family perspectives

• Criticisms of the Marxist view of the family


  • Focuses only on class, ignores other factors such as gender
  • Only views the family as negative - children being born = more workers
• Marxist view of the family

  The family plays a role in capitalism as it is a unit of consumption
• Examples of the family as a unit of consumption


  • Advertisements
  • Pester power
  • Holidays
  • Christmas
  • Birthdays
• Marxists argue that workers may consume products such as alcohol to cope with the brutal effects of capitalism
• Zaretsky argues that the family has changed from being a unit of production and therefore not aiding capitalism
• Marxists argue that the class structure and division is maintained through inheritance passed down through generations
• The family acts as a safety valve or cushion for the brutal effects of capitalism
• Criticisms of the functionalist view of the family


  • Doesn't represent all families
  • Ignores dysfunctional families
  • Ignores conflict within families
  • Assumes families have a vital role in society
• Functionalist view of the family


  The family has a vital role in society, linking to the organic theory where the family is seen as essential for the running of society
• Functionalists believe the family has 4 vital functions: reproductive, economic, socialisation, and stabilisation of adult personalities
• Parsons thought the nuclear family had lost most of its functions in the 1950s-1960s due to a process called structural differentiation
• Parsons charged the nuclear family only had 2 irreducible functions: the instrumental role (the male breadwinner) and the expressive role (the female homemaker)
• Halsey argues that young men are not socialised to be good husbands or fathers, creating a dependency culture
• Criticisms of the new right view of the family


  • Other family structures can work as well as the nuclear family
  • View is outdated and ignores exploitation of women and the proletariat
• New right view of the family


  The nuclear family is the best family structure for society, and any other family structure is inferior and dysfunctional
• Murray suggests that lone parent households or low income households create a dependency culture passed down through generations, leading to the creation of a new social underclass
• Feminist view of the family


  • The family has a patriarchal structure where men exert power
  • Women's unpaid labour and emotional work is not respected
  • Women experience a dual burden of paid and unpaid labour
• Feminists believe the family is an economy in miniature where men are the main breadwinners and their work is more respected
• Feminists believe women have a triple shift - paid labour, unpaid domestic labour, and emotional labour
• Baby boomer generation


  People born just after the end of the Second World War
• Baby boomer generation


  Caused a high marriage rate in the late 1960s/early 1970s
• Same-sex marriage act


  Caused a slight increase in marriage rates around 2014
• Divorce reform act

  Allowed people to get divorced more easily, leading to a rise in divorce rates
• Divorce rates peaked in 1993 at 165,000 per year
• Cohabitation


  Living together without being married, a trial period to see if the relationship works
• Alternative living situations


  Living alone or with friends, often for financial reasons
• In 2012, only 14% of brides were under 25, compared to 75% in 1968
• Remarriage/serial monogamy


  People getting married, divorced, and married again
• Individualism


  Being more selfish and putting your own needs ahead of others
• Stigma


  Negative association with something, declining around non-married relationships
• Secularization


  Decline in importance of religion in society
• Secularization


  Reduces pressure to get married for religious reasons and stay married
• The divorce reform act was passed in 1969 but only became effective in 1971
• Before marriage and particularly having children out of wedlock

  There was incredible religious pressure to get married to show the child was legitimate
• Now having a baby out of wedlock

  People may think they are happy together and don't need to get married
• Policy changes have been massive
• Divorce Reform Act penned

  1969
• Divorce Reform Act became effective

  1971
• The Divorce Reform Act was a key influence on the rise in divorces over the last 50 years
• The Same-Sex Marriage Act allows gay people to get married