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The Nature and Role of Family in Society - Coggle Diagram
The Nature and Role of Family in Society
Families
and
Households
Aren't Necessarily The Same
Household
= A group of people that
live together
who may or not have family or kinship ties
In
2010
, there were **25.3 million households in GB
Families
make up the
majority
Other types e.g.
students
or
friends
sharing a house or flat, or people living alone
Family
= type of household where the people are
related
Most commonly also a
kinship
group, means related by
birth
or
blood
E.g. parents, children, grandparents, cousins
Also include
non-kinship relationships
e.g. foster children, guardians, step-parents and stepchildren etc
Main Types
Nuclear:
2 generations living together
Traditional Extended:
3 or more generations living together or close by, with frequent contact
Attenuated Extended:
nuclear families that live apart from their extended, but keep in regular contact e.g. by phone or email
Lone-Parent:
single parent and their dependent children
Reconstituted: :
New stepfamilies created when parts of 2 previous are brought together
Functionalists
Emphasise the
Positive Role
See
every institution
in society as
essential
to the
smooth running
of it
Murdock
(1949) looked at
250 societies
in different cultures
Concluded that the family is
so useful
that it's
inevitable
and
universal
-
can't avoid
it and everywhere has them
Argued some form of the
nuclear family
existed in
all
The family performs
4 basic functions
Reproductive:
Provides new babies -
new members of society
Economic:
Pools resources
and
provides
for all its members, adults and children
Sexual:
Provides a
stables sexual relationship
for
adults
and
controls
the sexual relationships of its mebers
Education
(social)
:
Teaches children
the
norms
and
values
of society, keeps the values going
In the
1950s
,
Parsons
argued that the family always has
2 basic and irreducible functions
Primary socialisation of children:
The process by which children
learn
and
accept
the
values
and
norms
of society
Families =
'factories'
where the next citizens are produced
Stabilisation of adult personalities:
For adults, family
stabilises personalities
through the
emotional
relationship between the parents
Gives
support
and
security
needed to cope in wider society =
sanctuary
from the
stress
of everyday life
Ignore
the
Negative Aspects
Criticised for
idealising
the family
Morgan
(1975) points out that Murdock makes no reference to
alternative households
to the family, or
disharmony
and
problems
in
relationships
Dominant
in sociology in the
1960s
Since theres been
widespread criticism
that neither Murdock or Parsons look at issues of
conflict, class
or
violence
in relation to the family
Some feminists argue they also ignored the
exploitation of women
The fact they
overlook the negative aspects
male their position
look weak
Marxists
See the
Family
as Meeting the
Needs
of
Capitalism
View the family as performing
essential functions
for modern industrial society
Key difference from Functionalists is Marxists argue the family
benefits
the minority
in power
and the economy, but
disadvantages
the
WC
majority
Engels
(1884) said the family had an
economic function
of keeping wealth within the
bourgeoisie
by passing it on to the next generation as
inheritance
When a
rich person dies
, their
kids get their money
Zaretsky
(1976) focused on how the family helped the capitalist economy
Argued the family is one place in society where the
proletariat
can have
power
and
control
When the
WC man
gets home, he's
king of his own castle
Relieves some of the
frustration
workers feel about their low status, which helps them to
accept
their
oppression
and exploitation as workers
In capitalist society, a woman's role as
'housewife'
of the family means workers are
cared for
and
healthy
Makes them
more productive
- great benefit the capitalist class get for
free
Family household
is a unit with the
desire
to
buy
the
goods
produced by capitalism
E.g. washing machines, cars, fridges
Family =
unit of consumption
Buys the goods for more than they cost to produce and the
bourgeoisie get the profit
Criticised
for Being Too
Negative
All about being a
tool of capitalist oppression
, and
never mentions nice things
E.g. bedtime stories, trips to the zoo
Entirely focused on
benefits to the economy
, and benefits to the working man's
boss
Ignores other benefits
to individuals and society
Traditional Marxist sociology
assumes
that the worker is
male
, and that women are
housewives
No Marxist explanation
for why the family flourishes as an institution in
non-capitalist
or
communist
societies and there's little research on
