families

• Functions of the family

  • Social
  • Reproductive
  • Sexual
  • Economic
• Murdock's view of family functions


  Family performs 4 functions: social, reproductive, sexual, economic
• Parsons' view of family functions

  Family performs two irreducible functions: primary socialisation, stabilisation of adult personalities
• Criticism of the functionalist view: ignores the dark side of the family, makes all other family types seem unideal, doesn't examine power inequalities within the family
• Zaretsky's Marxist view of how the family serves the interests of capitalism

  Cult of private life, socialisation, economic, unit of consumption
• Furedi's view: 'Pester Power,' children play a great role in getting their parents to buy them things by pestering them
• Engels' Marxist view on inheritance

  The rich people pass down property which gains more value over time, keeps the rich rich and makes them wealthier whilst the working class remain in their social position
• Criticism of the Marxist view: ignores the fact that some working class people have a higher standard of life than those in communist societies, false class consciousness suggests that people can easily be brainwashed, consumerism is a liberating experience because of the choice it offers
• Oakley's feminist view on family socialisation

  Canalisation, different activities, verbal appellations, manipulation
• Oakley's feminist concept of 'dual burden'


  Women carry out paid employment and housework
• Duncombe and Marsden's feminist concept of 'triple shift'


  Women carry out paid employment, unpaid housework and emotion work
• Delphy and Leonard's feminist view on social control


  Women are always under the control of a male figure in their family, either their father, brothers, or boyfriend/husband
• Delphy and Leonard's feminist view on unpaid labour


  Women carry out unpaid labour that benefits men more than themselves, women are said to provide '57 different types of service'
• Benston's feminist view on unpaid labour


  The amount of unpaid labour carried out by women is large and profitable for men and workers, 'slaves of the wage slaves'
• Walby's feminist view on the 'dark side of the family'


  Men exert power over women at home in forms of violence
• Criticism of the feminist view: doesn't recognise that women are now more financially independent and have more power than some suggest, ignores the fact that some women chose the life of being a housewife, generalises all families into being patriarchal
• Murray's New Right view


  Boys from lone parent families are more likely to turn to crime and underachieve because they have no father figure to discipline them
• Sewell's New Right view

  Absence of a father figure in their life makes them reject authority figures, which leads to crime and underachievements
• Criticism of the New Right view: suggests that other family types are inadequate, blames people for their own poverty when it is created by an unequal society, exaggerate the decline of the nuclear family
• Types of family diversity (Rappaports)

  • Organisational
  • Cultural
  • Social class
  • Life-course
  • Cohort
• Chester's criticism of the Rappaports: the nuclear family remains the main family type, marriage is still popular, and most people want to live in nuclear families, there has been a delay in when people get married rather than a reduction, most people live in a nuclear family and aspire to live in a nuclear family
• Young and Willmott's concept of 'symmetrical family'


  Roles of men and women are becoming increasingly equal but not identical, husband and wife make similar contributions to the home, even if it's not doing the same things
• Gatrell's view on childcare


  Fathers today play a greater role in their children's lives than their fathers did in the past
• Dermott's concept of 'intimate fathers'


  Fathers who are closely involved in their children's lives and activities, many more fathers are willing to play with their children and help them with their homework etc
• Kaufman's concepts of 'new dads' and 'super dads'


  New dads: placed a high priority on involvement of their children's lives and make minor adjustments to their lives for them, super dads: make major adjustments to their work lives to accommodate to their children's schedule
• Oakley's view on segregated conjugal roles


  Roles of men and women are still unequal, they regard small help around the house such as washing dishes once a week as helpful, women still do majority of the work around the home
• Duncombe and Marsden's view on segregated conjugal roles


  Triple shift: Mothers carry out paid employment, unpaid house work and emotion work, whereas in most cases men only do paid employment
• Gershuny's view on segregated conjugal roles


  Women had to cut down hours doing unpaid work because of their paid employment and men weren't compensating for that, lagged adaptation: women are going into employment faster than men are taking up household chores
• Edgell's view on segregated conjugal roles


  Men had control over most of the major decisions, whereas women only got to make the minor decisions
• Pahl's concept of 'husband controlled pooling'


  Both partner's earnings are collected and the husband has more control over how it is spent
• Hays' concept of 'emergence of intensive motherhood'


  Mothers are still the main target of parenting advice, even though they do most of the parenting
• Walby's view on the 'dark side of the family'


  Men exert their power over women in forms of domestic violence, violence within the family is almost always done by the man to the woman
• Parsons' functionalist view on conjugal roles


  In the nuclear family, man takes instrumental role, woman takes expressive role. Allocation of roles is done according to the biology of the sexes
• Marxist view on conjugal roles

  Women are exploited and oppressed through domestic work, layout supports capitalism and the interests of the ruling class
• Feminist view on conjugal roles

  Conjugal roles disadvantage women and men dominate the family, women make the greatest contribution to family life but men gain the most from it
• Trends of marriage


  • Fewer people are getting married
  • Increase in remarriages
  • People are getting married later
• Sharpe's view on change in priorities


  At first, their priorities were to get married and have children, 20 years later, their priorities changed and they prioritised their careers
• Hart's view on marriage trends


  The economy has demanded female labour outside the home, women are becoming more financially stable
• Fletcher's view on marriage trends


  Marriage is so important that if it doesn't meet their expectations, they will get a divorce
• Goode's view on marriage trends

  Marriage is becoming less of a sacred and spiritual union and more personal and practical commitment