Sociology- Families and Households.

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What is the domestic division of labour?

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The roles that men and women play in relation to housework, childcare and paid work.

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Summarise Parsons beliefs on couples. 4 points.

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-Roles of husbands and wives are segregated.

-Husbands play an instrumental role whilst wives play an expressive role

-Division of labour is based on biological differences

-This is beneficial to wider society and individuals

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269 Terms

1
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What is the domestic division of labour?

The roles that men and women play in relation to housework, childcare and paid work.

2
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Summarise Parsons beliefs on couples. 4 points.

-Roles of husbands and wives are segregated.

-Husbands play an instrumental role whilst wives play an expressive role

-Division of labour is based on biological differences

-This is beneficial to wider society and individuals

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What is an instrumental role?

Focused on achieving success at work to provide financially.

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What is an expressive role?

Focused on primary socialisation of the children and meeting the family's emotional needs.

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Describe the criticisms of Parsons. 2 points.

-Young and Willmott, men are now taking a greater share of domestic tasks, whilst more wives are becoming wage earners

-Feminist, reject the view that the division of labour is natural, believing that this only benefits men.

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Elizabeth Bott 1957

Distinguished between two types of conjugal roles, which are roles within the marriage played by husband and wife. Segregated conjugal roles and joint conjugal roles.

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What is a segregated conjugal role?

Where couples have separate roles, a male breadwinner and a female homemaker/carer. Leisure time is typically separated.

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What is a joint conjugal role?

Where couples share tasks such as housework and childcare. Leisure time is typically spent together.

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Young and Willmott

Studied working class families in east London in 1950s. Found a pattern of segregated conjugal roles. The limited leisure women had was spent with female kin.

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Summarise Young and Willmott's march of progress view. 3 points.

-View family life as gradually improving for all members

-Long term trend away from segregated conjugal roles towards the symmetrical family.

-Found that symmetrical family is more common amongst younger, affluent, isolated couples

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What is the symmetrical family?

A nuclear family with more equal and joint conjugal roles. Leisure time is spent together and they are more home-centered.

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Suggests reasons as to the rise of the symmetrical family. 4 points.

-Changes in women's position

-Geographical mobility

-New technology

-Higher standards of living

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Summarise the feminist view of housework.

-Reject march of progress view

-Little progress

-Inequality is the result of the patriarchy

-Oakley, Boulton, Warde and Hetherington.

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Summarise Oakley 1974. 6 points.

-Criticises Young and Willmott, claims are exaggerated, evidence provided does not equal symmetry

-Some husbands help in the home but this is not symmetry

-15% of husbands have a high level of participation in the home

-More likely to partake in pleasurable aspects or security

-'taking an interest'

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Summarise Boulton 1983 2 points.

-fewer than 20% of husbands played a major role in childcare. Although fathers are involved in childcare, it is the mother who takes responsibility for the child's wellbeing and security.

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Summarise Warde and Hetherington 1993 3 points.

-Sex-typing of domestic tasks remains prevalent

-Men would only carry out 'female' tasks if there wives were not around

-Small change amongst younger men

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Summarise the march of progress view on the impact of paid work.

-Women working leads to a more equal division of labour at the home

-Gershung, Sullivan, BSA.

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Summarise Gershung 1994 2 points.

-Women working full time is leading to a more equal division of labour in the home

-couples whose parents had more equal relationships are more likely to share the housework equally.

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Summarise Sullivan 2000. 4 points.

-Analysed data nationally from 1975, 1987, 1997

-Found a trend towards women doing a smaller share of domestic labour

-Men participating in more traditional 'women' tasks

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Summarise the British Social Attitudes Survey 2013 on gender roles within couples

-Decrease in the number of people who believe that it is the man's job to earn money and the woman's to look after the family and home.

-1984, 45% of me and 41% of women agreed

-2012, 13% of men and 12% of women agreed.

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Summarise the feminist view of the impact of paid work. 3 points.

-Women entering paid work has not led to greater equality in the domestic division of labour

-Little sign of a 'new man' who does an equal share of housework and childcare

-Women now have to carry a dual burden

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Summarise the British Social Attitudes 2012 survey on the dual burden. 4 points.

-A man did 8 hours of housework per week, whilst a woman did 13

-A man spends 10 hours caring for family members per week, whilst a women spends 23 hours.

-60% of women felt this division of labour is unjust.

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Summarise Allan 1985

Women's tasks are less intrinsically satisfying.

