Families

• Family

  A group of people related to one another by blood, marriage or adoption
• Household

  A group of people who may live together but who are not necessarily related
• Nuclear (cereal packet) family

  • Traditional, heterosexual married couple and their children
  • Seen as the ideal family
• Lone Parent family


  • Headed by a single parent (majority women)
  • Created sometimes by divorce
• Cohabiting family


  • A couple who live together, but are not married
  • With/without children
• Reconstituted (step) family

  • Created out of divorce and re-marriage
  • Includes step-parents and step-siblings
• Extended family

  • Consists of relatives in addition to the immediate family
  • Two or more generations under the same roof
• Beanpole family


  • With multiple generations
  • But with few children
• Empty nest family


  • Created when children eventually leave the home
  • Leaves parents behind alone
• Boomerang family

  • Where the children leave and come back
  • Usually after university
  • Became more common due to cost of living crisis
• Monogamy


  Where a person remains faithful to just one partner
• Polygamy


  Where one partner is legally allowed to marry several partners at the same time
• Polygyny

  One man, many wives
• Polyandry

  One woman, many husbands
• Arranged marriages

  • Traditional in many communities (e.g. India, Pakistan, Bangladesh)
  • Based on consent and the right to choose
• • China's one child policy was introduced in the 1970s to decrease the population which was approaching 1 billion
  • This led to forced abortions and sterilizations of women, and economic and legal consequences
• Murdock argues that the family performs FOUR essential functions to meet the needs of society and its members

  • Stable satisfaction of the sex drive
  • Reproduction
  • Socialisation
  • Economic
• Parsons' Functional Theory

  • Socialisation of children
  • Stabilisation of adult personalities
• Consumerism

  The bourgeoisie have the power to make us want to buy lots of nice things, which generates profit for capitalism
• Advertising puts pressure on parents to believe their children must have the latest products to be acceptable to their peers
• Ann Oakley supports the claim that the way we are socialised as children has a huge impact on how we see the male role as superior
• Joint conjugal roles

  When parents share responsibility of the housework and are both in paid employment
• Expressive role


  The role of the mother, carrying out housework and maintaining the emotional stability of the family
• Sue Sharpe interviewed young girls in the 70s and 90s - in the 70s girls prioritised love, marriage, family & careers (in that order), in the 90s girls prioritised jobs, careers, financial security & family (in that order)
• Murdock Criticism

  Feminists say that women have the worst time in the family
• Murdock Criticism

  Marxists say that the poor have the worst time in the family
• Stable Satisfaction Of The Sex Drive

  ( Murdock)

  • People stay with the same partner, promotes monogamous marriage
  • Benefitting society - promotes nuclear family
  • Benefitting Individual - stable home for children
• Reproduction (Murdock)

  • The creation of new members in society
  • Benefitting Society - Contribute to economy
  • Benfitting Individual - Big family
• Socialisation (Murdock)

  • Teaching children the norms and values of society
  • Benefitting Society - Parents conflict
  • Benefitting Individual - Creates good people in society
• Economic (Murdock)

  • Providing food and shelter for children
  • Benefitting Society - Contributes to the economy
  • Benefitting Individual - Make sure people within family have good lives
• Socialisation of Children (Parsons)

  • how you are brought up
  • taught the norms and values of society
  • goal is to fit in
  • can only happen in a nuclear family
• Stabilisation of Adult Personalities (Parsons)

  • man goes to work and produces financial support
  • women provides emotional support - look after kids, husband, home
  • only happens in nuclear family
• Criticism of Functionalism

  Ignores different types of familys
• Criticism of Functionalism

  Families may have abuse involved
• Criticism of Functionalism

  There may be learning difficulties throughout the family
• Criticism of Functionalism

  Ignores how women may want to go to work
• Criticism of Functionalism

  There may be financial problems
• Criticism of Functionalism

  Not guaranteed a perfect life
• Zaretsky's View

  • The family performs an ideological function that prevents workers from trying to change their unfair experiences at work
  • The family provides emotional support for workers after a tough day
  • Likely to prevent people from complaining about pay and conditions in fear of losing their job
• Criticisms Of Marxism (Negative)

  Often ignores the more personal negative sides of the family