Sociology paper 2

• Social policies that have affected family structure

  • Divorce Reform Act
  • Shared Parental Leave
  • Same sex marriage, Civil partnership Act
  • Adoption Act
  • Equal Pay
  • Tax breaks (tax less when married)
  • S.28 (no teaching of homosexuality)
  • Traditional Parental Leave
  • ROSLA
• Functionalist theory


  • Believes society is based on a value consensus into which society socialises its members, enabling social harmony and social solidarity
  • Family is an important subsystem as it is a basic building block of society
• Murdock


  • Family is universal, inevitable and exists in every society
  • Main 4 functions - reproduce, socialize, sexual regulation and economic
  • Each function is beneficial for the individual and society
• Murdock's functions are deterministic as he assumes all nuclear families are performing these functions when in reality some may not be adequately socialising children
• Parson


  • Believes in functional fit - the type of family that is most common in society and its roles will depend on the kind of society in which it is found
  • Nuclear families are better for society as they allow geographical and social mobility
• Evidence that nuclear families have always existed and that extended families are also still around
• Parson's view of the nuclear family


  • Two essential functions - provide primary socialisation and stabilisation of adult personalities
  • Women perform the expressive role, men perform the instrumental role
• Radical psychiatrists view the family as dangerous, not a 'warm bath'
• New Right


  • Believe men and women have different, biological roles (expressive-women, instrumental-men)
  • Believe the nuclear family is ideal
  • Concerned with the rise of single parent families, divorce and cohabitation as they threaten the nuclear family structure
• Evidence shows the rate of family breakdown is much lower in married couples and children from broken homes are more likely to be young offenders
• Chester argues that cohabitation is usually temporary and leads to marriage, so the New Right's reason is invalid
• Marxism


  • Acknowledges the inequality between social classes, caused by capitalism
  • Believes the functions of the family are performed purely to benefit capitalism, not the family
• Engels' view


  • The monogamous nuclear family allows capitalism to reproduce, creating future wage slaves primed for exploitation
  • The rise of the nuclear family represented the defeat of the female sex, as women's sexuality came under male control
• Marxist feminists criticise Engels for neglecting the oppression of women and failing to acknowledge new family types
• Marx's view

  The family is a unit of production and consumption, benefiting the ruling class's profit
• Marxist view lacks contemporary relevance as the cost-of-living crisis suggests the nuclear family may no longer be able to perform economic functions
• Althusser's view


  The family is an Ideological State Apparatus that brainwashes individuals into accepting their position in society
• Feminist critique of Althusser's view - it ignores how the family ideology supports patriarchy
• Feminism


  • Acknowledges the inequality between men and women in a patriarchal society where men dominate
  • The family reinforces patriarchy by keeping women subordinate in the expressive roles
• Feminist view of the family

  • The function of families is for reproduction and sexual regulation, exploiting women for their reproductive capabilities
  • Women are limited in career advancement due to maternity leave and the gender pay gap
• Functionalist critique of feminism - it ignores the positive aspects of family life for women
• Feminist view of domestic labour


  Women provide free domestic labour and maintain the low-status, unpaid work in the expressive roles
• Feminist theory is outdated as it fails to acknowledge recent economic and social changes
• Feminist view of gender socialisation

  The traditional nuclear family passes on the norms and values of patriarchy, socialising children into gender stereotypes
• Feminist theory is deterministic, ignoring the possibility of choice in creating family relationships
• Social policies have caused the family to become more diverse and changed family structures drastically
• Divorce Reform Act


  Made divorce cheaper and easier to obtain, leading to a rise in divorces and the formation of new family types like lone parent families and reconstituted families
• Feminists view the changes in divorce law as positive, allowing women to escape the oppression of the patriarchal nuclear family
• New Right oppose the increasing divorce rate as they believe it undermines the patriarchal nuclear family, which they see as the best type of family for society
• Secularisation and decline in stigma attached to divorce


  Caused an increase in the divorce rate, leading to more remarriages and serial monogamy
• Murdock and Parson would disagree with the increasing divorce rate as it would mean less people living in nuclear families, potentially affecting socialisation and the stabilisation of adult personalities
• Rising expectations and individualisation


  Caused people to be less willing to tolerate an unhappy marriage, leading to more divorces
• Personal Life Perspective view the effect of rising expectations as positive, as it gives people more choices in constructing their family relationships
• There has been a decline in first marriages and a rise in remarriages, with the average age for marriage now in the 30s compared to the 1960s
• Cohabitation (unmarried couples living together) is the fastest growing family type in the UK, with 1 in 8 adults cohabiting and an estimated 69,000 same-sex couples
• Secularisation and decline in stigma

  Caused a decline in the influence of religion, making it more acceptable to have sex before marriage and cohabit rather than marry
• Chandler states that cohabitation is replacing marriage as it's seen as a long-term alternative, as marriage is now viewed more as a contract of love, friendship, and trust
• Cohabitation is on an increase and is the fastest growing family type in the UK. 1 in 8 of all adults are cohabiting, estimate 69000 same sex couples.
• Secularisation


  Decline in church influence means people no longer feel they should get married for religious reasons
• Marriage


  No longer about pleasing society and fitting its original norms but instead about pleasing individuals