families.

• the family acts "as an agent of socialisation which helps maintain social order by teaching norms and values": 'Item B'
• Family


  • Helps maintain social order
  • Teaches norms and values
• Primary socialisation


  An essential part of becoming a functioning member of society
• Through primary socialisation, we learn about acceptable social behaviours and the basic skills that make us human, e.g. how to walk/talk, etc.
• Without the family


  People would not be able to respond appropriately in social situations and there would be a state of anomie where clear boundaries were not present and understood by all
• The family is a beneficial institution in society
• Feminist sociologists such as Ann Oakley would argue


  The family does indeed teach us norms and values but they are patriarchal in the sense that their aim is to oppress women
• Gender stereotypes are perpetuated within the family


  1. Girls are encouraged to play with dolls and become nurturing

  2. Boys are given toys that foster their aggression and risk-taking behaviour
• This reinforces the notion that a woman's place is in the home


  Ensures male privilege is able to continue
• Families


  • There is a clear inequality regarding the amount of power held by women
  • Women are often expected to assume the majority share of housework and childcare, even when they are in paid employment themselves (they experience a dual burden)
  • Women also take care of the emotional wellbeing of family members (they experience a triple shift)
• The family is not a beneficial institution as it simply exists to create gender inequalities
• Functionalist sociologists


  Point to the importance of looking after the emotional wellbeing of family members
• Functions of a family


  • Economic support
  • Socialisation
  • Reproduction
  • Stabilisation of adult personalities
• Murdock: 'Saw the stabilisation of adult personalities as one of the key functions of a family'
• Parsons: 'Referred to the need to ensure the "stabilisation of adult personalities"'
• Family


  Acts as a warm bath which aims to reduce stress and pressure experienced by its members outside of the home by offering a warm and loving environment
• Family offering a warm and loving environment


  Allows members to return to the wider world as fully functioning members of society
• The family is a beneficial institution as it supports its members, enables the social order to be maintained and supports a productive economy/society
• Marxist Zaretsky: 'The "warm bath" theory offered by Functionalists was simply a method for ensuring the continuation of the capitalist system, as rather than taking out frustrations about social inequality upon their employers, individuals do so within the family. This reduces the chance of a proletariat revolution and as such allows the family to remain a major agent of the ideological state apparatus.'
• Engels: 'Families simply exist to protect private property as it is passed on to a son and heir. This suggests that the family is not a beneficial institution as it is an integral part of capitalist exploitation.'
• The family is not a positive institution according to Marxist perspectives
• Feminists would also point to the negative impact of the family as because it is seen as a private institution, its members (particularly women and children) are often subjected to emotional or physical abuse and it can be difficult for the state and legal system to intervene.


  This suggests that the family is a negative institution as its privatised nature means it is difficult to police within the legal framework of society.
• Postmodernists would also argue that it is difficult to generalise about “families”


  as our experiences/family structures are so diverse in our individualistic society that it does not make sense to talk about “the family” as a single institution.