Topic 1: Traditional Perspectives Of The Family

Question 1

Key functionalist ideas

Answer 1

Society is a social system based on a value consensus
There is a need for social order and harmony
For this to happen we need to be:
1. Socialised into these norms and values
2. This can also be done through social control (reward / punishment)

Question 2

Organic analogy

Answer 2

If all the systems (organs) in society are functioning in harmony it will remain healthy

But if one of these vital institutions starts to malfunction, then society becomes dysfunctional

Question 3

Murdock’s main ideas

Answer 3

Family is universal (took a sample of 250 different societies and claimed that some form of family existed in every one)

Family unit is called the nuclear family - Husband, wife and children

Units larger than the nuclear family - extended family

MURDOCK ARGUED THAT THE FAMILY PERFORMS 4 BASIC FUNCTIONS IN ALL SOCIETIES

Question 4

What are the 4 functions of the family according to Murdock?

Answer 4

Sexual
Reproductive
Economic
Educational / Socialisation

Question 5

Murdock’s 4 functions of the family: sexual

Answer 5

Family teaches that heterosexuality is the norm (other relationships are abnormal)

Strengthens the bond between the couple

Stabilises society by limiting sexual activities to married couples

Without this, sexual urges would be unregulated

Question 6

Murdock’s 4 functions of the family: reproductive

Answer 6

The family ensures reproduction and provides a stable environment to rear children

Without this, there would be no members of society

Question 7

Murdock’s 4 functions of the family: economic

Answer 7

The family provides food, shelter and other material needs for the family

The husband and wife specialise in certain activities that make up the division of labour

Without this, life would stop and not function properly

Question 8

Murdock’s 4 functions of the family: educational

Answer 8

The family provides primary socialisation - it is through this that they are educated into society’s value consensus and collective conscience

Without this, there would be no culture

Question 9

Evaluation of Murdock (AO3)

Answer 9

Strength:

The family is seen as a multifunctional institution that is indispensable to society - this accounts for its universality and its inevitability

Weaknesses:

Does not consider whether other institutions could perform its functions and did not examine alternatives to the family

Murdock’s description of the family is too good to be true - does not acknowledge the possibility of conflict or exploitation in the family (EG Feminists say that the family functions to benefit the man / patriarchy & Marxists say that the family functions to benefit capitalism)

Yanina Sheeran - the female-carer core is the most basic family unit

Question 10

Parsons’ functional fit theory

Answer 10

He argued there are 2 kinds of family structures:
1. The nuclear family
2. The extended family

Parsons argues that the particular structure and functions of the given type of family will ‘fit’ the needs of the society in which it is found

According to Parsons, there are two types of society:
1. Traditional pre-industrial society (BEFORE when the extended family was dominant)
2. Modern industrial society (NOW where the nuclear family is dominant)

Industrialisation has caused the family to ADAPT and FIT the specific society that we are in

Question 11

Parsons: Why is the nuclear family best suited to MODERN industrial society?

Answer 11

Industrial society has 2 essential needs:
1. A geographically mobile workforce
2. A socially mobile workforce

The nuclear family is best shaped to meet the economic requirements of the economic system which depends on geographical mobility.

The nuclear family can move around easily as it is not tied down by binding obligations of kin

Question 12

What is structural differentiation ?

Answer 12

(Parsons)

Creation of different institutions have taken over many of the functions the family used to have (due to industrialisation)

EG. The NHS

This means that extended families were not necessary any longer

Question 13

What are Parson’s 2 functions of the family?

Answer 13

Primary socialisation
Stabilisation of adult personalities

Question 14

Parsons: primary socialisation

Answer 14

The family teaches children the norms and values associated with their family/community while other institutions (school) teaches children the universal norms and values of wider society (secondary socialisation)

Question 15

Parsons: stabilisation of adult personalities

Answer 15

Family helps to prevent adults from behaving in dysfunctional ways, and encourages them to conform to social norms (especially at times of stress)

The family provides emotional support to its members (the warm bath theory)

The warm bath theory - when a man came home from a hard day at work, he could relax into his family and it would take away the stress and refresh him for the next day’s work

Question 16

Criticisms of Parsons (AO3)

Answer 16

(Fem and Mx) He paints an idealistic picture of family life that has little relationship to reality. Many people have negative experiences of family life that causes stress rather than relieves it

Ignores differences based on social differences (EG fails to explore differences between MC and WC families, or different family structures in minority ethnic communities)

Marxists = primary socialisation is BAD. It teaches children capitalist norms and values and prepares them to be obedient workers

Fran Ansley - women in the families are the ‘takers of shit’. Men have their stressed relieved by dumping it on their wives

These theories are outdated and suggest families are all traditional families with men being the breadwinner and women take on domestic roles.

