families

• nuclear family


  -a couple and their dependent children, regarded as a basic social unit.
• same sex family


  -a gay or lesbian couple living with their child or children
• extended family


  -includes relatives beyond the nuclear family

  -three generations may live together under the same roof or who live near by

  -extended family households can either be vertical (multiple generations living together eg. grandparents and great grandparents

  -horizontal household made up of aunts, uncles and cousins

  -in todays society vertical extended families have increased
• beanpole family


  -describes families with multiple generations of older people -few people in any one generation

  -mutli generational families are long
• lone parent family


  -one parent and a dependent child or children who live together
• reconstituted family


  -sometimes referred as blended families or step families

  -one or both partners have children from previous relationships

  -couples may have children together
• household


  -consists of one person who lives alone or a group of people that live at the same address
• family household


  -family members live together in the same house
• one person household


  -includes those who live alone in an individual housing unit

  -can also include people who live independently as logers in a separate room within a larger housing unit
• reasons for an increase in one-person household

  -major lifestyle shift of younger gens

  -more focus on education, career and personal goals
• THE RAPAPORTS (1982)

  family diversity

  -carried out groundbreaking research into family life

  -identified a number of ways on which family life was diverse

  -argued that increasing family diversity was a global trend

  -developed to studying families that they called 'collaborative interviewing and interactive research'

  
  

  CRITICISMS:

  -they used secondary research

  -they ignore further diversity eg. same sex family
• social class diversity (1982)


  -differences between working class and middle class families

  -in terms of how children where socialised and in terms of social networks
• cultural diversity (1982)

  -significant variations by ethnicity

  -south asian families more like for the family to be more traditional and patriarchal

  -african caribbean households were much higher rate of single parent families
• life course diversity (1982)

  -differences which result from the stage of the lifecycle of the family

  -newly married couples without children have different family life to those who have children

  -individuals today go through more stages of the life course than the 1950s
• organisational diversity (1982)


  -refers to variations in family structure, household type and the differences in the division of labour within the family

  -also included are reconstituted families
• generation/cohor diversity (1982)


  -refers to those who were born in the same year

  -such individuals may well have a shared experience of historical events which could've influenced their family life
• alternatives to living in a family

  -uni

  -lodgers

  -motorhomes

  -silo homes
• communes


  -a commune is a group living situation where people share everything
• kibbutz


  -an intentional community in Israel, traditionally based on agriculture

  -very democratic society

  -people across the world go there

  -originally jewish settlers
• murdock's 4 functions (1949)

  (functionalist)

  -said the nuclear family provided 4 VITAL functions

  -sexual: stabilises couples

  -reproduction: having more children

  -economic: providing resources and financial security

  -education: socialising children...norms+values
• criticisms of murdock


  -assumes all families function well

  -doesnt recognise the role other institutions might play
• parsons (1956)

  (functionalist)

  -nuclear family was the best for the society

  -women should take on the role of looking after the children and the man should be the breadwinner

  -function 1: primary socialisation

  -function 2: stabilisation of adult personalities

  -warm bath theory: husband come back to a calm house and all stresses would disappear

  -importance of schools in helping with secondary socialisation
• criticisms of parsons


  -ignores family diversity

  -assume the family works in isolation

  -ignores the role of other institutions and allowing primary socialisation to happen in the first place

  -has an idealistic view of the family
• capitalism


  -a social structure where the rich are working to get richer and the poor are still staying poor

  -opposite of communism

  -people are allowed to generate as much wealth as they want

  -proletariats work to provide money for the bourgeoisie
• according to marxist, how does the family support the capitalist society

  -passes on inequalities though gens

  -education and wealth are passed on

  -socialisation: the working class accept the system

  -consumer units
• eli zaretsky (1976)

  (marxist)

  -capitalism is unfair for the workers

  -cult of private life: buried in family life and forget about social inequality

  -family cannot meet everyone's emotional needs

  -family can cushion them from the terrible effects of capitalism

  -the family is a unit of consumption
• criticisms of zaretsky


  -out dated

  -ignoring nuclear family

  -ignoring family diversity

  -sees women's exploitation as a consequence of capitalism

  -feminists see female oppression is linked to patriarchy
• feminist view of the family


  -negative way

  -women are given less power than men

  -society is patriarchal

  -family has a role in maintaining patriarchy
• primary socialisation and gender roles


  -children are given certain gender roles to fulfil

  -this helps maintain a patriarchal society (according to feminists)
• delphy and leonard (1992)

  (feminists)

  -family maintains power over women

  -men exploit women in the family

  -men contribute very little to their wives wellbeing

  -women contribute most to family life: domestic work and emotional support
• criticisms of delphy and leonard

  -does not include families where power is shared

  -marxist approach: capitalism

  -functionalist approach: warm bath theory
• conjugal roles

  -domestic roles of married or cohabiting partners
• conjugal relationships

  -relationships between married or cohabiting partners
• elisabeth bott (1971)


  -conjugal roles:

  partners have the same friends

  both make family decisions

  have interchangeable roles and flexible roles

  both parents in paid employment

  household tasks and children = shared

  
  

  -segregated roles

  separate roles

  different friends

  breadwinner takes responsibility

  man makes decisions

  woman has responsibility for housework and childcare
• young and willmot (1973)

  (functionalists)

  -looked at how conjugal roles changed over time

  -couple and children were more home centred

  -spent more leisure time together

  -relationship between spouses were more caring
• explaining the move to the symmetrical family

  -increased participation in paid employment

  -peoples interest in home life has increased

  -more effective forms of contraception

  -rise of feminism since the 1960s
• criticisms of young and willmot

  -ann oakely: dual shift

  -jean duncombe and dennis marsden: triple shift

  -clery: dual earner
• gatrell (2008)


  -many fathers today play a greater role in their childs life than the past

  -caused tension because women were fearful that men would take maternal role
• the 'new man'


  a father is caring, sharing and wants to get involved in all housework

  
  

  HOWEVER MEN CHERRY PICK THE JOBS!
• functionalist view of conjugal roles

  -think its natural for women to be housewives and men to be breadwinners

  -important part of primary socialisation and gender role socialisation

  
  

  CRITICISMS:

  -doesnt recognise that other institutions have a role