Who said what?

• Nuclear family


  • Best family form
  • 2 functions: primary socialisation and stabilisation of adults (warm bath theory)
• Functions of the family

  • Education
  • Economic
  • Reproduction
  • Sex (to keep the family stable)
• Dual burden


  Women still do the majority of housework as well as doing paid work - when you add emotional support to this it becomes a triple shift
• 1 in 4 women will experience domestic violence and 2 women are murdered each week by a current or former partner
• Family

  • Patriarchal and benefits men much more than women - women contribute the most to family life, e.g. housework and emotional support, but get very little in return
• Childhood


  • Disappearing at a dazzling speed - children are growing up too fast and are like 'mini-adults', e.g. exposed to sex and violence on TV
  • Little emphasis on childhood in the past - children had few rights and were usually seen as an economic benefit. High child mortality meant parents didn't bond emotionally
• Nuclear family


  • Only the nuclear family is acceptable - children need to be brought up by both parents (ideally mum will stay at home) - single parenting leads to deviance and a decline in moral standards
• The increase in family diversity had been exaggerated and that most people still aspired towards the nuclear family
• Capitalism


  • Makes families buy stuff they don't need in the hope this will make their lives better (through advertising messages - consumerism) - so workers will accept low paid boring work as they need to provide for their family
• Conjugal roles


  • Have changed to a symmetrical family arrangement where both parents work and share childcare/housework. But some women give up work (asymmetrical family)
• School


  • Is a society in miniature - formal curriculum leads to a sense of belonging to something bigger, which leads to social cohesion - prepares us for adult life
• 'Lads'


  • Study on counter-school subcultures ('Learning to Labour' - the lads attached no value to academic work as it wasn't relevant for their future - so focused on having a laugh with their mates
• Schools


  • Take over the role of socialisation from families, once children start school - teaches universal values that they may not have been taught at home
  • Also teaches how to achieve status
• Middle/upper class children


  • Have more social and cultural capital - so find it easier to fit into school and succeed (as schools value middle-class culture more)
• Labelling


  • Teachers make quick judgements of students based on appearance, attitude, behaviour, siblings, etc.
  • Concept of 'ideal student'
• Setting and streaming


  • Top sets had higher expectations (labelled high fliers) and bottom sets had lower expectations and were taught less (labelled failures)
• Self-fulfilling prophecy


  • For labelling in schools - if you label pupils as failures, they will fail
• 'Pygmalion effect'


  • Self fulfilling prophecy - study in California where teachers were told that a group of average students were gifted - so invested more time in them, meaning they achieved more highly
• Correspondence theory


  • Schools produce obedient workers, who respect hierarchy and are motivated by rewards (which corresponds to the work place in adult life)
• Social capital


  • Middle class mothers are more able to understand the education system and get what they want (know the 'rules of the game') - heavily involved in their children's schooling
• 1970s study into the aspirations of school girls - repeated study in the 1990s... 1970s - priority = family, 1990s - priority = career/independence then family
• Culture of poverty


  • The poor have their own way of life where it is normal to steal from each other (and is linked to weak law enforcement and a failing education system)
• Role allocation


  • The most difficult jobs in any society are the most necessary and require the highest rewards and compensation to sufficiently motivate individuals to fill them
• Inequality


  • We need inequality to motivate people to work harder – those who work hardest are rewarded with the best jobs and money. He also said middle-class people work harder!
• Types of authority


  • Traditional - based on long standing customs, e.g. royals
  • Charismatic – based on personality
  • Rational-legal – voted in
• Types of power


  • Class/wealth - based on what you own
  • Status/prestige - based on how respected you are
  • Party/power - based on how much influence you have
• Emile Durkheim


  Crime & deviance
• Crime


  • We need crime to keep society healthy... Seeing justice reminds us of what can happen if we commit crime
  • Collective sentiment - terrible crimes make us stronger!
• Robert Merton


  Crime & deviance
• Strain theory


  • Everyone dreams of a good lifestyle - but not everyone can achieve this (puts a strain on society as people may turn to crime to achieve their goals)
  • 5 responses – conformity, innovation, retreatism, ritualism and rebellion
• Albert Cohen


  Crime & deviance
• Working class boys


  • Suffering status frustration (anger at their low position in society) - so joined deviant subcultures where they would be rewarded with money, goods or status
• Stan Cohen


  Crime & deviance
• Moral panics


  • When the media sensationalises a crime this can lead to a climate of fear, or copy-cat behaviour - and deviancy amplification
• Howard Becker


  Crime & deviance
• Self-fulfilling prophecy


  • If you label people as criminals they will become criminals - they will adopt the criminal label as their master status, leading to a deviant career
• Francis Heidensohn


  Crime & deviance
• Females commit less crime

  • As they have less opportunity, e.g. closely supervised at work, given less freedom than boys, scared of sexual violence so don't go out alone, etc.
• Otto Pollak


  Crime & deviance
• Chivalry thesis


  • Police, judges, etc are usually men and often lenient towards women - they feel protective of them so are reluctant to arrest or charge them