Functions of the family Flashcards
George Murdock family functions
- Socialisation - children are tuaght the nroms and values of society
- Economic - family provides an economic function to all its members by pooling reasources.
- Reproductive - produces next gen of society
- Sexual - ensures adult sexual relationships are controlled and stabel
Parsons family functions
Parsons updated the function agruing that the state provides education and some economic function. But there are two irreducible function of the modern family.
Primary socialisation:
* Primary socialisation - family teaches children societal normls ahd values specifically about family/community
* Secondary socialisation - other institutions like school and religoin teach kids the universal norms and values of society
Stabilisation of adult personalities
* argued families prevent adults from behaving disruptive or disfuctionally, encoruages them to confrom to societal norms during times of stress
* Parsons warm bath theory - man comes home from work and relaxes into his family like a bath
Functionalist evaluation
Althusser
Saw family as an ideological state appratus to control the bhaviours of the WC. The way the family is strucuted is passed down from the ruling class and socialises children into ‘acceptable wc behaviour’. Such as the expectation of the man to be the worker.
There are sanctions for not conforming such as public embarassment and removal of children
Engels - inequality reproduced through inheritance
Engels (1884) - family serves to reproduce inequality by contaning welath to the elite class. Inheritance legal contracts in coodrination with family ties and therefore keeping the family as bourgouis and preventing wealth from being shared.
Prior to modern scoiety people lived in a promiscous horde, the monogamous relatoinship emerged so that men could control womens sexual behaviour and ensure a legitamite male heir. (Patrilineal inheritance)
Hochschild
Marixist evaluation
Engles - little evidence a ‘promiscous horde’ existed. Feminists would argue the oppresion is not economic but patriachal. Modern monogamy doesnt prevent adultery.
Althusser - its based on theory not on research. Subcultural values are different between clases thefore the WC cannot be influenced heavily by the elite. Ignores the fact that individuals educated children based on thier ideals not thoose of wider society.
Hochschild -
Delphy and Leanord
Feminist evalutaion
Charles Muray
New right evaluation
Postmodernist
