Component 1- Families and Households (WJEC)

• Nuclear Family

  The traditional 2 parents and children combo
• Murdock


  • Studied 250 societies and found that nuclear families were a constant throughout all of them
  • Came up with the universal functions of the family theory
• Parsons


  • Says the family has evolved due to the progression of society to meet the changing needs of said society
  • The two functions are the primary socialisation of children and the stabilisation of the adult personality
• Primary socialisation


  The child can only become a social adult by internalising the shared norms and values of their society
• Stabilisation of the adult personality

  The marriage and relationship and emotional support/security the married couple provide for each other, like a 'warm bath' as they reduce anxiety and stress by meeting each others emotional needs
• Postmodernists would say that Murdock ignores the variety of family types that we can observe in a modern society
• Basic and irreducible functions of the family

  • Gender roles
• Radical psychiatrist Liang looks at the darker side of the family, can be abusive to some, parents are like bullies to their children - force them to comply, causes mental illnesses
• Marxist Zaretsky argues against 'warm bath' that benefits individuals, says that family is a 'safety valve' from oppression experienced by working in a capitalist society
• Instrumental role

  Men are seen as the breadwinners within the family
• Expressive role

  Females handle domestic tasks within the family
• Parsons thinks these gender roles are biologically determined
• Radical Feminist Greer argues Parsons' view is too optimistic - main focus on harmony and a value consensus
• Radical Feminist Greer argues these gender roles aren't biological- rather a social construction determined by patriarchy and men
• Radical Psychiatrist Leach argues that gender roles lead to conflict within the family
• Radical Psychiatrist Leach argues the nuclear family is isolating for the members involved - 'dark side'
• Functionalism

  • Focus on value consensus, optimistic, society=human body
• Fletcher

  • Nuclear family = multifunctional (9 total) with 3 essential functions and 6 non-essential functions
  • Provision of the home
  • Reproduction and raising children
  • Satisfaction of sexual needs
  • Other functions can be fulfilled by other institutions, shared responsibility (family&state)
• Right Realist Murray says the family should be a private sphere and be self-sufficient, the decline in traditional nuclear family shows the family is not fully functional
• Radical Feminist Firestone fails to look at the oppression of women today, the family cannot be multifunctional if women are still oppressed by patriarchy, the roles associated with sexual needs and childbearing highlight inequality between men and women, women will only be free of oppression through separatism
• New Right Realism

  • Value the nuclear family - most natural, normal and desirable, the growth in lone parent families causes dysfunction
• Functional families

  Nuclear families following traditional roles in society (Parsons - gender roles), men = instrumental, show male youth the importance of providing for their families and act as strong role models, women = expressive, show female youth the importance of providing nurturing instincts and aid in socialisation, functional for society and its individuals
• Dysfunctional families

  Nuclear families should be in the private sphere and totally self-sufficient, single parent families represent a culture of idleness, laziness and fecklessness, welfare dependant, deviant and criminal backgrounds, fail to effectively socialise children into shared norms and values, part of a dangerous underclass in society
• Murray claims that matrifocal single parent families do not effectively socialise children well as they are welfare dependant and there is no positive male role model to socialise them so they instead turn to their peers to learn about masculinity so they end up in criminal/deviant subcultures and no reliable/sufficient income
• Dennis and Erdos say boys mainly require a male role model as men who grew up in a single parent family are less likely to take responsibilities of their own children and adopt anti-social behaviours
• Cashmore says quality of parenting is more important than quantity of parents, alternative family types may benefit all members more such as single parent families or reconstituted families
• Walker says there is no evidence for an underclass within society, no homogenous culture within the 'underclass' and not all single parent families adopt those negative viewpoints, not all single parent families are welfare dependant, many want their children to achieve academically and effectively socialise children into societal norms and values
• Denzin and Amato say family breakdown increases risk to children, single parent families increase risks of poverty, educational failure, crime, health problems and future family breakdown, families and society are "broken", a return to traditional values such as marriage is beneficial to prevent social disintegration and damage to children
• Family breakdown and the increase in lone parent families leads to governments spending more on welfare benefits - paid out of public funds, this places a bigger tax burden on the population of society that works (who are taxed more) which acts as 'perverse incentives'(high levels of taxation and benefits)
• Radical Feminist Oakley says the New Right wrongly assumes that family roles are fixed by biology, cross-cultural studies show variation in the roles men and women perform in the family, the New Right Realists show a negative reaction to the feminist campaign for female equality
• Postmodernist Stacey says we need to examine the role and purpose of the family on an individual level rather than societal - increased freedom & flexibility within a postmodern society, women are shaping family diversity in this postmodern society
• Electronic babysitters - women (expressive role) in single parent families focus too much on work rather than socialising their own children and as a result rely on babysitters and electronics such as iPads which socialise them instead, this means primary socialisation is disrupted which impacts the social norms and values of children today
• Liberal Feminists say there have been increased opportunities for women to work outside of the home due to legislative changes, this would be better for a lone parent woman than to be welfare dependant and rely on the nanny state
• Marxism

  • Conflict theory that focuses on the negative impacts of the nuclear family, based on the idea that everything benefits capitalism and the foundations are built on the oppression of the working classes/proletariat
• Marx, Althusser, Zaretsky identify ISA (Ideological State Apparatus) and RSA (Repressive State Apparatus) as methods of social control, the family can be seen as an ISA as it socialises children into capitalist values, ultimately preparing them for working life
• Functionalist Murdock argues against the ISA claim, the family performs the educational function, passing on shared norms and values beneficial to both individuals and society, shows that individuals are being educated in the family to reflect a value consensus
• Radical Feminists argue that Althusser ignores the subordination of women within families as families are in place to pass on patriarchal ideologies, gender differences are the greatest inequalities experienced (by women) within the family, not only capitalism
• Families follow the idea of 'keeping up with the Joneses' through consumption of material goods, this feeds into the capitalist society and allows it to keep going, the media targets children who use 'pester power' to persuade their parents to consume more, this could be caused by peer pressure to have trendy possessions otherwise they may be stigmatised by others for not having such things, therefore the family plays a major role in generating profits
• In modern capitalist society, the family creates the illusion of their 'private life' being separate from the economy, the family acts as a 'safety valve' to release frustration from oppression endured at work so people can return the next day with a clear mindset allowing that oppression to continue
• Zaretsky accepts the family may cushion the effects of capitalism however thinks that emotional needs cannot always be fulfilled within the nuclear family because psychological and personal needs cannot be met so the nuclear family only benefits capitalism