PM - significance of family and rigidity of family structure has declined with increasing choice for individuals. It is misguided to look for a dominant/single family structure since family life is increasingly diverse and fluid

Question 17

Young and Wilmott - March of Progress basic argument

Answer 17

Disagreed with parsons about how the family was developed - they argue that the extended family survived much longer than parsons had claimed

Agreed that the family adapted to socioeconomic changes - this is a good thing

They established 3 stages of family development relating to the process of industrialisation

Question 18

March of Progress: stage 1

Answer 18

The pre-industrial family:

The family is a unit of production with all members working together as a team in order for the family unit to survive.

This type of family was replaced due to the Industrial Revolution

This type hasn’t disappeared as some farming families still work this way

Question 19

March of Progress: stage 2

Answer 19

The early industrial family:

Was an outcome of the Industrial Revolution - as family members increasingly became employed in factories the site of the family as a unit of production faded

Factory wages were low so families created ‘insurance’ by inviting relatives beyond the nuclear family into its network

This weakened the conjugal bond in favour of greater ties between mother and married daughter to create an a organised network between women which excluded men
= Men went to the pub to find ‘comfort’

This created a distinct division of labour between husbands and wives - segregated conjugal roles meant men had little involvement in domestic chores, raising children and leisure activities

These family networks started to decline in the early 20th century but were still found in many established WC areas. (AO2: Y+W Bethnal Green study in 1950s which revealed how children usually remain within 2-3 miles of their family home)

Question 20

March of Progress: stage 3

Answer 20

The symmetrical family:

The shift from stage 2 to stage 3 was particularly profound within the WC

Stage 3 was a nuclear family

Symmetry = each adult’s contributions are similar in the running of the household through joint conjugal roles. Symmetry comes from there being ‘men’s work’ and ‘women’s work’ - sharing decisions, chores etc.

Their roles are NOT interchangeable

Question 21

Evaluation of Y+W (AO3)

Answer 21

Feminists attack the concept of the symmetrical family, arguing that there has been little progress towards equality between husbands and wives

Wilmott found evidence that didn’t support the symmetrical family and that the extended family hadn’t disappeared - his research showed that contacts with kin remained important (2/3 of the couples saw relatives at least weekly)

March of progress theories assume that a single family type is dominant at a particular time - family diversity has become the norm

Question 22

Marxist perspective on the family

Answer 22

Marxists see all society’s institutions (including the family) as helping to maintain class inequality and capitalism

Althusser - the family is part of the ISA - perpetuates the RC ideology

The functions of the family are purely to benefit the capitalist system

This contrasts the functionalist view, who argue that the family benefits both society and its individual members

Question 23

Inheritance of property AO1

Answer 23

Engels:

‘Primitive communism’ = classless society. Here society owned the means of production communally. Because of this there wasn’t a nuclear family. Polygamy was the norm

Private property was created when society’s wealth began to increase. Private property led to a patriarchal monogamous nuclear family

Men could then pass down their wealth to their children so wealth remained in the hands of the bourgeoisie. Monogamous nuclear family emerged so men could pass down their wealth to their legitimate sons

Question 24

Evaluation of Engels’ Inheritance of property (AO3)

Answer 24

Feminists criticise Engels for emphasising economic relations of production over reproduction (child bearing and child rearing). He was not concerned with the restrictions placed on women by the demands of housework and childcare

Question 25

Ideological Functions AO1

Answer 25

Family promotes a set of beliefs which justify inequality and maintain capitalism

Socialises children that hierarchy and inequality are inevitable

Parental power over children - someone is always in charge - preparation for working life

Zaretsky
The ‘haven’ that functionalists say the family is, is just an illusion
Criticises the warm bath theory - men can’t have power at work, so they gain that power at home (cushioning effect)

Question 26

Evaluation of the ideological functions (AO3)

Answer 26

Functionalists - the family provide very important benefits for its members such as socialisation and economic security

Functionalists would argue that the warm bath theory is necessary for social order to be maintained

Question 27

A unit of consumption AO1

Answer 27

Zaretsky

Capitalism is exploitative because it makes profits from selling commodities at the expense of workers’ pay. The family plays a major role in generating these profits:

Advertising - keep up to date with latest products ‘keeping up with the joneses’

Media target children - pester power; children are often stigmatised by their peers for not having the latest products

Althusser argues that the media is part of the ISA so the RC control the media

Question 28

Evaluation of the unit of consumption (AO3)

Answer 28

To what extent are parents under a FCC and buying stuff they don’t need for their children, rather than buying stuff because they have made a rational decision?