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Braun, Vincent and Ball 2011

3/70 families the father was the main carer. Most were 'background fathers', helping with childcare was more out of a responsibility to their partner than children. Most held a 'provider ideology', that their role was as breadwinner.

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Duncombe and Marsden 1995

Women have to perform a 'triple shift', housework, paid work and emotion work.

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Southerton

Responsibility for family time typically falls to mothers.

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How has scheduling family time become more difficult?

Emergance of the 24/7 society and flexible working patterns, people's time has become more fragmented and 'de-routinised'.

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Crompton and Lyonette

The identify two explanations for the unequal division of labour: Cultural / ideological and the material / economic explanation.

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Summarise the cultural/ideological explanation of gender division of labour.

Division of labour is determined by patriarchal norms and values shaping gender roles.

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Summarise evidence fo the cultural/ideological explanation of the gender division of labour.

-Future Foundation 2000, most men claimed to do more housework than their father, most women claimed to do less than their mother.

-BSA 2013, less than 10% of under 35s agreed with a traditional division of labour, 30% of the over 65s agreed with it.

-Dunne, lesbian couples had more symmetrical relationships due to the absence of heterosexual 'gender scripts'.

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Summarise the material/economic explanation of gender division of labour.

Women earn less, it is economically rational for women to do more of the housework/childcare than men.

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Summarise evidence for the material/economic explanation of gender division of labour.

-Arber and Ginn, better paid, middle class women were more able to buy in to commercially produced products and services, such as labour-sasving cleaning devices and domestic help.

-Ramos (2003), where the woman is the full-time breadwinner and the man is unemployed, he does just as much domestic work as her.

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Barrett and McIntosh 1991

-men gain more from women's domestic work than they give back in financial support

-this is often unpredictable and conditional

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Kempson

Among low income families, women denied their own needs to make ends meet.

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Pahl and Vogler

Two main types of control over family income: allowance and pooling system.

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Summarise the allowance system.

Men gave their wives an allowance out of which they have to budget to meet the families needs, the main retains any surplus income for himself.

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Summarise the pooling system.

Both partners have access to income and joint responsibility for expenditure. This is on the increase and the most common money management system.

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Edgell

Study of professional couples

-very important decisions, such a change of job/moving house, were either taken by the husband alone or jointly, with the husband having the final say.

-important decisions, such as about the children's education/ holidays were usually taken jointly and rarely by the wife along.

-less important decisions, such was the choice of decoration/food purchases were made by the wife.

This is largely because the men earn more, women are economically dependent.

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Laurie and Gershuny

By 1995, 70% of couples said they had an equal say in decisions

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Vogler et al

Cohabiting couples were less likely to pool their income to maintain independence

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Nyman

Money has no automatic, fixed or natural meaning and different couples can define it in different ways. These meanings can affect the nature of their relationship.

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Summarise the personal life perspective on money.

-focuses on the meanings couples give to those who control the money.

-Smart, some gay men and lesbians attached no importance ot who controls the money, were happy to leave this to their partners

Weeks et al, typical pattern was pooling some money together for household spending and having separate accounts for personal spending, value of co-independence

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Defintion of domestic violence.

'Any incident or pattern of incidence of controlling coercive or threatening behaviour violence or abuse between those aged 16 or over who are or have been intimate partners or family members regardless of gender or sexuality.'- Home Office 2013

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What are two challenges to the view that domestic violence is the behaviour of a few disturbed or 'sick' individuals and that the causes are psychological rather than social?

Domestic violence is too widespread.

Domestic violence does not occur randomly.

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Summarise the view that domestic violence is too widespread?

Women's Aid Federation 2014, domestic violence accounts for between 1/6 and 1/4 of all recorded violent crime.

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Summarise the view that domestic violence does not occur randomly.

Follows social patterns with social causes.

Coleman et al, women were more likely than men to have experienced intimate violence across all four types of abuse (partner, family, sexual assault and stalking)

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Dobash and Dobash

-studied police and court records and interviews with women in women's refuges.

-violent incidents could be set off by what husbands saw as a challenge to their authority

-marriage legitimises violence against women by conferring power and authority on husbands and dependency on wives

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Crime Survey for England and Wales 2012

7.3% of women (1.2 million) and 5% of men (800,000) reported having experienced domestic abuse in the previous year.

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Ankara and Hindin

Women suffered more severe violence and control, with more serious psychological effects. Women were much more likely than men to be fearful of their partners.

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How may official statistics understate the extent of domestic violence?

-victims may be unwilling to report. Yearnshire found that on average a woman suffers 35 assaults before making a report. Domestic violence is the violent crime least likely to be reported, victims may believe it is not a matter for the police or is too trivial, or fear reprisals. (Dar).