alternatives
to the family
Most
Feminists
Believe the Family
Exploits
and
Oppresses
Women
Helps to
maintain the existing social order
=
patriarchy
The
combination
of
systems, ideologies
and
cultural practices
which make sure that
men
have power
Argues the family
supports
and reproduces
inequalities
between men and women
Women are
oppressed
because they're
socialised
to be
dependent
on men and out themselves in second place
The
family
has a central role in this -
male and female role models
and
expectations
are
formed in the family
and then
carried on into wider society
There's an
ideology
about men's
roles
and women's
roles
Marxist
Sees the
exploitation of women
as essential to the success of
capitalism
The family
produces
and
cares
for the next generation of workers at almost
no cost
to capitalism
Because society accepts that
housework
should be
unpaid
Men are paid
for work outside the home, but
women aren't paid
for work
inside
the home, they still do
most
of domestic labour
Benston
(1969) points out if housework were paid even at
minimum wage
, it would
damage capitalist profits
hugely
Radical
Also highlights
housework
as an area of
exploitation
, but don't see this as the fault of the capitalist system
See exploitation of women as being down to the
domination of men in society
Believe that
men will always oppress women
Delphy and Leonard
(1992) see the family as a patriarchal institution in which
women do most of the work
and
men get most of the benefit
Liberal
Emphasise the
cultural norms
and
values
which are reinforced by the family and other institutions
Family's only sexist because it
supports mainstream culture
which is sexist
Believe
social change is possible
Try to put pressure on institutions e.g. the
legal system
and
government
to change laws and social policies which
discriminate
against women
Criticisms
Portray women as
too passive
, it plays down the ability of individual women to
make changes
and
improve
their situation
Doesn't acknowledge
that
power might be shared
within a family
Some have been criticised for
not considering
the households in a society which
don't
feature a
man and woman
partnership
E.g.
lesbian
and
gay
and
lone-parent
Power structures in them
don't get looked at
Black feminists
have pointed out that a lot of feminism doesn't address the fact women from different
ethnic backgrounds
have different
life experiences
New Right
Believe the
Nuclear Family
is the
Bedrock of Society
Gained influenced in the
1980s
Based on the idea the
traditional nuclear family
and its
values
are best for society
Reckon
social polices
on family, children, divorce and welfare have
undermined
the
family
Murray
(1989) says
welfare benefits
are
too high
and create a
'culture of dependency'
where an individual finds it easy and acceptable to take benefits rather than work
Says the traditional family is under threat
Particularly concerned about giving lots of
welfare benefits
to
single mothers
Also think it's a very
bad
idea to have children brought up in families where adults aren't working
Believe the increase in
lone-parent
and
reconstituted
families and easier access to
divorce
have led to a
breakdown in traditional values
Causes social problems such as
crime
to increase
Had an influence on
social policy
, making it harder for people to get
benefits
Criticised
for
'blaming the victim'
for their problems
Postmodernists
Say
Diversity
in Family Structures is
Good
Central idea
= there's a much
wider range
of
living options
available these days because of
social
and
cultural changes
There are
traditional
nuclear families, stepfamiles, cohabiting unmarried couples,
single people
flat-sharing, more
divorved
people etc
Stacey
(1990) reckons there's
such a diversity
of family types, relationships and lifestyles that there'll never be
one dominant type
of family in Western culture again
Family structures in Western society are
varied
and
flexible
- means a person can
move
from one to another, and not get stuck with one
fixed
strcuture
The
key thing
is the idea that contemporary living is so
flexible
that one individual can experience lots of different types of family in their lifetime
See this
diversity
and
flexibility
as positive because it means individuals can always
choose
from several options depending on what suits their
personal needs
and lifestyle
People aren't hemmed in by
tradition
Criticism
Questions
whether this movement through different family types is really all that typical
O'Brien and Jones
(1996) concluded from their UK research that there was
less variety
in family types than
Stacey
reported
Most
individuals actually experienced
only 1 or 2
different types of family in their lifetime