Sociology - families

• Sociological perspectives on the functions of families


  Provide different ways of understanding the role and significance of families in society
• Functionalists


  • Focused on the positive contributions the family makes to society
  • See the family as a Cornerstone to society
  • Argue that without the family, society could descend into chaos
• Nuclear family


  Married couple and their children
• Key functions of the family (Murdock)

  • Sexual function
  • Reproductive function
  • Economic function
  • Educational function
• Sexual function of the family

  Provides a context for the development of sexual relationships and the formation of intimate Partnerships
• Reproductive function of the family


  Responsible for the reproduction and raising of children
• Economic function of the family

  Plays an important economic role by providing for the basic needs of their members and by participating in the larger economy through work and consumption
• Educational function of the family


  Responsible for the education and socialization of children, passing on values beliefs and cultural heritage from one generation to the next
• Parsons' functionalist perspective


  • Emphasizes the role of the family in the socialization of children and the development of adult personalities
  • Outlines two key roles: Primary socialization and stabilization of adult personalities
• Parsons' warm bath theory: the family provides emotional support and stress relief for adults
• Marxists


  • Emphasize the role of families in maintaining class inequality and reproducing the labor force for capitalist societies
  • See the family as an instrument of social control that serves the interests of the ruling class
• Zaretzki's Marxist perspective on the family


  Maintains capitalism through inheritance, consumerism, socialization, and the role of women
• Feminists


  • Critique the functionalist perspective for its emphasis on the traditional nuclear family structure and its failure to consider the ways in which families can be oppressive to women
  • Argue that the traditional nuclear family structure is patriarchal and reinforces gender inequality
• Family forms


  • Nuclear family
  • Extended family
  • Reconstituted family
  • Lone parent family
  • Single Sex family
  • Bean Poole family
  • Cohabitation
  • Empty nest
  • Empty shell
  • Kinship
• Alternatives to families


  • Friends
  • Communal living
  • House share
  • Residential homes
• Factors contributing to family diversity in modern societies include secularization, changes in the position of women, changes to legislation, changes to social attitudes, and changes to employment
• Examples of how family forms differ between the UK and other countries

  • Extended family
  • Communes
  • Gender roles
  • Same-sex families
  • Single parent families
  • Kibbutz
• In the Middle East, same-sex relationships are illegal and punishable by imprisonment or even death
• Single parent families are becoming increasingly common in the UK but still represent a smaller proportion of families compared to many other countries
• In the United States, about 20.5% of families are headed by a single parent
• In some countries, single parent families are often the norm due to high rates of disease and other factors that result in the loss of a parent
• Kism


  The Kutz movement was built on principles of egalitarianism, communal living and collective ownership
• Kism


  1. Every member of the community would contribute to the work and in return all their basic needs would be taken care of by the Kuts

  2. There's no private property, everything is owned by the community

  3. Work is distributed among members based on the needs of the community and often rotates

  4. In traditional kism, children were often raised in communal children's houses rather than by their biological parents to ensure upbringing was in line with community values and to free up parents to contribute to the Kut's work
• The one child policy was a population control measure instituted in 1979 by the Chinese government
• One child policy


  Families that adhered to the policy often received benefits such as better housing or educational opportunities, while those who violated the policy faced penalties which could include fines, loss of employment or forced sterilizations and abortions
• As China's birth rate dropped and life expectancy increased, the country began to experience an aging population, which posed challenges for social support systems
• In 2016, the Chinese government announced an end to the one child policy in response to the socioeconomic challenges created by it and a desire to balance the population's age structure
• Statistics show the nuclear family is still the most popular type in the UK, but over time more types of family have emerged making the nuclear family less important
• Rapaport and Rapaport

  The first sociologists to identify the change in family diversity, arguing that it is a natural and healthy aspect of society that should be celebrated and accepted rather than stigmatized or pathologized
• Types of family diversity

  • Organizational diversity
  • Cultural diversity
  • Social class diversity
  • Life cycle diversity
  • Cohort diversity
• Domestic division of labor


  The way in which domestic tasks and responsibilities are divided within a family
• In traditional families, the domestic division of labor is typically characterized by a clear segregation of responsibilities between men and women
• In contemporary families, the domestic division of labor is becoming more equal with both partners sharing responsibilities more equally
• Conjugal roles


  Characteristics and duties taken on by individuals in a marriage, which can be joint or segregated
• Sociological perspectives on conjugal roles

  • Functionalist
  • Feminist
  • Marxist
  • Postmodern
• Symmetrical family


  Families in industrial societies have become increasingly symmetrical over time, meaning that both men and women have more equal roles in terms of domestic labor and child care
• Stratified diffusion


  Changes in family patterns and gender roles tend to spread from the upper and middle classes to the working classes over time
• Oakley


  A feminist sociologist who has written extensively on the idea of the conventional family and the role of women within it, arguing that the traditional nuclear family is a patriarchal institution that is harmful to women
• Factors that impact conjugal roles

  • Decision making
  • Money management
  • Dual career families
  • Child rearing
  • Leisure activities
• Family types over history

  • Pre-industrial
  • Industrialized
  • Contemporary