AQA GCSE Sociology - Families

Family

Group of 2 or more persons associated by birth, cohabitation, marriage or adoption.

Household

All the people living together within a house (could be a family, but doesn't have to be)

Nuclear Family ("Cereal Packet Family")

Family group = consists of mother, father and their biological, dependent children

Single Parent Family

Family group consisting of dependent children & only one parent (statistically usually the mother)

Step/Reconstituted Family

Family group consisting of two parents, one from previous relationship/marriage with biological children of one or both partners

Extended Family

Family composed of the nuclear family & other relatives living in same house/nearby

(can be vertically extended or horizontally)

Modified Extended Family

Modern family type where extended family members can maintain contact and/or support despite living far apart- made possible by technology

Same-Sex Family

Family group comprised of two same-sex parents who are civil partners, married or cohabiting with their child(ren)

Neo-Conventional Family

New family where traditional gender roles have changed (e.g: females may be bread-winners & males house husbands)

Empty Nest Family

Family where the children have grown up & left home, leaving parents to live together

Symmetrical Family

Family where conjugal roles are shared equally (e.g: men doing more housework, equal decision making = authority relations have become more equal)

Bean-Pole Family

Vertically extended, multi-generational family unit i.e: people living longer = more generations alive at same time. Linked to families having fewer children.

Breadwinner

Is the main income earner in household

Commune

Small community whose members share in the ownership of property & the division of labour

Dependent Child

Person living in household who's under 16/aged 16 - 18 but in full time education

Life Course Family Diversity

How a person may experience different forms of families/households during a lifetime (e.g: if person's born into nuclear family, but becomes part of single-parent family when separation occurs)

Functionalist View of Families

The nuclear family is best for society because it performs:

• Primary Socialisation

• Reproduction

• Emotional Support

• Economic Support

They claim other family types = dysfunctional

Criticisms of the Functionalist View

• It ignores numerous other family types & sees them as inferior

• It doesn't explore sexist relationships

• It ignores the dark side of the family

• It's outdated & doesn't recognise how families have become more diverse

The New Rights View of Families

Claims nuclear family with traditional gender roles is best for society. Very critical of family breakdown & introduced policies to promote nuclear family:

• Lower taxes for the married

• Reduced benefits for single parents

• C.S.A (Child Support Agency), forcing absent fathers to pay for children

Criticisms of The New Rights View

• It has a narrow view & discriminates against other family types

Marxist View of Families

• conflict theory = claims the family benefits the ruling class in capitalist society

• its role = maintain power of the wealthy & allow for social class reproduction. It does this by:

• Producing the next generation working class, ready to be exploited

• Socialising working class children to accept inequality & low status jobs- brainwashed by

ideology & put into false consciousness

• It is exploited as a unit of consumption

• The wealthy can pass on their wealth in inheritance

Feminist View of Families

•Conflict theory = claims the family is patriarchal.

•Within family = traditional gender roles are segregated

•where males have more authority

•women are exploited to do the triple shift.

•Family reproduces gender inequality through gender role socialisation.

The difference between the Liberal Feminist view & Radical Feminist view

Liberal Feminists claim females now more equal within the family e.g. the symmetrical family

Young and Willmott (1973)

• Found evidence that the symmetrical family was

becoming more typical in Britain

Reasons for an increase in symmetrical families

• Changing social attitudes

• Increased female employment

• Labour saving devices

Definition of family becoming more child centred

Now, parents spend more time with their children- who are involved more in decision making. Often, child welfare is the top priority of parents, who make significant sacrifices for children.

Reasons for more child centred families

• Smaller family sizes with less children

• Children now have more rights & families are monitored more (e.g: social services)

• There is more support from services (e.g: NHS)

• More leisure time is spent with the family

• Compulsory education means children are more dependent on parents

• More information available

Average Number of Children in 1870

6

Average Number of Children Now

1.8

Explanations for smaller family sizes

• The cost of children has increased (£230,000 in a lifetime)

• Contraception has become more available

• Female independence

• They do not need as many children for source of

income

• Increased availability of abortions

Percentage of Single-Parent Families in the UK

27% (the number has tripled since 1970)

Percentage of single-parent families headed by the mother

90%

Some explanations for more single-parent families

• Higher divorce rates

• Greater financial independence for women

• Less social stigma attached to being a single-mother

• Children are less likely to be taken away from single parents

Divorce

The legal dissolution of a marriage

Number of divorces in 1951

29,000

Number of divorces in 2002

148,000

This has happened to divorce rate over the last 10 years

Stabilisation

Britain's divorce rate

43% (of marriages end in this)

This is when divorce is most likely

In the first five years of marriage

Explanations for increased divorce

• Law Changes(i.e: divorces have become easier & cheaper to obtain, the Divorce Reform Act 1969)

• Secularisation

• Less Stigma

• Changing Female Attitudes

• High Expectations

• Isolated Nuclear Family

Some of the consequences of divorce

• Increase in lone parent/shared parent families

• Increase in step-families

• More remarriages

• More cohabiting couples

• Financial problems

• Emotional stress

Marriage

Legally recognised union by a religious or civil ceremony

Monogomy

Being married to one person at a time

Bigamy

Being married to more than one person at a time- a crime in the UK

Serial Monogomy

Getting divorced & remarried over & over

Polygamy

Having more than one spouse at a time

Polygyny

Having more than one wife at a time

Polyandry

Having more than one husband at a time (often in places of female infanticide)

Female Infanticide

The intentional killing of baby girls to the preference for male babies

This has happened to marriage rates over the last 50 years

A decline

Explanations for the change to marriage rates

• Expensive (now £10,000 on average)

• Secularisation