Sociologists

• Lombroso

  Existence of a criminal gene - racist ideas
• Ann Oakley (liberal feminist)

  The family socialises children into their gender roles through…

  • Manipulation,   encouraging gender specific behaviours
  • Verbal Appellations,   adopting different tones of speech depending on a child’s gender
  • Differentiated Activities,   encouragement into different gender stereotyped activities
  • Canalisation,   channelling interests towards gender specific toys, books, games etc
• Best

  School books portray stereotypical gender roles
• McRobbie

  ‘Slimblondeness’ depicts stereotypical slim, blonde women as a beauty standard for young girls to copy
• Giddens

  Legal changes reflect changes in society e.g. divorce act
• Wilkinson

  'Genderquake', women more financially independent & able to leave marriages
• Allan & Crow

  Marriage is focused on high expectations & fulfilment of happiness leading to an increase of cohabitation
• Giddens

  Increase in confluent love & serial monogamy find a 'perfect relationship'
• Gibson

  marriage has become less of a sacred union and more of a personal commitment which can be abandoned if fails
• The Rapoports(post modernists)

  Family diversity 5 elements

  • Cultural diversity, different family lifestyles of different ethnic groups
  • Lifecycle diversity, changes in a stage of someone’s life e.g. newly weds without kids
  • Organisational diversity, variations in family structures & conjugal roles
  • Generational diversity, same period & may have recurring patterns e.g. dual earners
  • Social Class diversity, differences in m/c & w/c families & how they are socialised
• Chandler

  Younger people are more likely to live alone, particularly men aged 25-44 as women are more likely to keep children in a marital breakdown
• De'ath & Slater

  Children will find themselves pulled in two separate directions especially if parents’ relationship is strained & may have tense relations with step parents
• Sue Sharpe


  Girls’ priorities in the 1970s were love & families compared to girls in the 1990s prioritised careers
• Smart & Stevens

  Couples use cohabitation as a test of their commitments
• Chandler

  People are choosing cohabitation as a long-term alternative to marriage
• O'Connell

  Influence of celebrity culture have made weddings seem more expensive
• Ansley (radical feminist)

  Women are the takers of shit
• Allan & Crow

  increase in divorce shows an increase in individual choice and leads to more lone parent families
• Beck-Gernsheim

  Less stigma around alternative forms of living (more acceptable)
• Benston (marxist feminist)

  Women are pushed into exploitative roles by capitalism
• Bernard (marxist feminist)

  men gain more from marriage than women (triple shift)
• Chapman

  Fathers are now more involved in childcare as women can have careers (no longer taboo)
• Chester (post-modernist)

  The nuclear family is not breaking down from the increase in more diverse family structures
• Delphy & Leonard (radical feminist)

  The family is patriarchal, women have a dual burden and are controlled by their husbands
• Dennis & Erdos (new right)

  Boys who are brought up without a father are more likely to obtain a criminal record
• Dobash (radical feminist)

  Domestic violence caused by challenging husband’s authority, argued marriage legitimises violence against women & gives authority to husbands
• Duncombe & marsden (liberal feminist)

  women work a triple shift (emotional, domestic & careers)
• Engels (marxism)

  women are seen as dependents and used to create heirs
• Gibson

  Increase in freedom of individual choice and acceptance of diversity
• Giddens

  increase in freedom of individual choice and acceptance of diversity
• Hantrais

  increase in voluntary childlessness
• Ross

  increase in life expectancy causing extended families grandparents provide emotional support to grandkids
• Phillips (new right)

  children from nuclear families have more stable personalities
• Gough

  Family is hard to define due to demographic change
• Leach

  cereal packet family
• McAllister & Clarke

  increase in women choosing to remain childless seen as a positive choice
• Stacey (post modernist)

  society needs to adapt to cope with a greater variety of family life
• Engels (marxism)

  women are seen as dependents and exploited through capitalism to produce heirs
• Zaretsky (Marxism)

  The family is a part of the ideological state apparatus
• Murdock (functionalism)

  the nuclear family performs 4 functions (Reproductive, Educational, Economic, Sexual)