Theories Of The Family

Question 1

What is the functionalist perspective on the family?

Answer 1

• society is based on value consensus - shared set of norms and values- into which society socialises its members, enables then to operate harmoniously to meet society’s needs and achieve shared goals
• compare society to a biological organism to the body- just as organs, such as the heart perform functions vital o the well being of the body as a whole, so the family meets some of society to biological organism like human body
  Murdock - family’s functions:
• stable satisfaction of the sex drive
• reproduction of the next generation
• socialisation of the young
• meeting its members’ economic needs
  Criticism- feminist see family as serving the needs of capitalism

Parsons- the functions that the family has to perform will its structure, distinguishes 2 kinds of family structures: nuclear, extended
- the particular structure of a family will ‘fit’ the needs of the society in which in it is found
- are 2 types of society-modern industrial society and traditional pre- industrial society
- nuclear family fits the needs of industrial society and is the dominant family type in that society, while the extended family fits the needs of pre industrial society
- sees industrial society as having 2 essential needs:
- a geographically mobile workforce- workers must be wiling to move around the country/ abroad where jobs are
- a socially mobile workforce- people need to be able to move up/down the social class ladder based on talent/skills

Question 2

What is the Marxist perspective on the family?

Answer 2

• see capitalist society as based on an unequal conflict between 2 social classes, all society’s institutions help maintain capitalism, family’s function is to reproduce capitalism, identified several functions they see the famly as fulfilling for capitalism:
• private property- Engels- monogamy became essential because of the inheritance of private property- men had to be certain of the paternity of their children in order to ensure that their legitimate heirs inherited from them,
• rise of the monogamous nuclear family represented a world historical defeat of the female sex’ - as it brought the woman’s sexuality under male control and turned her into ‘ a mere instrument for the production of children’
• only with thee overthrow of capitalism and private ownership of the means of production will women achieve liberation from patriarchal control

Ideological functions- socialising children into the idea that hierarchy and inequality are inevitable, usually a man in charge- prepares them for working life- they will accept orders form their capitalist employers
- Zaretsky- family offers and apparent ‘haven’ from the harsh and exploitative world of capitalism outside, in which workers can ‘be themselves’ and have a private life
- this is largely an illusion - the family cannot meet its members’ needs, e.g based on the domestic servitude of women

Question 3

What is the feminist perspective on the family?

Answer 3

Liberal- concerned with campaigning against sex discrimination and fro equal rights and opportunities for women
- women’s oppression is being gradually overcome through changing people’s attitudes and through changing people attitudes and through changes in the law such as the sex discrimination act, which outlaws discrimination in employment
- we are moving towards greater equality, but that full equality will depend on further reforms and changes in the attitudes and socialisation patterns of both sexes
- similar to ‘march of progress’ view.

Marxist- main cause of women’s oppression in the family is not men, but capitalism, women’s oppression performs several functions for capitalism:

-women reproduce the labour force through their unpaid domestic labour, by socialising the next generation of workers and maintaining and servicing the current one

• women absorb anger that otherwise would be directed at capitalism. Ansley describes wives as ‘takers of shit’, who soak up the frustration their husbands feel because of the alienation and exploitation they suffer at work- explains male domestic violence

-women are a reserve army of cheap labour that can be taken on when extra workers are needed. When no longer needed,employers can ‘let them go’ to return to their primary roles as unpaid domestic labour