Police and prosecutors may be reulctant to record/investigate/prosecute reported cases. Cheal argues this reluctance is due to the fact that police and other agencies are not prepared to become involved in the family. The make three key assumption:

-the family is a private sphere, access to it by state agencies should be limited

-the family is a good thing, agencies tend to neglect the 'darker side' of family life

-individuals are free agents, it is assumed if a woman is experiencing abuse she is free to leave. Male violence is often combined with male economic power and female financial dependence.

Lack of action by police means cases prosecuted are usually the tip of the iceberg. example- 2006-11, conviction rates were 6.5% of incidents reported to the police.

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Summarise the radical feminist explanation of domestic violence.

-emphasises the role of patriarchal ideas, cultural values and institutions.

-Millett and Firestone argue socieites have been founded on patriarchy

-family and marriage are key institutions in a patriarchal society, main source of women's oppression, men dominate women through domestic violence or the threat of it.

-widespread domestic violence is an inevitable feature of a patriarchal society, serves to preserve male power

-male domination of institutions explains the reluctance of the police to deal effectively with cases of domestic violence.

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Evaluate the radical feminist explanation of domestic violence.

Robertson Elliot argues not all men are aggressive and most are opposed to domestic violence, this is ignored by radical feminists.

Fail to explain female violence

Wrongly assume all women are equally at risk of patriarchy violence.

Women from certain social groups are at a greater risk of domestic violence, e.g. young, lower social class, deprived area, high levels of alcohol consumption, use of drugs.

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Summarise the materialist explanation of domestic violence.

-focuses on economic factors such as a lack of resources and inequalities in income/housing

-Wilkinson and Pickett, domestic violence is the result of stress on family members caused by social inequality.

-worries about money/jobs/housing are more likely to cause conflict

-lack of money and time restricts people's social circle and reduces social support for those under stress

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Evaluate the materialist explanation of domestic violence.

Wilkinson and Pickett do not explain why women rather than men are the main victims of domestic violence.

Ansley (Marxist feminist)- domestic violence is the product of capitalism, male workers are exploited at work and take out their frustrations on their wives. Though, this fails to explain why not all male workers commit acts of violence against their partners and does not account for cases of female domestic violence.

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Describe childhood as a social construct.

-Created by society not biology

-The position of children in society is not fixed.

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Holmes 1974

Studied a Samoan village, 'too young' is never given as a reason to not do a task as a child.

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Firth 1970

Less value is placed on obediance to adult authority in Tikopia of Western Pacific.

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Aries 1960

Conducted a study of childhood over time, using diaries and paintings. Found that childhood did not exist in the middle ages, children were just presented a smaller in paintings. They started work young and the law made no distinction between adults and children.

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When did Aries find that the concept of childhood began? Through what means?

About 300 years ago, in the 17th Century. Through:

-Schools for children

-Distinct clothing for children, intially amongst upper class boys

-Handbooks were published on childrearing around 18th century.

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Criticisms of Aries.

A different notion of what constitutes childhood.

Use of paintings, childhood is not portrayed, does not mean that it does not exist.

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Summarise the modern cult of childhood.

-argued by Aries

-elements of the modern notion of childhood began to emerge from the 13th century onwards.

-shown through schools, distinction in clothing.

-this leads to the modern cult of childhood.

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Outline seven reasons for the changing in the position of childhood.

1. Laws restricting child labour and excluding children from paid work

2. Introduction of compulsory schooling

3. Child protection and welfare legistlation

4. The growth of the idea of children's rights

5. Declining family size and lower infant mortality rates

6. Growth in medical and psychological knowledge

7. Laws and policies that apply specifically to children.

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Suggest a main cause for the changing position of childhood.

Industrialisation.

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Summarise the march of progress view on childhood. 6 points.

-Functionalist

-Steadily improving

-Family is an agent of socialisation

-Family and society has become more child centredP, shown through smaller family sizes

-More financially invested in children

-Better healthcare.

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Palmer 2007/2010

Some children in the UK are experiencing a 'toxic childhood'. Rapid technological and cultural changes of the past 25 years have damaged children's physical, emotional and intellectual development.

Example: UK youths have above average rates of drug and alcohol abuse and obesity.

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Summarise the criticisms of the march of progress view on childhood.

-Ignores the darker side of family life.

-there are inequalities among children in the opportunities and risks they face

-inequalities between children and adults are greater than ever.

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Summarise the conflict view on childhood.