Deterministic, Zaretsky assumes everyone will follow what they see

Question 29

Evaluations of the Marxist perspectives of the family (AO3)

Answer 29

Strength:
Explains the existence of the dark side of the family

Weaknesses:
Deterministic - overemphasises the role of the family in maintaining capitalism

Feminists say they ignore other inequalities such as the role of the family in maintains patriarchy

Functionalists say they ignore the positive effects that the family can have for its members

Question 30

Marxist feminist perspectives on the family

Answer 30

The production of labour power:

All chores associated with the expressive role (such as domestic labour) are necessary to keep the family going and so women’s unpaid work benefits capitalism because they only have to pay one person in the family - the male breadwinner

Ideological conditioning:

Reproduction of the attitudes essential for an efficient workforce under capitalism.
Children learn to conform and submit to authority
Foundation is laid for the submissive workforce required by capitalism

Question 31

Evaluation of Marxist feminists (AO3)

Answer 31

Weaknesses:

Tendency to talk about the family without regard to family diversity - traditional conjugal roles are becoming less common

They exaggerate the harm caused to women by families and tend to portray female family members as passive - ignore the possibility that women may have fought back

Question 32

Radical feminism AO1

Answer 32

See society as patriarchal

Women are systematically oppressed in every area of society

Germaine Greer : family continues to disadvantage women

Question 33

Radical feminism : Women as wives

Answer 33

Society suggests that being a wife is the most important female role

Marriage reinforces patriarchal relations

Marriage settles into a pattern in which men dominate women in many aspects of society

Question 34

Radical feminism : Women as mothers

Answer 34

Motherhood is not valued by society

Women are neglected during childbirth, expected to return to work shortly after giving birth

Medical attention geared towards baby not mother

Motherhood doesn’t fit beauty standards

Question 35

Radical feminism : Women as daughters

Answer 35

Daughters are likely to experience sexual abuse from male relatives

Question 36

Germaine Greer’s solutions

Answer 36

Complete destruction of the patriarchy

Political lesbianism

Separatism - all women society

Question 37

Evaluation of Germaine Greer / radical feminism (AO3)

Answer 37

Strength:
Makes some important points about the position of women in contemporary society

Weaknesses:
Makes many generalisations that are not backed up by any evidence

Somerville / Liberal feminists : Greer has underestimated the progress made by women over time. They also argue that Greer offers little practical solutions that may actually be useful

Question 38

Liberal feminism AO1

Answer 38

Believe improvement has occurred and advocate for gradual reform not revolutionary change

Question 39

Jennifer Sommerville - the family and reform

Answer 39

Other feminists (mx and radical) have failed to acknowledge progress for women such as greater freedom to take paid work, choices about marriage vs cohabitation, becoming single mothers or live on their own etc.

Increased choice for women has created greater equality within marriage but things are still unequal and more progress needs to be made

Question 40

Jennifer Somerville - principled pragmatism

Answer 40

Where feminists devise policies to encourage greater equality within relationships and to help women cope with the practicalities of family life

EG policies to help working parents so they can balance work and family life (flexibility in paid employment)

Question 41

Evaluation of liberal feminism (AO3)

Answer 41

Strengths:
Recognises that significant changes have taken place in family life

Offers realistic possibilities of gradual progress towards greater equality within the family

Weaknesses:
Radical feminists say this approach will fail to deal with the persistence of patriarchal structures in society and patriarchal family culture

McKie and Callan - when women become mothers they end up adopting traditional gender roles and mothers still end up doing a disproportionate amount of housework and emotion work

Question 42

Who came up with the dual burden?

Answer 42

Ferri and smith

Question 43

Who came up with the triple shift

Answer 43

Duncombe and marsden

Question 44

The New Right AO1

Answer 44

Discourage state intervention
Families should be self reliant
Oppose family diversity especially lone parent
Worried about the rise in divorce - lone parents relying on the state

Question 45

Margaret thatcher and the new right

Answer 45

PM 1979-1990

In favour of the nuclear family = women should have expressive role / men should have instrumental role

Saw NF under threat = increased divorce, women gaining independence

These changes were threatening social order

Question 46

Charles Murray AO1

Answer 46

Educational failure, high crime rates and low employment is due to over generous welfare payments

DEPENDENCY CULTURE - Welfare benefits has created perverse incentives (EG housing support encourages young women to become pregnant and encourages young men to neglect paternal responsibilities)

Lone parenthood is harmful to society as: young women will copy their mothers and become reliant on the state. Boys lack a male role model and may turn to crime

UNDERCLASS - those who are reliant on benefits + produces criminal and antisocial behaviour

Question 47

Evaluation of Murray (AO3)

Answer 47

Weaknesses:
No serious evidence to support his arguments about the effects of lone parenthood

Ignores importance of poverty and social exclusion in explaining the underclass

Question 48

Criticisms of the New Right (AO3)

Answer 48

Ann Oakley - they wrongly assume that gender roles are fixed by biology = other cultures show variation in these roles

Feminists - the NF is based on patriarchal oppression and is a cause of gender inequality

No evidence that children in lone-parent families are more likely to be delinquent compared to those with 2 parents

Marxists - NR want to take burden away from the state and keep the money in the hands of the bourgeoisie