Families

• Same sex family


  two same sex parents and their children
• nuclear families


  a family made up of parents and their children
• Multi-cultural families


  Families with members from two or more cultural groups
• Lone parent families


  A single parent and their dependent children
• living apart together


  a relationship in which two people define themselves as a couple but do not live together
• extended families


  Families made up of several generations
• reconstituted families


  A new family that forms after the remarriage of a single parent, sometimes involving the blending of two families into a new one.
• Empty nest families


  parents living at home together after their adult children have moved out
• Beanpole family


  People having fewer children and living longer
• Sandwich generation


  the generation of adults who simultaneously try to meet the competing needs of their parents and their children
• boomerang children


  young adults who return, after leaving home for some period, to live in the homes of their middle-aged parents
• Immigration


  Movement into society
• Emigration


  Movement out of a society
• Net migration


  The difference between the level of immigration and the level of emigration.
• Births


  - more women are remaining childless or postponing having children

  - decline in birth rate due to change in position for women
• Deaths


  - declined due to improved diets and medical improvements

  - higher incomes lead to healthier lifestyles meaning deaths are decreasing
• Marriage


  - later in life

  - less pressure to marry

  - fear of divorce

  - women are now financially independent from men

  - decline in the influence of the church
• Divorce


  - since 1969 it's become easier

  - now normalised instead of being seen as shameful

  - churches have softened their views

  - marriage now has higher expectations

  - couples are now less likely to tolerate unhappy marriages
• Social characteristics of family : ethnicity


  Higher proportion of extended families and to marry young
• Social characteristics of family : class


  Working class living in crowded conditions and more likely to divorce
• Fertility


  Refers to the number of live births per 1000 females aged 15-44

  - decrease

  - later age

  - more outside of marriage
• Social characteristics of family : geographical location


  South coast has a higher proportion of elderly and one person households
• Social characteristics of family : old age


  Life expectancy is increasing
• Domestic roles equal? Yes


  - willmot and young = conjugal roles

  - beck = fathers taking emotional roles

  - Sullivan = gender inequality men doing domestic roles
• Domestic roles equal? No


  - Oakley = men exaggerate how much work they do

  - ferri and smith = women take responsibility for child care

  - hardhil = men still making the important decisions
• Functionalist view on family


  - Sees the family as one of the essential building blocks for a stable society

  - nuclear family is the ideal family type as it gives positive socialisation
• Parsons on family


  - the functional fit theory

  - where nuclear families fit the industrial society best
• Murdock view on family


  - nuclear family was universal and that it performed 4 essential functions

  ~ stabilising the sex drive

  ~ reproduction

  ~ socialisation of the young

  ~ economic production
• Marxist view on family

  Functions of the family is to benefit capitalism
• Engles on family


  - families are all about bloodline and proof of parentage

  - family relations to things get passed down when someone dies

  - family has a clear economic function for capitalism
• Liberal feminist on family


  - focus one striving for legal equality between men and women

  - women are oppressed by men and men will do anything to maintain power

  - girls are socialised to believe that inequality is normal so learn to accept
• Radical feminist on family


  - sees the oppression of women as the most fundamental and universal form of domination

  - do not agree on the source of male domination, but also do see the family as important in maintaining male power
• Marxist feminist on family


  - capitalist systems get the benefit of women's unpaid work

  - women attend to their husbands needs to keep him in good order

  - emotional support provided as a safety valve

  - engles = acknowledges that women are exploited in the family life
• Functionalist view on social policy


  - sees the state as acting in the interest of society as a whole

  - all policies are good for all

  - sees policies as helping families to perform their functions more successfully
• New right view on social policy


  - criticise many existing policies for undermining the family

  - the government weaken the families self reliance by providing welfare benefits
• Marxist view on social policy


  - Social policies help to reinforce inequalities, it helps to maintain an unequal distribution of wealth by keeping people welfare dependent

  - see the state as serving capitalism

  - only benefits the bourgeoisie
• Feminist view on social policy


  - they reinforce patriarchal ideas about the status of roles between men and women

  - women find it difficult to claim benefits on their own right so this enforces women's dependency on husbands
• Functionalist view on family diversity


  - nuclear family is the ideal family for meeting the needs of modern society

  - all other family types are seen as abnormal because they are less likely to perform certain functions required
• Postmodern view on family diversity


  - society is becoming more fragmented of family diversity is increasing

  - no longer one type of family which is dominant

  - family diversity has increased because theres more equality between men and women
• New right view on family diversity


  - nuclear family is the ideal family type

  - family diversity causes social problems such as higher crime rates

  - lone parent families seen as a burden to the state

  - family diversity discourages men to work and provide for the family