Sociology PPT Revision - Family
Family
Functions of Family - Parsons 1951
Some functions of Family could be partially replaced by other institutions.
The irreplaceable functions are:
- Primary socialization
- Stabilization of adult personalities ("Warm Bath" Theory)
Fit Theory - Parsons
Parsons believes that nuclear family fits industrialization and modernization better than extended family, supported by Goode.
Pre - industrial families functioned in three main characters.
- Multi - functional;
- Kinship - based;
- Economically productive
Parsons believes in MIS, nuclear families are preferred because:
- Provides greater geographical mobility (Educational and occupational purposes)
- Free youngsters from extended family, where values are particularistic and ascribeed roles. Thus greater social mobility.
- Previous multi - functional extended families have gone through loss of functions.
- Education function
- Take care of family members
- Economic production
Critisisms toward Fit Theory
Fletcher argues that 'loss of function' is not true, families still carry out many of the functions alongside other social institutes. For example: some families still look after the sick regularly at home, some basic education can still be provided.
Anderson: Lower class still need extended families to provide most functions, cause society systematically excluded them.
Harris: Nuclear family made industrialization poosible by concentrating legacies to oldest sons.
Marxist Perspective on Family
Marxists believes that families act as a supportive roles to capitalist system in three dimensions
#1: Ideological dimension
Althusser - Family pass on pro - capitalist ideologies to children (Ideological State Apparatus)
Zaretsky: Transmission of ruling - class ideology; unquestioning acceptance of capitalist system.
#2: Economic dimension
Similar to functionalist's idea, family do give birth to the next generation, but of labour force.
Marcuse - creating false needs.
#3 Political dimension
Family stabilize adult personality (Safety valve)
Impose family responsibilities upon people when participating in revolution.
Neo - Marxism
Family are channel through parent's wealth and reproduce class position. Capitals inherited include not only wealth, but also cultural & social capital (Bourdieu)
Willis - working class kids get working class jobs
- lack of cultural capital
- Parental attitudes: do not value education
Marxist Feminism - Dual Burden (Paid employment + Unpaid domesitc labour)
Triple Shift - Paid employment + unpaid housework + emotional care.
The UK government estimated that laundry and ironing in home worth 100 billion ish in 2012.
Feminist & New right on Family
Average Time spent By working wives and husband on housework per week
- Wives - 3h
- Husbands - 0.5h
Black feminism sees their experience different from otehr females, do believes that other feminist theories are too ethnocentric.
- Liberal feminist's critics on families do not apply to minority families, where the structures are usually matrifocal beanpole family.
- Families become shlters for minority women to defend against institutional racism in greater society.
Friedan - Many white middle class housewives are highly educated and talented but limited to daily repetitive and uncreative housework.
Conjugual Role
The breadwinner & The breadmaker
Intrumental role & expressive role
Rational & emotional
Disciplinarian & Comforting
Segregated conjugual roles & Joint conjugual roles
Traditional family & symmetrical family
In 1986, men do 30% of work and In 2015, men do 40% of work.
Neo - functionalism believes same - sex, vertically extended families can function as well, but this still requires complements within stable families.
- Which means single parenthood, neo functionalist believes it is not very likely to fulfil all the requirements.
New Father in 1980s - increasingly more symmetrical family (Young & Willmott)
New right - Nuclear families with two heterosexual parents are the most ideal due to cultural conservatism.
Influences of Technology
Today's advance house appliances can help to reduce the housework burden on both husbands and wives. E.g. Laundry done by washing machines.
The Fall of Traditional Family
Reasons?
#1 Secularization
The decline of religions' influences, making divorces, same - sex marriage more acceptable socially and less stigmatized.
#2 Changes in Laws
Laws have changes to make divorces much easier than before (Divorce reform act)
#3 The rise of feminism
More women realize their power of quitting marriages that don't work for them.
Is the Fall positive? - Positive
Feminism
In China, 73% divorces were filed by female; In USA, two - thrids of divorces were intiated by women.
This meant that traditional marriage is working less well for women than men.
However, radical feminism point out the downside of divorce. 90% of children in broken families live with mothers after divorce because patriarchal assume that women are better at childcare.
Postmodernism
It off course support any decline of ideal family or mainstream.
Postmodernism believes that we live in a consumer society, personal choice is at the centre of everything.
Is the Fall positive? - Negative
Functionalism & New right
Functionalism worries about less effective socialization and mutual support.
New right worries about the fall of traditional family values.
Children in broken home is 5 times more likely to have mental and emotional problems.
Family diversity
Statistics shown that african caribbean households have higher proportion of single motherhood and extended family.
More than half of black children lived with one parent; one in five live with one parent in white.
A vertically extended family often symoblises a happy late life of the elderly; the elderly can also be helpful in Chinese culture.
In modern China, DINK families are popular - 188 million Dink families.
Anderson, 1995
- Working class stayed in extended family structure in industrialization and urbanization.
- Because early in the industrial age, the government cared much less for the poor.
- Therefore, the working class continues to need multifunctional extended family.
In the silent generation, 70% are nuclear families.
But in the millennials, only 30% are nuclear families.`
Silent generation: 88% of women were not in the workforce.
Critics on feminism
Somerville - believes that the relationship between spouses is based on mutual love.
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