years of age, children are abandoned by their parents. Until then, they are carried in a sling by their mothers. In working the field, the mother may loosen the sling, harming the child and sometimes even leaving the infant at the side of the field, hoping a predator will take it. There is no typical ‘parent-child’ relationship here.
Murdock - What is ‘family’? - criticism - The Nayar of traditional Southern India (Kathleen Gough, 1959)
Prior to British rule being established in 1792. Before puberty, young girls were married off to a ‘suitable’ Nayar man. After marriage, a man did not live with his wife, and there was no further obligation to have any contact with her. Wives only had one socially expected duty; to attend his funeral if he died before her. Polyandry was a common practice, women could take up to 12 husbands at a time. Once married, wives lived alone. Any husband may pay her a visit and be provided with supper. Sexual intercourse took place and early next morning he would leave. Any possessions he came with, he left outside her door, a sign to other visiting husbands that someone was already there. If a married woman became pregnant, one of her husbands would need to claim the child as his own, but provide no assistance in finances or childcare. There’s no real emphasis on biological relationship between man and child, only one based on social relations and honor.
Criticisms of the IK and the Nayar
Both of these ‘family types’ were studied several years after they existed (even hundreds), information is inferred from historical refrences.
Murdock - What is ‘family’? - criticism - The Social Contruction of Family life
The ‘family’ is a social construct. Its definition depends on people’s interpretation. Definitions of what a ‘family’ is varies depending on culture, time and life experiences.
Murdock - What is ‘family’? - criticism - The Social Contruction of Family life - The Lakker of Burma
People see no blood relation between mother and child. The mother is simply a container for the child to grow. Sexual relationships between children from the same mother are allowed as they are not seen to be related.
Murdock - What is ‘family’? - criticism - The Social Contruction of Family life - Tahiti, Pacific Ocean
In Tahiti of the Pacific Ocean, young women often have one or 2 children before being deemed ready to settle down in a stable relationship with a man. They usually give the children up for adoption to their parents or other close relatives. Children see their adoptive parents as their ‘real’ parents and are far closer with them rather than their biological parents.
Murdock - What is ‘family’? - criticism - The Social Contruction of Family life - The Lakker of Burma
People see no blood relation between mother and child. The mother is simply a container for the child to grow. Sexual relationships between children from the same mother are allowed as they are not seen to be related.
Murdock - What is ‘family’? - criticism - The Social Contruction of Family life - The Ashanti of West Africa
They are a matrilineal society (descenstion is traced through the mother’s line). Whilst a child’s father is important, he has no legal authority over their child. This rests with his wife’s family, particularly her brother. Many Ashanti men cannot afford to set up a household of their own when they first marry. Since men never live with their wives, children are the property of their wife’s family. Only about 1/3 of married women live with their husbands.
