Theorists for Families and Households (Y1)

• Murdock (Functionalist) - Where the family is characterised by reproduction and the maintenance of social order through sharing resources and reproduction. He believed that the nuclear family is a universal institution and performs the four functions: residual functions of the family: sexual, Economic, educational and reproductive.
• Parsons (Functionalist) - Family as an institution that performs functions such as socialisation, emotional support and sexual gratification. Personalities were created through socialisation. He argued there are two significant functions (Primary Socialisation and Stabilisation of Adult personalities)
• Fletcher - Believed that the family has not lost all functions but seen as a way to improve institutions. Examples like schools placing responsibilities on parents with laws that has been reinforced through the sake of the children.
• Murray (New Right) - Suggested that the breakdown of families have created a new underclass in society. The New right see them as a threat to the traditional family type or rather lost contract to social life. Like Illegitimacy, Unemployment and Crime. Or rather seeing a decrease in nuclear family types through divorce rates, cohabitation and feminism.
• Engels (Marxist) - He suggested that the means of production was predominantly owned by the family through blood line. This means the wealth is within the hands of the bourgeoise as there is a continuous generational relationship where the children will inherit the private property of the family
• Zaretsky (Marxist)- the private life of the family and work became separated in capitalist societies. This provided an escape from exploitation at work but it has meant that the family serves as a prop to capitalism by reproducing labour power (workers) at no cost to the capitalists and by making alienating work more bearable. 
• Oakley (liberal feminist) - Gradually changing society overtime that both genders have equal rights (in which have changing social policies)
• Ansley (Marxist feminist) - Women are disadvantaged by capitalism and Men (referring by gender roles). In this way women are emotional supporters where they help the husband to relieve his frustrations working in a capitalist system without being against towards the capitalist system
• Greer (radical feminist) - Argues that women are relatively oppressed by the actions of Men in which shows an inequality difference
• Somerville (liberal feminist) - Suggests that there should be a modest reform where the change is gradual and not too extreme or revolutionary
• Firestone (radical feminist) - All Men oppressed women or fear
• Young & Willmott - Suggest that the nuclear family has become more symmetrical and privatised where the members are equal and democratic in terms of conjugal roles. There is a development due to Geographical mobility, affluence and values.
• Man-Yee Kan - Women are better paid, younger, well educated which means less housework
• Gershuny - Wives who worked full time leading to less housework.
• Duncombe and Marsden - The Women's triple shift (doing paid work and domestic labour and managing emotions). Argue that women's increased participation in paid work is not matched by men doing more housework and childcare
• Dunne - Studied lesbian households and whether men taken away can show equality is balanced. They are still responsible for housework and childcare meaning they still suffer in careers
• Knudsen and Waerness - Did a comparative study of women and men's housework in 34 countries and found no men do housework more than women. This is due to traditional segregated roles remain
• Edgell - Argue that decision making among professional workers and their which's is not egalitarian but husband dominated. This means that the wife is not equal with men in terms of decision making as their role is orientated towards domestic housework. Whereas husband works outside of the house and deals with the decision making. Thus they are more dominated.
• Hochschild - discusses the ‘feminisation of migration’, i.e. care work, domestic work and sex work in western countries such as the US and UK is increasingly done by women from poor countries as a result of the expansion of service occupations, western women being less willing to perform domestic labour (men remain unwilling), the failure of the state to provide adequate childcare. 
• Dobash and Dobash - Explained wife assaults through clash of cultural expectations about male authority in marriage. Violence happens when expectations is not met through Husband immediate needs or questioned for their actions. This ends when husband decides and if wife persist, result in violence again. This applies the same thing with men.