Criticising the Family

• Criticizing the role of families


  • Need to not take everything at face value
  • Need to be critical of every kind of structure in society including the family
  • Need to be critical of sociological theories of the role of family
• Most sociologists wrote about the nuclear family and did not consider family diversity
• The nuclear family may not be as important as it once was
• Sociological theories like functionalism, Marxism, etc. focus too much on the nuclear family and are not as relevant today
• Dysfunctional family


  Families that are not very good and can have damaging things happen that are bad for society
• Functionalist theories ignore the "dark side" of families, like domestic violence, abuse, etc.
• Feminists focus on the "dark side" of families and how they can be patriarchal and oppressive structures for women
• Families can have inequalities, with women doing more domestic work than men
• Older sociological theories like functionalism and Marxism ignore these family inequalities
• Life expectancy has greatly increased over the 20th century
• A child born today has a good chance of living well beyond 90 years old
• Life expectancy


  How long people can expect to live
• 100 years ago, average life expectancy was around 55 for men and 60 for women
• Today, life expectancy is around 73-74 for men and up to 80s for women
• A child born today has a chance of living well beyond 90
• Ageing population


  People live longer, don't die as quickly as they used to
• Ageing population


  Has massive consequences for society, e.g. caring for the elderly, health provisions, pensions
• Modified extended family


  People don't live with older relatives but stay in frequent contact
• Sandwich generation


  Middle-aged women who have to care for both older and younger relatives
• In some cultures, like South Asian, there is a tradition of elders living with the family in a classic extended family
• In British culture, older people with care needs are more likely to live in care homes
• This video series covers topics related to the family unit, which is a key part of the GCSE Sociology curriculum
• The next set of videos will cover the topic of education, which is another key part of the GCSE Sociology curriculum