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Sociology Paper 1: Families Pt 1 (Types of families (Reconstituted family …
Sociology Paper 1: Families Pt 1
A family is a couple who are married, Civil partners or cohabiting with or without dependant children or a lone parent with with their child or children
Changing gender roles
Gender roles have changed
Pahl found that more couples share decisions on spending than in the last 30 years
Gatrell found that many fathers in dual worker couples today play a bigger role in there children's lives
Young and Willmott found that the symmetrical family was now typical in Britain today meaning that the roles in the family were shared equally as well as making decisions about money
Some reasons for these changes include the rise of feminism and the women's increased participation in full-time paid employment
Gender roles have not changed
Oakley found little evidence of symmetry and she said women in employment still had the responsibility for doing the housework
Crompton and Lynonette argued that the gap between men and women did narrow but it was not because men got involved more but women spent less time doing housework
Different Sociological approaches to the nuclear family
The Marxist approach is critical of the nuclear family and the role it plays in the capitalist system
They also say that is socialises children of working class families to accept their position in society
They also say that it recreates inequality as rich people can buy the best education for their children meaning that they can get the best jobs in society and continue the pattern of passing on wealth
They say that it supports the capitalist system by supplying the future generations of workers
The Feminist approach is critical of the nuclear family and the role it plays in patriachy
They say that it reinforces the patriarchy of society
They also say it benefits the male of the family as they say women would have to juggle working with house work and emotional support
They say that it contributes to gender differences between girls and boys in society
The New Right approach is a more recent reworking of the functionalist approach
They say it best meets the needs of society and if children
They also say that women should have the caring roles and men should be the breadwinner
They see lone parents as damaging to society as they feel that the children aren't socialised properly
The Functionalist approach emphasises the positive aspects of the nuclear family and the key role it plays in society
It helps children learn the norms and values of the society
It provides emotional support and psychological well being
It also provides its members with economical stability
It plays the role of helping to generate the next generation
Types of families
Reconstituted family - A blended family in which one or both partners have a child or children from a previous relationship living with them
Lone parent family - A family where one parent lives with their child or children
Gay or lesbian family - A family on which homosexual couple live together with their children or child
Bean pole family - A multi generational family in which each generation has one or very few family members
Extended family - A group of relatives extending beyond the nuclear family which in the classic sense means that three generations live with each other but in the modern version three generations live nearby and have regular contact with each other
Empty nest families - When children grow up and leave the home but the parents continue to live in the family home
Nuclear family - A two generation family containing married or cohabiting parents and their child or children who live togeher
Patterns of fertility
People are getting married later and are having children later
Women have more options to pick from rather than just being a mother
There is a changing value to family size with smaller families now being preferable
There are better and effective birth control methods to allow women to control over when they want a child