-Marxist/feminist

-Inequalities between adults and children are greater than ever

-Children today experience greater control and dependency not greater care and protection

-Hegemoney of age patriarchy

-Child liberationists

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Summarise the inequalities between children as part of the conflict view of childhood.

-90% of low birth-weight babies are born in developing countries.

-Hillman- boys are more likely to be able to cross roads, use buses and go out after dark unaccompanied

-Bhatti- ideas of izzat (family honour) could be a restriction, particularly on the behaviour of girls.

-children of unskilled manual labourers are 3x more likely to suffer from hyperactivity and 4x more likely to experience conduct disorders than the children of professionals

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Summarise the inequalities between children and adults as part of the conflict view of childhood.

-Firestone and Holt argue the things march of progress theorists view as care and protection are forms of oppression and control.

-Firestone argues 'protection' from paid work is a way of segregating children, making them more dependent.

-child liberationism view

-adult control can take the form of child abuse

-children's movements are highly regulated

-adults control children's routines (time) and the speed at which they grow up

-adults have control over children's bodies, e.g what they wear and how they act.

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Summarise the age patriarchy as part of the conflict view of childhood.

-Gittins uses this term to describe inequalities between adults and children

-refers to the strategies adults use to resist the status of children.

-example: acting down, behaving in ways expected of younger children

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Summarise criticisms of the conflict view of childhood.

-some adult control over children is justified as children cannot make rational decisions

-although children remain under adult supervision, they are not powerless as suggested

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Outline the forms in which adult control can take.

-Neglect and abuse

-Control over space

-Control over children's time

-Control over children's access to resources

-Control over children's bodies

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Summarise the conflict viewpoints' criticisms of the consensus viewpoint. 4 points.

-Inequalities among children from different areas of the world

-Inequalities among genders, argued by feminists

-Difference between ethnicities

-Differences between social class.

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GIve an example of inequality between children from different areas of the world.

90% of low birth weight babies are born in poor countries.

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Give an example of differences between ethnicities in children.

Asian parents are more likely to discipline daughters more than sons.

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Bocock 1993

Children are increasingly being treated and targeted as consumers. This is part of the need for capitalism to keep profits flowing. Society is becoming more child centered.

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Summarise one viewpoint of the future of childhood.

Childhood is 'disappearing at a dazzling speed'. Postman 1994, children have the same rights as adults. Caused by rise and fall of print culture. Printed word once created an information hierarchy, a division between adults who can read and children who cannot. Television has destroyed this.

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Evaluate Postman's view of an information hierarchy.

-Opie argues there is evidence of the continued existence of a separate children's culture.

-Postman over emphasises a single cause, rather than looking at other factors that have influenced the development of childhood.

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Summarise childhood in post modernity.

-Jenks argues modern society was concerned with 'futurity', childhood was seen as a preparation for productive adulthood.

-to achieve this, a child has to be nurtured and protected, particularly by the 'child-centred' family and education system

-Childhood will change again as society moves from modernity to post modernity. In a modern society, adults' relationships were more stable, in a postmodern society, change is increased and relationships have become more unstable, this can cause insecurity and instability

-adults' relationships with their children becomes the only security remaining, adults become more fearful for their children's security

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Evaluate Jenks' view of childhood and postmodernity.

Evidence that some parents see their relationship with their child as more important that with their partner is from small, unrepresentative studies

Over generalisation

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Summarise a second viewpoint of the future of childhood.

Western view of childhood has become globalised, along with western norms and values which are being imposed. Proved by campaigns against child labour in many countries. Many companies will not have factories which employ children, thus imposing norms and values upon another society.

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Heit.

Anxious Generation, increase in reports of mental illness form 2010-2013, coinciding with the increase and introduction of smartphones, access to social media and the internet. Parents have become over protective in the offline world and under protectibr in the online world. Heit believes that childhood is disappearing.

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British Millenium Cohort Study

Studied 19000 children born between 2000-2002. Found that among girls, rates of depression rose in tandem with hours spent on social media. Boys accessed different types of dangers.

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Summarise the 'new sociology of childhood' viewpoint.

That children are not 'adults in the making', they are active agents who play a major part in creating their own childhoods.

-Smart argues this approach aims to include the views and experiences of children

-Mason and Tipper argue children actively create their own definitions of who is 'family', may be people they regard as 'close'.

-Smart et al, in times of divorce, children were not passive victims, but actively tried to make the situation better for all

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Summarise Murdock's view of the family.

Family performs four essential functions to meet the needs of society and its members

-stable satisfaction of the sex drive

-reproduction of the next generation

-socialisation of the young

-meeting its members' economic needs

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Summarise criticisms of Murdock.

