Family *

• family structures change to match an individuals lifestyle at the time

  • Hareven
  • 1978
• functional fit theory, family changes to meet the needs of its members

  • Parsons
  • 1951
• modern families have freedom, diversity and fluidity

  • Bernades
  • 1997
• men likely to be living with other men’s children

  • Grant
  • 2006
• Traditional family is outdated as progress has been made

  • Sommerville
  • 2000
• the family supports emotional stability and helps children to function

  • Fletcher
  • 1966
• “human society”, the role of the family is to maintain order and to serve as a reproduction of society

  • Davis
  • 1949
• the family universally supports children and adults to regulate emotions, the family is a safe space

  • Goode
  • 1963
• the family creates social stability and cohesion

  • Merton
  • 1949
• doesn’t believe in family diversity, the nuclear family is natural and universal, family diversity causes social breakdown

  • Murdock
  • 1949
• the patriarchal nuclear family is the only correct family type as it has a clear-cut division of labour

  • Murray
  • 1998
• the nuclear family socialises children + supports capitalism

  • Zaretsky
  • 1976
• the symmetrical family

  • Young & Wilmott
  • 1973
• the introduction of the welfare state, eg. the NHS

  • the beverage report
  • 1942
• women are able to file for divorce without needing proof of abuse + rise in single-parent families

  • Divorce Reform Act
  • 1969
• decrease in birth rate + more bodily rights for women

  • The Contraceptive Pill
  • 1967
• beanpole family

  • Brannon
  • 2003
• voluntary childlessness due to an increase in the availability of contraception

  • Hakim
  • 2000
• voluntary childlessness due to push (parenthood conflicts with careers) and pull (women have greater freedom) factors

  • Gillespie
  • 2000
• living alone pros (independence) VS cons (loneliness)

  • Klinenberg
  • 2013
• freedom in singlehood

  • Hall et al
  • 1999
• “the normal chaos of love”, individualisation means individuals are no longer tied to fixed roles

  • Beck and Beck Gernsheim
  • 1995
• criticised feminists for constantly “complaining” that men don’t do their fair share of domestic duties

  • Hakim
  • 2010
• single parent families cause poor health, lack of educational achievement and increased deviance

  • Spencer
  • 2005
• children save money after university by living at home

  • Heath
  • 2004
• men work more hours doing overtime to boost income, wives do part-time work or drop out of employment

  • Harkness
  • 2008
• the family as an ideological conditioning device, children are socialised to accept gender roles

  • Cooper
  • 1972
• couples enjoy the intimacy of being in a couple but also the freedom of singlehood

  • Levin
  • 2004
• 200 mothers said that cooking is central to their domestic routine, if men react badly they can turn violent

  • Charles and Kerr
  • 1986
• older single people who live alone are often visited by their family

  • Smith
  • 2005
• Middle class women do less housework than lower class women

  • Man Yee Kan
  • 2008
• BSA survey on the domestic division of labour: men do 8hrs (overestimate), women do 13hrs (underestimate)

  • Park et al
  • 2013
• domestic division of labour: women do 60% more, there is a gradual increase in men’s work

  • Gershunny
  • 1999
• men dominate and oppress women, men as the “head of the household”, women do more but receive less in return

  • Delphy and Leonard
  • 1991
  • Feminist
• women don’t challenge their role in the family as they are socialised to comply + the unpaid domestic work of women supports the capitalist system

  • Benston
  • 1972
  • Feminist