AICE Sociology paper 2

The Big Three perspectives on family (FMF)

Functionalism(fantastic), Marxism(musty), Feminism(feet)

Functionalism (Fantastic)

Arguments:

Murdock: Family is universal because it performs 4 vital functions; Reproductive, Economic, Education, and Sexual (Hint: REES)

Parsons: Geographic mobility; The family structure has changed to meet its new needs (Functional Fit Theory)

Two Irreducible functions: Primary socialization of children and Stabilization of Adult Personalities

Marxism (The Conflict Theorists/Musty)

Engels: Nuclear families emerged so men could pass on private property to legitimate heirs, controlling women’s sexuality(historical defeat of the female sex)

Zaretsky: The family is the unit of Consumption( buys products to keep capitalism going)

Fran Ansley(Marxist Feminist): Women are “takers of crap” who soak up their husbands’ frustration with capitalism, preventing revolution

Feminism (The Critics of Patriarchy/Fart)

Greer:(Radical): Marriage is a patriarchal institution where wives are submissive, Suggest female-centered households

Ann Oakley: Critiques the “symmetrical family”; women do all the heavy lifting

Duncombe and Marsden: “Triple shift"; women do paid work, house work and emotion work

Family Diversity and Social Change

• Historical shift( Nuclear vs Extended)

peter Laslett: Used parish records to show the nuclear family was the most common before industrialization(Challenging Parsons)

Anderson: Showed the extended family actually increased during early industrialization(1851 census) to…..

Postmodernism and The New Right

Stacey(Postmodernism): There is no longer. “Normal” family;people pick and choose family types to suit their needs.

The New Right(Murray, Dennis and Erdos):Very critical of family diversity

• argue Lone-parent families to a “dependency culture” and juvenile delinquency. They believe nuclear family is the only correct type

Power, Money, and Domestic Labor

Wilmott and Young: Argued families are becoming symmetrical(roles become !similar!)

• Research was destroyed by Oakley for being to vague.

Money Management(Pahl)

(Pahl)identified four types of money management that reflect power:

4 types of management

1. Husband controlled pooling: Shared money, but husband makes important decisions

2. Wife-controlled pooling: Shared money,Wife manages it

3. Husband control: He is breadwinner, she is dependent

4. She has the burden of making ends meet

Theories of Divorce

• Functionalism

• Marxism

• Feminism

• New Right

Functionalism

NOT a threat to marriage; shows people have higher expectations of marriage today.

• Functional because it removes unhappy units

Marxism

A result of competition for resources and power within marriage

• stress of the capitalist economy on the home

Feminism

Positive sign!

• Women are no longer trapped in empty shell marriages and rejecting patriarchal control

New Right

Terrible!!

• Leads to breakdown of traditional values and the rise of the underclass