Families and Households Flashcards
ez (22 cards)
Murdocks 4 functions of the family (func)
Sex
Education
Economical
Reproduction
Parsons Functions of the family (func)
Primary socialisation of children
Stabilisation of adult personality’s ( Warm bath theroy)
Critics of functionalism (func)
Feminists: ignore Patriarchy and abuse
Marxist: Ignores class inequality
Generally outdated due to other institutions being able to preform these functions
Engels - Inheritance of property (Marc)
The familys wealth is passed down through inheritance
Zaretsky - Family Supports capitalism (Marc)
Family provides emotional support for workers. “cushioning” effect
Family is a unit of consumption
Reproduces and socialises the next generation of workers
Althusser - Ideological state apparatus (Marc)
-Reproduces false class consciousness
-Family socialises children into accepting inequality by passing dominant ideology which support capitalism
Criticisms of Marxism (Marc)
- Ignores benefits of family and overlooks other family types
- To focused on class ignores gender
- Assumes people passively accept capitalist norms
Liberal feminism (fem)
culture and norms are reinforced by the family, but family is only sexist and it supports mainstream culture
Social change is possible if there are changes within the legal systems and government
Ann oakley - Dual burden
Duncombe and marsden - triple shift
Marxist feminism (fem)
Exploitation of women is essential for capitalism as women help to produce and care the next generation of workers
Radical feminism (fem)
housework exploits women but its due to a patriarchal society not capitalism
Criticism of feminism (fem)
Portrays women as passive
Not all family structures are patriarchal
ignores gay/lone parent households
Women from different ethnic backgrounds have different experiences
Giddens View on family (po-mo)
People have more choice in terms of relationships and family
e.g. Cohabitations and serial monogamy
Stacey View on family (po-mo)
Woman have more freedom now to shape the family arrangements to suit their needs and there for be freed from oppression
Women are more likely to maintain relationships with ex-in-laws due to access to children
Social Policy
what functionalism, New right, marxism, rad fem and lib few think about it
Functionalism - Help family’s preform their functions more efficiently
New right - should avoid undermining the self-reliant family
Marxism - Policy’s provide ideological legitimisation for capitalism
Lib fem - Have helped lead to a greater gender equality
Rad fem - policy’s are not enough to fix gender inequality
Types of family diversity
Nuclear
extended
reconstituted
lone-parent
same-sex
beanpole
Causes of family diversity
changing patterns - more divorce
Post modernism - More diverse society
Economic factors - Increase in wealth means more people can live alone
Changing roles - Woman are more career driven
policy - e.g Divorce act 1969 and equal pay 1972
March of progress view (childhood)
Childhood has improved - more protected/ Child centred
Laws prevent child labour or abuse
Education extended
Toxic childhood - palmer (childhood)
Disappearing childhood - Postman
Childhood changing - jenks
(Toxic) Technology and fast food damaging mental and physical health
(Disappearing) childhood is disappearing due to media exposure
(changing) Due to more surveillance on children
Reasons for the decline in birth rate (Demography)
More contraception
Woman delaying childbirth for careers
Children more expensive
Reasons for the decline in death rate (Demography)
better health care
Improved nutrition
less infant mortality
Effects for the aging population (Demography)
higher dependency ratio
strain on public services (NHS, pensions)
Rise of “ beanpole family’s”
Evaluation (Demography)
Shows how the family adapts to wider trends
Aging seen as a problem - Ignores positives
Ignores diversity of elderly experiences
