Theories & Perspectives of the Family

Functionalism
1. Murdock
  1. Reproductive- continue to create societies members
  2. Economics- pooling resources to provide for each other
  3. Primary Socialisation- teaching the norms & values of society
  4. Sexual Regulation- having a stable, monogamous sexual relationships for adults
  5. Criticisms
    1. Marxists- fails to acknowledge how the family benefits capitalism, be a source of economic pressure
    2. Feminists- reinforces patriarchy as women serve the needs of men
2. Parsons
  1. Primary Socialisation- teaching the norms and values of society
  2. Warm Bath Theory- the mother creates a warm, nurturing environment allowing the family to release tension created from the outside world
  3. Functional Fit of the Nuclear Family
    1. The best type of family to meet the needs of an industrial society
    2. Geographically Mobile- youngest generation move away from family to find jobs
    3. Socially Mobile- moving up/down the social class, away from parents (depending on education)
    4. Criticisms
      1. Young & Willmott- working class mothers and married daughters kept ties for emotional, financial and practical support
Marxism
1. Reproduction
  1. Marx
  2. Creating the next generation of members of the labour force (wages slaves)
2. Economics
  1. Zaretsky
  2. Family is the unit of production (creating the products to benefit capitalism) and the unit of consumption (buys the products through pester power, stigmatised and buying the latest)
  3. Criticisms
    1. Functionlism's ideas make more sense in today's society
3. Primary Socialisation
  1. Althusser
  2. Family socialises children into beliefs that hierarchy and inequality are inevitable to prepare them for working life- ideological function for capitalism
  3. Criticisms
    1. Too deterministic- fails to acknowledge that the working class are aware of inequality & assumes they're helpless
4. Sexual Regulation
  1. Engels
  2. Women were seen as "glorified prostitutes", with only a sexual/reproduction function expected of them (produce legitimate heirs to inheritance of wealth)
  3. Criticisms
    1. Ignores family diversity- it's not just about heirs & inheritance
5. Criticisms
  1. Functionalists- majority of society live in a family and that in fact the essential form and function of those families remain similar
The New Right
1. Support functionalist view (roles in the house are biological)
2. single parent families lack (usually) male role models and therefore lack discipline
3. The government should make divorce more difficult to obtain
4. The benefit system is too lenient and creates perverse incentive leading to a depending culture which costs society
5. Brenda Almond- the divorce reform act (1969), civil partnership, tax allowances- creating less nuclear families
6. Charles Murray- singles parents are the most important social problem of our time
7. Criticisms
  1. Feminists- it encourages patriarchal nuclear families which are harmful to women
Feminism
1. Reproduction
  1. Manipulates women's reproductive capabilities
2. Economics
  1. Women provide free domestic labour
3. Primary Socialisation
  1. Passing on the norms & values of patriarchy to ensure it reproduces
4. Sexual Regulation
  1. The monogamous nuclear family controls women's sexual behaviour
5. Marxist Feminists
  1. See capitalism as the major cause of inequality
  2. Benson- unpaid labour that women do in the home helps to support the capitalism system (man becomes (bound to labour to support family
  3. Ansley- women are "takers of shit"
  4. Women reproduce, bear and rear the next generation of workers
  5. Criticisms
    1. Many nuclear families are dual earning- women will have more financial control over the house
6. Radical Feminists
  1. The patriarchy system is male dominated & existed well before capitalism, and the nuclear family functions mainly to benefit heterosexual men
  2. Dworkin- the destruction of patriarchy is what's going to get rid of inequality
  3. Greer- men benefit from marriage more than women
  4. Redfern & Aune- male violence against women takes many different forms e.g. marital rape
  5. Criticisms
    1. Sommerville- separation is unlikely to work
7. Liberal Feminists
  1. Don't blame capitalism/men for unequal treatment of women
  2. Sommerville- greater equality because of more access to paid work
  3. Oakley- gender socialisation is a major source of patriarchal discrimination
  4. Wilkinson- "gender quake" women earn their own wage and have different attitude towards marriage/children
  5. Criticisms
    1. Policies don't impact all women in the same way
8. Difference Feminists
  1. Focus on the variety of experiences of patriarchy and have different goals and interests
  2. Focus on the ethnic/racial differences e.g. some women have less power & status in families
Postmodernism
1. After the industrial revolution, the modern society
2. Stacey- women benefit from the increased choice (household and economically)
3. Beck- families now are characterised by "risk" and uncertainty
Interactionalism
1. Reality is socially constructed-we make our own reality within social groups
2. Focus on the meaning of the family for the individual & roles are negotiated among the family
3. Criticisms
  1. Marxists & Feminists- the roles in the family are ideology not indivdual negotiation
Personal Life Perspective
1. Individuals decide their families, increasing diversity of family
2. Relationships with friends- sibling to you
3. Fictive Kin- close friend part of the family
4. Gay/lesbian chosen families- support network (may not be blood relatives)
5. Relationships with dead relatives- memories
6. Relationships with pets- part of the family
7. Smart- influences the relationships people have
  1. Memory- shared emotional memories
  2. Biography- history
  3. Embeddedness- connection
  4. Relationality- health
  5. Imaginary- perceived
8. Criticisms
  1. Too broad a view- special about blood/marriage

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Theories & Perspectives of the Family

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	Created by Holly Smith over 2 years ago