Families & Households

Question 1

Murdock

Answer 1

Primary socialisation
Stabilisation of the sex drive

Question 2

Parsons - functions of the family

Answer 2

Primary socialisation
Stabilisation of adult personalities
Gender socialisation

Question 3

Murray & Marsland

Answer 3

By creating a welfare state and investing in benefits, we undermine responsibility
Dependency culture - people don’t take responsibility

Question 4

Engels

Answer 4

Sees the nuclear family as a way to ensure inheritance

Question 5

Althusser

Answer 5

Sees the family as having an ideological role - passes on ideas of value to capitalism
Part of the ideological state apparatus

Question 6

Zaretsky

Answer 6

Sees the family as an escape from oppression and ‘alienation’
family provides a haven
all this does is benefit capitalism, the man’s anger has been controlled so he is able to go back to work the next day

Question 7

Giddens - ‘pure’ relationship

Answer 7

We are much more individual and we have much more choice - people have higher expectation so are more picky about thier relationships

Question 8

Reasons for decline in birth rate

Answer 8

Changes in women’s positions
Decline in infant mortality
Children as an economic liability
Child-centredness

Question 9

Effect of changes in fertility

Answer 9

The family - smaller families so women are free to go out to work
The dependency ratio - children make up a large part of this, reduction in ‘burden of dependency’
‘Vanishing children’ - children may become lonelier, fewer voices speaking in support of children’s interests
Public services and policies - fewer schools are needed, effect on cost of maternity leave

Question 10

Reasons for decline in the death rate

Answer 10

Reduction in deaths from infectious diseases
Improved nutrition
Medical improvements
Smoking and diet
Public health

Question 11

Effect of ageing population

Answer 11

Public services - older people consume a larger proportion of services
One person pensioner households
The dependency ratio - non-working old are economically dependent

Question 12

Causes of demographic changes

Answer 12

Changes in women’s position in society
Child centred parenting
Better healthcare
Better housing/living conditions
Increased life expectancy
Changes to lifestyle
Higher life expectancy
Lower infant mortality rate
Globalisation

Question 13

Changing patterns of divorce

Answer 13

40% of all marriages end in divorce
Fewer people are marrying in the first place and are choosing to cohabit instead

Question 14

Explanations for the increase in divorce

Answer 14

Changes in the law - ‘no fault’ divorce
Declining stigma and changing attitudes
Secularisation - religious institutions lose their influence
Rising expectations of marriage
Women’s increased financial independence

Question 15

Reasons for changing patterns of marriage

Answer 15

Changing attitudes to marriage
Secularisation
Declining stigma attached to alternatives to marriage
Changes in the position of women
Fear of divorce

Question 16

Reasons for the increase in cohabitation

Answer 16

Decline in stigma attached to sex outside of marriage
The young are more likely to accept cohabitation
Increased career opportunities for women
Secularisation

Question 17

Childbearing

Answer 17

Nearly half of all children are born outside of marriage
Women are having children later
Women are having fewer children - women have more options than just motherhood

Question 18

Lone-parent families

Answer 18

90% of these families are headed by a woman
A child living with a lone parent is twice as likely to be in poverty as a child with 2 parents
Increase in divorce and separation

Question 19

Ethnic differences in family patterns

Answer 19

Black families - higher proportion of lone-parent households
Asian families - larger than those of other ethnic groups, value placed on the extended family

Question 20

The extended family today

Answer 20

Willmott - continues to exist as a ‘dispersed extended family’
Continue to provide support despite being dispersed

Question 21

Beanpole family

Answer 21

Extended vertically through 3 or more generations
Not extended horizontally - doesn’t include aunts, uncles
Increased life expectancy and smaller family sizes

Question 22

Functionalism - nuclear family

Answer 22

There is a ‘functional fit’ between the nuclear family and modern society

Question 23

The New Right - nuclear family

Answer 23

There is only one correct or normal family type - tradition patriarchal nuclear family
Clear cut division of labour between the breadwinner husband and homemaker wife

Question 24

Chester - neo-conventional family

Answer 24

The only important change is the move from the dominance of the traditional nuclear family to the neo-conventional family
Dual earner family where both spouses go out to work

Question 25

The Rapoports - five types of family diversity

Answer 25

diversity is a positive response to people's needs and wishes Organisational diversity Cultural diversity Social class diversity Life stage diversity Generational diversity

Question 26

Murray

Answer 26

People are less responsible because they believe that the state will pay Fathers are more likely to leave Girls are more likely to get pregnant Lone parent families can sustain due to support from the state

Question 27

Willmott & Young - march of progress

Answer 27

families have become more equal 'symmetrical family'

Question 28

the triple shift

Answer 28

women do the emotional work as well as paid work and housework

Question 29

Ansley

Answer 29

domestic violence is the product of capitalism women are 'takers of shit'

Question 30

Dobash and Dobash

Answer 30

domestic violence is inevitable because it serves to preserve the power men have over women

Question 31

Aries

Answer 31

in the Middle Ages, childhood did not exist however now there is a clear distinction between children and adults

Question 32

Postman

Answer 32

in modern society, childhood is 'disappearing' TV blurs the distinction and information hierarchy