Families

• Nuclear Family: Consists of a father, mother, and their dependent child
• Lone Parent Family: consists of one parent and dependant children who live together
• Reconstituted Family: One or both parents have children from previous relationships and are now living together
• vertically Extended Family: family of grandparents, parents, and children all living together in the same home
• Horizontally Extended Family: multiple members of the game generation living together eg; aunts, uncles and cousins.
• Same Sex Families: gay or lesbian couples live together with their child/children.
• Single-Person Household: one person living alone
• Empty Nest Family: when children are older and move out the home 'they have flown from the nest'
• Household: a person or group of people who are living a the same address and share at least one meal a day or facilities such as a living room.
• Cohabitating Families: unmarried couple living together (could be with their children) - also considered a nuclear family.
• Beanpole Family: a multi-generational family that is long and thin with few aunts, uncles and grandparents
• Modified Extended Family: members of the extended family live apart geographically but remain in contact with each other nonetheless.
• Polygamy: when a person has multiple Spouses at one time.

  Polygyny: when one man has multiple wives at the same time

  Polyandry: when one woman has multiple husbands at the same time
• Monogamy: being married to one person at a time

  Serial Monogamy: Several monogamous relationships eg: marrying, divorcing and marrying again
• Boomerang Families: Adult children return to live with parents as a result of break up, lack of Secure jobs ect.
• Reasons For Family Types Increasing:

  1. societies views have been changed and been decriminalised (they're normal now)

  2. less stigma around homosexuality + negative connotations (same-sex families)

  3. Secularisation: religion having less of an influence and impact on people's decisions/actions

  4. Women are no longer economically dependent on men/their husbands as there has been an increase in employment and opportunities they can leave/live alone and still continue to be stable

  5. People are getting married later on in life

  6. increase in divorce

  7. increase in life expectancy
• Functionalist View on The Family?

  They believe the nuclear family is the most ideal and best family type

  They believe in a traditional division of labour

  (Separation of work) between husband and wife (where the man is a

  breadwinner, and the wife is a housewife)

  They believe the family is the most important institution because it fulfils society's most basic needs

  . The family performs essential functions that benefit all members of society and ensure social order and stability

  . All other family types are inadequate and cannot ensure the smooth running of society
• G.P. Murdock 4 Essential Functions (Functionalist)

  Economic: the family provides an economic function to all its members by pooling resources and ensuring all have what they need.

  Reproductive: produces the next generation of the society. - without it society would eventually die off.

  Sexual: ensures that adults' sexual relationships are controlled and stable (within marriage rather than Sexual freedom as it stabilises their relationship.)

  Education: children are taught norms and values of society through primary socialisation
• Parsons functions

  Primary socialisation: children are taught thew shared norms and values of their society as they grow up. They become committed to the rules of society- maintaining its stability.

  Stabilisation of adult personalities: the family is an agent of personality stabilisation. Life can be stressful and out them under pressure, he likened the nuclear family to a 'warm bath' providing relaxation from the stresses and strains of modern life. → this provides emotional stability
• parson agrees that within the nuclear family there is a clear traditional division of labour (separation of work) between men and women which is what is needed to carry out these functions.

  • he believes it should be based on traditional division of labour- the woman as the housewife/mother and man as the bread winner
• Marxists take a critical and negative view of the nuclear family

  • They believe that the nuclear family functions to benefit the interests of the bourgeoisie (the ruling class)
  • They believe the nuclear family works to maintain and ensure that capitalism continues
  • The believe the nuclear family functions to create and establish false class consciousness
  • The family is one of the key institutions through which social inequalities continue from one generation to the next
• Zaretsky - How family benefits capitalism (1)

  • The Cult of private life: Family life often obscures the injustices of capitalism, preventing workers from realizing their exploitative nature. They believe happiness lies in family life, preventing them from organizing a revolution.
  • A unit of consumption: The capitalist system's profits are maintained by targeting families who are persuaded through advertising that materialistic happiness is the key to success.
• Zaretsky- How family benefits capitalism (2)

  • Socialisation: Women socialize children into obedience, conformity, and respect for hierarchy, preparing them for working in the bourgeoisie and influencing their understanding of authority.
  • Economic Support: Women offer emotional support, alleviating the frustrations of the working class, which benefits capitalism by allowing them to work without stress or anger, facilitating a working-class revolution.
• Eagels (Marxism)

  The nuclear family is a crucial tool for maintaining capitalism and benefiting the ruling class by preserving private property through a monogamous relationship. This ensures legitimate heirs for children born, avoiding polygyny complications and preserving the wealth of the rich.
• Feminists criticize the nuclear family as an institution that negatively impacts women and society, contributing to the social construction and creation of gender differences. They accept biological differences but argue that patriarchy is created by the family through primary socialization.
• Socialisation - Anne Oakley; demonstrates how the family socialises children into gender roles. (Feminism)

  • Children are taught that they have different roles in the world This occurs through canalization, manipulation, different activities and verbal appellation (toys, influence, activities and words eg; my strong boy)
  • Oakley argues that the division of roles in the family benefits men as it gives them more power, status, money and choice women stay at home, clean, cook ect.
• Social Control - Delphy and Leonard (Feminism)

  In adulthood, social control of women passes from fathers and brothers to their boyfriends and husbands.

