Theoretical perspectives on the Family Flashcards
(11 cards)
Main themes of the FUNCTIONALIST perspective
o The isolated nuclear family is especially suitable for industrial society because it is small and mobile.
o Males and female are seen as having different functional roles in the family.
o There is a functional relationship between the family and other social institutions.
o The family is a universal institution.
o Meet the basic needs of society and its members (Murdock/Parsons)
Functionalist- Murdock (1949)
Study of 250 societies, Murdock argued that the family is universal because it is the best way of adjusting to society’s basic needs.
The family performs 4 basic functions:
1. SEXUAL-provides and controls sexual access
2. REPRODUCTIVE-provides new society members
3. ECONOMIC- provide home, food, warmth etc+economic cooperation
4. EDUCATIONAL-provides socialisation to pass on culture to the next generation
Functionalist- Talcott Parsons (1959)
In modern societies, the family performs 2 ‘basic and irreducible’ functions:
- PRIMARY SOCIALISATION OF CHILDREN
- STABILISATION OF ADULT PERSONALITIES
A process of ‘structural differentiation’ has taken place as society has industrialised. Family has lost some of its functions to other specialist institutions such as health, education and religion.
The isolated nuclear family as most typical and suitable for modern industrial society because:
o GEOGRAPHICAL+SOCIAL MOBILITY SUITS MODERN ECONOMY
oSTATUS MAINLY ACHIEVED, NOT ASCRIBED.
Male and female partners preforming different functions. Male=instrumental role. Female=expressive role.
Criticisms of the FUNCTIONALIST perspective
o Ignores conflict in the family (Marxist)
o Does not allow for any need for change(Marxist)
o The family is not universal-number of possible alternatives to the family
o Family fills the needs of economy rather than its members (Marxism)
oFunctionalism simply justifies women oppression (Feminism)
o The nuclear family produces problems and misery as well as harmony such as mental illness and domestic violence
Main themes of the MARXIST perspective
+Nature of the family is determined by the economic system, in modern society it serves the interests of CAPITALISM.
+The family provides a steady supply of new workers.
these workers are socialised by the family into discipline and the ‘correct’ attitudes of obedience and conformity.
the family provides a ‘safety valve’- a release from alienation and oppression at work.
+Provides consumers to buy goods produced by the economy.
+Acts as an ‘ideological state apparatus’ defending the status quo, patriarchy and the power of the role of the wife being to maintain workers and absorb its frustrations.
Marxist- Friedrich Engles (1884)
Originally there was a communal life which did not need notions of marriage and the family.
Rise of private property, an organised system of inheritance was necessary-fathers needed to be sure that property was passed to their offspring.
Monogamy arose to serve the interests of the economy and women were brought incresasingly into the privacy of the home and family, under the domination of men-previously equally involved in the public sphere.
Criticisms of the MARXIST perspective
- Too deterministic because it assumes the dominance of the economy.
- Disregards the increasing variety in family and household composition in recent years.
- Too biased and negative.
- Family serves the interests of men and patriarchy as well as capitalism.
- Too based on modern western society-there are many variations worldwide.
Main themes of the FEMINIST perspective
See the family as a source of male control over women.
MARXIST FEMINISTS: women are oppressed by both capitalism and patriarchy. Wives produce and socialise new workers, producing more profit for the economy. (BENSON)
Women provide this unpaid role and provide a ‘reserve army of labour’-extra, cheap and temporary workers who can be engaged and sacked whenever they are needed by the economy. (BRUEGEL)
LIBERAL FEMINISTS: increasing gender equality through the law and changing values. Claim that power relations and the division of labour have become more equal, largely as a consequence of changes in women’s work patterns.
RADICAL FEMINISTS: Oppression of women as a result of male dominance through biology and physical strength. View the nuclear family as based on male power and supporting male power (FIRESTONE)
The socialisation of women into the mother/housewife role is seen as a form of oppression.
Largely men and industrialisation that put women ‘into the home’ use to have more independence.
Criticisms of the FEMINIST perspective
- Assumes that all families have a male head who dominates the rest.
- New right claim feminists undermine traditional family values.
- Black feminists have criticised other feminists for their failure to consider the influence of racism as well as patriarchy.
- They tend the focus on the negative aspects of the family.
- In recent years women have gained more choices and family life has become more diverse.
A POSTMODERN view of the family
Stresses the pluralism, diversity and fragmentation of modern life.
Cannot be one dominant family type.
No ‘normal’ or ‘correct’ type of family relationships or roles.
The ability for the individual to make choices and for members to make and construct their families through interaction.
Evaluation of the POSTMODERN view
+Avoid generalisation and allow us to see the individual means of social life.
+Show the possibility of greater choice rather than oppression.
-Criticised for extreme relativism, little point in trying to study social life.
-some see the view as a ‘dead end’
