Sociology - Families

• The nuclear family is an agency of primary socialisation. It socialises children to learn and accept society's shared values and roles.
• The nuclear family is an agency of personality socialisation.
• 'Warm Bath Theory' - Husband and wife support each other emotionally and this relieves the pressure.

  • Talcott Parsons' Theory
• Criticisms of Functionalist Views to Families

  • outdated, unrealistic, sexist
  • ignores social class and religious ethnic diversity
  • idealisation
  • serves the interest of capitalist society
  • major source of female oppression
  • imprisons women
• Marxist Approach

  • critical of the nuclear family
  • to maintain the capitalist system
• Zaretsky

  • family is a unit of production
  • has an economic function that serves the interest of capitalism
  • only socialism can end artificial separation of family
• criticisms - zaretsky - marxism

  • ignores people are happy with marriage
  • ignore family diversity
  • female oppression linked to patriarchy
  • led to negative aspects of nuclear family
• Conjugal Roles

  • the roles on men and women or same-sex partners in a marriage or other partnership in the home
• Dual Burden

  • The situation for women in which they go to work and still take on the man responsibility for the housekeeping and childcare
• Nuclear Family

  • A family type consisting of two parents (male and female) and their children
• Privatised nuclear family

  • a family structure where the nuclear family is separated from its wider kin and has become more home centred and inward looking
• Symmetrical Family

  • Where male and female roles are similar
• Triple Shift

  • The situation where women go out to work, do housework, and emotional work
• Unit of Consumption

  • A group, such as the family, who buy and use goods and services together
• Murdock's Functions of the Family

  • sex- within marriage- stabilises couples and therefore society
  • education - socialising children into society's norms and values
  • production - ensuring new members of society
  • economic - providing resources and financial stability
• Rapoport's types of family diversity

  • cohort
  • organisational
  • cultural/ethnic
  • life course
• Gender Roles

  • The roles that individuals are expected to fulfill based on their socialised gender identity
• Symmetrical - describes the division of labour in the home (Wilmott and Young)
• According to Oakley, 'dual burden' describes the division of labour in the home.
• Traditional Nuclear

  • family form favoured by functionalists
• Single parent families are particularly criticised by the New Right
• Family Diversity

  • lots of different types of families
• Living Apart Together

  • a couple in a relationship who live seperately
• Same Sex

  • 2 adults of the same sex who are married or have a civil partnership
• Reconstituted

  • A couple where at least one of the adults has at least one child from a previous relationship
• Cohabitation

  • 2 adults living together who are not married
• Boomerang

  • A family where grown-up children return to live with their parents
• Breadwinner

  • The person in the family who earns the money
  • usually male
• Cereal Packet Family

  • 'ideal' nuclear family shown in the media and advertising
• Neo-conventional family

  • typical nuclear family but both parents go to work
• secularisation

  • a decline in religious belief and activity
• Functionalist views on family

  • a positive thing for society
  • nuclear family is the most beneficial to society
  • reproduction - to keep human race going
  • primary socialisation
  • economic and emotional support
• New Right views on family

  • Family is negative unless it is a nuclear family
  • Believes in traditional family values
  • Criticises all other family types
• Marxist views on families

  • negative for people
  • believes that it is based on conflict between social class
  • helps maintain class differences
  • family socialises the working class into accepting that it is fair that the classes are unequal
• feminist views on families

  • negative for society, women in particular
  • creates a patriarchal society in families where women have less rights
• Dependent Child

  • A child living in a household under the age of 16 or 18 in full time education
• What are the reasons for more single parent families?

  • The Divorce Act
  • More teenage pregnancies
  • Availability of IVF
• What are the reasons for more people living together without being married?

  • Secularisation
  • More divorced couples - not wanting to remarry
  • More same sex couples
  • Civil Partnership
  • As a trial
• Reasons for same sex families

  • more socially acceptable
  • civil partnership
  • now allowed to adopt
• Functionalist view on cohabitation

  • still serves the functions needed for society
  • argues that married families are better as they are more likely to stay together and do the right job