  • Relationships in the family are patriarchal, where men have control and are dominant and have more power.

  • They believe men have control and are dominant and have more power suggests that most decision-making in a household is done by men, who have control over money and resources. - Men take their positions as head of the household.
• Delphy & Leonard (feminism)

  • Argue that the family is patriarchal because women contribute most to family life in terms of housework, emotional work and support but they receive less benefits compared to men who benefit the most

  • They define housework as unpaid work done by women who do less visible work such as booking holidays or choosing decor - their work is not valued.
• Oakely (feminism)

  Ann Oakley argued that women who worked ended up with a dual burden - meaning that they worked in paid employment and still did the majority of the housework.
• Duncombe & Marsden (feminism)

  found that domestic work was overwhelmingly done by women.

  • They extended the idea of the the dual burden to the triple shift -where women undertook paid employment, the majority of housework AND emotion work.

  • Emotion work refers to the management of feelings and emotions

  in the home and listening to and sorting out personal problems.
• Ansley: (Marxists feminist)

  · Sees women as acting as a "safety valve" and that women are absorb their husbands' frustrations at their own "powerlessness and oppression" - As husbands return home after being exploited thus take their frustrations out on their wives.

  → She suggests that women are the 'takers of shit'.
• Benston: (marxist feminist)

  Women are 'the slaves of the wage slaves' - as women take primary responsibility for domestic tasks as well as attending to the Sexual and emotional needs of their husbands

  • The unpaid work done by wives helps to keep the workers going and subsequently, the capitalist economy going too.

  The wife keeps the husband in a running order by feeding and taking care of him which is essential to keep capitalism running smoothly.

  To ensure they keep working hard and making profits for the bosses.
• Dark side of the family - Sylvia Walby (feminist)

  The dark side of family life, including domestic violence, reflects patriarchal tendencies and male dominance. This violence, ranging from physical to financial, is a result of women's inequality and a culture that devalues women.

  Evidence:

  In 2015, 2 women are murdered weekly in England and Wales, with one in 4 experiencing domestic violence. Women are assaulted 35 times before police calls, with higher repeat victimization rates.
• The New Right views the traditional nuclear family as the best form, valuing marriage and tradition labour division. They believe this family provides adequate socialization for children, and oppose divorce and cohabitation. They criticize other family types, particularly lone-parent families, for inadequate socialization.
• New Right thinkers argued that government policy was undermining the family. They believe that the introduction of the welfare state led to a culture where people depend on hand-outs from the state and that these encourages single parenting, which in turn, they argue leads to deviancy and a decline in morality.

  • They believe that lone parent families are an inadequate form of family and the cause of most of society's problems
• Charles Murray (new right)

  • believes boys brought up without a male role model in the family will not see fatherly behaviour to aspire to = will not understand that the role of men is to work and provide money for the family.

  In the future, boys brought up by single mothers will be unlikely to take responsibility for any children they have.

  Boys from lone-parent families are most likely to turn to crime and underachieve at school because they have had no father figure to discipline and control them.
• Tony Sewell (new right)

  He argues that a high proportion of African-Caribbean boys are raised in lone-parent families with mothers who are single.

  • He argues that the absence of a male role model makes young African Caribbean boys vulnerable to peer pressure for example, they are drawn into gangs that emphasize an aggressive, macho form of masculinity.
  • They reject authority figures such as teachers and the police - This leads to crime and underachievement
• Postmodernists advocate for diverse family lifestyles, rejecting strict social norms and the nuclear family form. They reject the idea of one grand theory describing society and human behavior, recognizing the importance of individual preferences and the changing nature of family structures.
• Individualisation is the idea that the individual is the most important in society, more important than communities, groups and society itself.

  • People are free to live their lives how they want - Life is fluid and constantly changing and evolving.
  • Things are very much uncertain and unstable compared to the passed

  Postmodernists advocate for diverse family lifestyles, ignoring strict social norms, and believe nuclear families are decreasing, leading to a preference for same-sex families.
• Giddens Confluent Love (postmodernist)

  argues that individuals seek confluent love, by which he means a form of love based on deep intimacy where each partner gains emotional fulfillment from the other.

  → However, such relationships are not based on a permanent commitment as partners only maintain the relationship as long as both are fulfilled.

  He argues that women in particular have gained freedom from this as they are no longer trapped in unsatisfactory relationships because they have no alternatives. They are able to leave the patriarchal nuclear family if they choose to do so