-many of these functions can be performed equally well by other institutions, or non-nuclear family structures

-Marxists and feminists reject Murdock's rose-tinted, consensus view that they family meets the needs of society and its members

-functionalism neglects conflict and exploitation, feminists see the family as serving the needs of men and oppressing women. Marxists see the family as meeting the needs of capitalism, not members or society.

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Summarise Parson's 'functional fit' theory.

-two kinds of family structure, the nuclear family and the extended family.

-the functions a family performs depends on the society in which it is found

-these functions will affect its 'shape' or structure

-the nuclear family fits the needs of the industrial society, while the extended family fits the needs of the pre-industrial society

-industrial society has two essential needs, a geographically and socially mobile workforce.

-geographically mobile- a nuclear family is easier to move than an extended family, allowing industries to grow and decline in different areas

-socially mobile- industrial society is based on evolving science and technology, increasing social mobility. Within an extended family, the role of a son may be higher at work than the father, leading to conflict, the solution would be for sons to leave home and develop their own nuclear family

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Summarise the loss of functions of the family.

-pre-industrial family was a multi-functional unit, a unit of production and consumption

-upon industrialisation, the family loses many of its functions, stopping being a unit of production

-the nuclear family has come to specialise in two 'irreducible' functions:

-primary socialisation of children

-stabilisation of adult personalities

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Summarise the Marxist perspective of the family in terms of inheritance of property.

-Engels argues monogamy became essential for the inheritance of private property, men had to be certain of their paternity

-only with the overthrow of capitalism will women achieve liberation from patriarchal control, as there will be no need to have a means of transmitting private property generationally.

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Summarise the Marxist perspective of the family in terms of the ideological functions.

-the family socialises children into the idea that inequality and hierarchy is inevitable

-this is done through parental power

-Zaretsky argues the family offers a haven from the exploitative world of capitalism- workers can 'be themselves' and have a private life. Zaretsky argues this is an illusion and the family cannot meet its members needs.

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Summarise the Marxist perspective of the family in terms of the unit of consumption.

-advertisers urge family to 'keep up with the Joneses' by consuming the latest products

-the media target children who use 'pester power'

-source of profits

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Summarise criticisms of the Marxist perspective of the family.

-Marxists assume the nuclear family is dominant in capitalist society

-feminists argue the Marxist emphasis on class and capitalism ignored the importance of gender inequalities within the family, these are more fundamental than class inequalities

-functionalists argue Marxists ignore the benefits the family provides for its members.

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Summarise the liberal feminist perspective on the family.

-gender equality has not yet fully been achieved in the family, there has been gradual progress

-example: men are doing more domestic labour

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Give a criticisms of the liberal feminists perspective on the family.

-fail to challenge the underlying causes of women's oppression

-far-reaching changes to deep-rooted social structures are needed for equality, not simply changes in the law of people's attitudes.

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Summarise the Marxist feminist perspective on the family.

-the main cause of women's oppression in the family is capitalism, not men.

-women's oppression performs several functions for capitalism;

1. reproduce the labour force, through unpaid domestic labour, socialisation of the next generation of workers and maintaining and servicing the current.

2. absorb anger, Ansley argues women soak up men's anger and frustration, due to the alienation at work. This explains male domestic violence.

3. reserve army of cheap labour

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Summarise the radical feminist perspective on the family.

-all societies have been founded on patriarchy

-marriage and the family are key institutions in a patriarchal society, men benefit from women's unpaid labour, dominated through the threat of violence.

-family needs to be abolished, this is done through separatism, in which women must live independently from men

-political lesbianism, heterosexual relationships are inevitably oppressive as they involve 'sleeping with the enemy'.

-Greer argues for the creation of matrifocal households

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Criticise the radical feminist perspective on the family.

-Somerville (liberal), radical feminists fail to recognise improvements in women's position and heterosexual attraction makes it unlikely that separatism would work

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Summarise the difference feminist perspective on the family.

-we cannot generalise women's experiences

-by regarding the family as purely negative, white feminists neglect the black woman's experience of racial oppression and viewing the family as a source of support an resistance against racism.

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Criticise the difference feminist perspective on the family.

-neglects the fact that all women share many of the same experiences.

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How does the personal life perspective criticise the functionalist, Marxist and feminist theories of the family.

-assume the nuclear family is the dominant family type, ignoring the increasing family diversity

-structural theories, taking a top-down approach, assuming members of the family are passive puppets, manipulated by the structure of society