Families

• What are Murdock's (1949) 4 functions of the family?


  Sexual, Reproduction, Economic, Socialisation.
• What are Parson's (1951) 2 functions of the family?


  Primary socialisation of children and stabilisation of adult personalities.
• Evaluation: What do functionalists theorists neglect in the family question?

  Neglect influences like ethnicity, social class and religion as well as conflict and expolitation.
• Evaluation: Why are functionalist theories seen as outdated?

  Wrote in the 1950's - families have been become more diverse.
• Evaluation: What do feminists criticise functionalists of doing?

  They ignore: male dominance, child abuse, domestic abuse.
• Who is concerned about the socialisation of children without fathers?

  Dennis and Erdos (2000)
• What does Murray (1989) argue, that welfare benefits create?


  A 'culture of dependency
• Evaluation: What is the Feminist criticism of the New Right family perspective?

  Argues that traditional family roles are exploitative, not desirable.
• Evaluation: What is the Marxist criticism of the New Right family perspective?

  Argues that nuclear families help maintain the exploitative conditions of capitalism.
• What are the 3 things in the family that Zaretsky argues benefits capitalism?

  Safety Valve - for the stresses of working class men

  Domestic Labour - women are unpaid for it which benefits capitalism and also they reproduce the future labour force

  Unit of Consumption - families are consumer of products for capitalism to maintain its profits
• What are the 3 roles of the family in capitalism according to Marxist-feminist Benston (1972)


  Reproduction of Labour Power

  Women's domestic labour

  Reserve army of labour
• Evaluation: What is the feminist criticism of the Marxist perspective of the family?

  They put emphasis on social class and capitalism but underestimate the importance of gender inequalities within the family
• Evaluation: What is the functionalist criticism of the Marxist perspective of the family?

  They ignore the benefits that the family provides for its members, like intimacy and mutual support
• Evaluation: How does Hakim criticise the Marxist perspective of the family?

  Some women suggest motherhood is a fulfilling and rewarding experience
• Who argues that gender roles in society are socially constructed?

  Oakley (1974)
• What does Oakley argue is the cause of the low position of women in the labour market?

  The dominance of the mother-housewife role for women
• What does radical feminist Millett (1970) argue about the family?

  The family is the root of all women's oppression and should be abolished
• How do the radical feminists Delphy and Leonard (1992) view the family?


  See the family as a patriarchal institution in which women do most of the work and men get most of the benefit which stresses the housewife role for women and legitimating violence against women
• Evaluation: Why are the feminist theories of the family seen as outdated?

  They fail to account for recent economic and social changes like the educational success of young women
• Evaluation: How does Hakim (1995) criticise the feminist perspective of the family?


  Argues that they fail to consider that women might be exercising rational choices in choosing domestic roles
• Evaluation: How do postmodernists criticise the feminist perspective of the family?

  Argue they ignore the possibility that we have some choice in creating our family relationships
• Evaluation: How do Black feminists criticise the feminist perspective of the family?

  By solely regarding the family as a source of oppression, white feminists neglect black and Asian women's experience of racism
• What does postmodernist Stacey (1990) argue about the family?


  There's such diversity of relationships and lifestyles that there'll never be one dominant type of family in Western culture again
• Who argues that family roles are a matter of choice and people are influenced by patterns of consumption and media representation in order to decide?

  Pakulski and Waters (1996)
• What do Beck and Beck-Gernsheim (1995) argue the modern world is characterised by?


  Individualisation - freedom to pursue individual goals

  Choice - greater range of choices available

  Conflict - more potential for conflict between men and women due to the search for 'idealised love' and choice
• Evaluation: What do postmodernists over stress?

  Diversity - most individuals actually experience only 1 or 2 different types of family in their lifetime not diversity
• Evaluation: What do postmodernists over exaggerate?

  Flexibility and choice in deciding family types - social class and ethnicity can also determine the degree of choice people have
• What does Parsons (1955) argue pre-industrial societies were based on?


  Extended kinship networks features:

  Common ownership, production unit, ascribed roles and care and welfare
• What do Wilmott and Young (1960) argue about extended families?

  Based on the study of Bethnal Green working class - extended families still exist with mothers and daughters in particular, who keep close contact by living in the same area and seeing each other regularly
• What do Wilmott (1988) argue about extended families?


  Found 'dispersed extended families' - relatives are geographically separated but maintain frequent contact through visits and phone calls
• What does Dench et al (2006) argue about minority ethnic groups and extended families?


  In the Bethnal Green Bangladeshi community much more traditional family life prevailed - larger and more close knit kinship networks, where families felt an obligation to look after their elderly
• What is the 'beanpole family' as a form of extended family, who is it argued by?

  Brannen - multi-generational family that has few aunts, uncles, grandparents due to an increase in life expectancy and fewer children being born
• How many lone parent families were there in the UK in 2022, compared to 2012?

  2.9 million compared to 2 million
• How much percent do women account for of lone parent familie?

  91%
• What does Cashmore (1985) argue about women and lone parent families?


  Some working class mothers with less earning power chose to live on welfare benefits without a partner; often because they had experienced abuse
• How many reconstituted families are there in the UK in 2023?

  1 in 3
• What do Allan and Crow (2001) argue about reconstituted families?


  Step-families may face particular problems of divided loyalties and issues such as contact with the nonresident parent can cause tensions
• How many same-sex families are there in the UK in 2022, compared to 2014?

  217,000 compared to 84,000
• In what year where legal civil partnerships for gay relationships formalised?

  2004
• When were male homosexual acts decriminalised for consenting adults over 21?

  1967