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SOCIOLOGY: PERSPECTIVES OF THE FAMILY (1) - Coggle Diagram
SOCIOLOGY: PERSPECTIVES OF THE FAMILY (1)
FUNCTIONALIST
PARSON'S
: FUNCTIONAL FIT THEORY
pre-industrial extended family
larger family, more functions
industrial nuclear family
smaller family, fewer functions
FUNCTIONS
OF THE FAMILY
basic
four
social - primary socialisation of children, teaching basic norms + values generationally, so they are fully integrated into society, maintain value consensus
economic - providing each member with their economic needs
reproductive - biological process than society would not be able to continue without
sexual - ensures adult sexual relationships are controlled/ socially acceptable -> stable, monogamous hetero relationships
irreducable
two
primary socialisation - in agreement with murdock where the family is essential in the process, ensuring each generation is adequately educated on the value consensus
stabilisation of adult personalities
parson's warm bath theory
establishing emotional security in a marital relationship. parsons states a man is able to continue returning to work when he is 'de-stressed' by his wife
stabilisation is done through traditional gender roles: the expressive (female) and instrumental (male)
EVALUATION
the role of conflict
- ignores the oppression of women/ domestic violence, the family isn't always the safe haven that parsons implies it to be
outdated
- women can now work and norms within society continue to change; traditional gender role no longer apply the same like they did in the 1950s
deterministic
- assumes members of the family are automatically accepting of mainstream norms + values
family diversity
- ignores the fact that other family structures in society exist and can perform the same functions as the traditional nuclear
CRITICISM OF PARSONS
best fit theory
not every family is nuclear; family structure changes as society changes. changes can be seen with comparisons with the pre-industrial and post-industrial family
structural differentiation
some functions have been taken over by other institutions, e.g. the nhs
POSTMODERNISM
CHANGES TO THE FAMILY
the rise of consumer culture
technological changes
PERSONAL LIFE
VIEW ON PREVIOUS PERSPECTIVES
FUNCTIONALISM/ MARXISM
makes generalisations of family life which don't match modern society's reality
ignores the diversity of contemporary family life; there are more family types, and traditional gender roles no longer fit the variety of roles men and women have today (women especially)
POSTMODERNISM
critique giddens, beck: influence of tradition and norms on decision-making
people don't have complete free will in terms of decision-making regarding their families/ family relationships
THE FAMILY
family is a group of people that can go beyond blood and marriage
meanings of relationships means we can choose the families we want and need, but these decisions are based on past experiences rather than entirely openly
smart and nordqvist
: donor conceived children and how they can help explain the importance of social relationships over genetic
mothers said the definition of being a mother was more to do with the time taken to raise their child
RELATIONSHIP TYPES
friendships - feelings of closeness
fictive kin - close friends treated like relatives
chosen families - supportive friend networks, incl. ex-partners, etc.
with dead relatives - live on in memories, shaping identities and actions
with pets -
tripper
: "children often see pets as part of the family"
EVALUATION
too broad
- by including a wide range of family types/ personal relationships, there is less significance put on what is important within blood/ marriage ties
construct and define
- we can understand how people may construct and define family relationships
rejecting top-down
- it instead recognises the intimate relationships as performing the important function of providing a sense of belonging and relatedness
constructing relationships
- recognises that people can take an active role (a criticism of the new right)
traditional married/ cohabiting families provide more financial stability than other relationships, so personal life may exaggerate
representativeness
- difficult to choose a nationally representative family sample due to high diversity