Case studies

Rapoport & Rapoport (1982)

Argues there are five different aspects of family diversity:

• Organisational: how domestic labour is divided

• Cultural: The different values and beliefs of ethnicities in family

• Class: the differences between different class families

• Life course: The transition of family types throughout the course of life

• Cohort: different dynamics in different generations

In addition, they argue the nuclear family is not the traditional family type.

Criticisms:

• Functionalists believe the nuclear family is dominant

• Chester (1958) argues that family diversity has been exaggerated. Most people aim to live nuclear families and every individual will live in one at some point in their lives.

Strengths:

• Rise of different family types: rise of cohabitation, delaying marriage, same-sex couples, secular values

William Goode (1917-2003)

Goode argued that secularisation has resulted in marriage becoming less of a sacred union and it's now perceived as something personal and a practical commitment.

Fewer couples celebrate marriage in a religious ceremony(in the church). Fewer than one in three marriages were celebrated in a church in 2015, compared to more than half in the 1980s.

Jewson (1944) - New Right

Jewson identified four main aspects of the family:

1. They are based on the view that there is a normal family types, made up of a married couple bringing up their own biological children

2. supporters of family values believe that women should be the carer and the nurturer, while the men is the breadwinner and protector

3. Family members have a duty to provide for each other and look after old, sick, unemployed, or homeless members of the family

4. They tend to go against gay and lesbian rights, sexual freedom, certain types of sexual education and abortion

Murdock - Functionalist

• Believes that family serves four purposes

• Sexual: creates a bond between spouses leading to family

• Educational: teaches society norms and values (primary socialisation)

• Reproductive: allows the continuation of society

• Economic: a family provides its member all necessities

Criticisms:

• Doesn’t consider unstable families

• Doesn’t consider the role other institutions might play

Parsons - Functionalist

• Believes that family only has two functions

• Stabilisation of adult personality (SOAP): women - expressive role, men - instrumental role - warm bath theory safe heaven where you fell secure

• Primary socialisation

Criticisms:

• Some argues he has an idealistic view of the family

• Ignores family diversity

• Parsons’ forgets children create their own personalities

• Ignores the roles of other institutions

Young and Wilmott(1973) - Functionalist

• Young and Wilmott’s symmetrical family theory challenged Parsons’ research on family

• They argued families had become symmetrical - men and women performed similar roles. Family roles weren’t segregated anymore and men and women shared roles (including childcare) 

• Even though men and women didn’t perform the same exact work (external and internal), their roles were shared equally between the wife and husband.

• Stratified diffusion: They argued the norms and values change in the wealthier societies and after they are passed down to others.

• They concluded that families would become asymmetrical in the next generation since the wealthier families would be more apart and the conjugal roles would be segregated

  Criticisms:

• Ann Oakley(feminist) argued that their research was flawed since men could be performing less than women but the conjugal roles would still be seen as shared. She argued that women still live a dual burden and that allowing women to work didn’t benefit the family just made women work twice as much.

• Women are still disadvantaged in the working industry since men get paid more and have more opportunities (e.g. promotions)

Zaretsky(1976) - Marxist: “capitalism, the family and the personal life”

• Capitalism eludes people into believing their “private life” is separated from capitalism

• Argues that family provides a psychological function (like Parsons’ warm bath theory) that could not be successful due to Capitalism -  This was because, rather than helping and nurturing individuals, the family cushioned the damage caused by capitalism. The working class were exploited at work.

• Zaretsky argues that Parsons' theory that family helps to relieve the stress from work is what stops the proletariat from recognising they are being exploited. Zaretsky believes that the only solution is a revolution to overthrow Capitalism, and the most significant factor blocking it is the family unit.

  Criticisms:

• Outdated: women can financially support themselves, ignores positive aspects of family

Duncombe and Marsden - marxist feminists

• Developed the idea of a triple shift(emotional work, paid work, and domestic work)

• Argues that the social norms have changed but traditional gender segregation hasn’t and that families are still unequal in conjugal roles.

• Family can be a site of oppression for women.

• Can negatively affect a woman’s mental health.

Ann Oakley (1982) - liberal feminist

Oakley argues that inequality in domestic labour are naturally suited to women. Things such as childcare and housework are often the woman’s responsibility and it's (almost) unappreciated and time consuming. She used the term ‘dual burden’ to refer to women who work outside(jobs) home and inside (housework).

This time consuming tasks decreases the amount of social interaction for women which can cause them to feel lonely and dissatisfied. This impacts women’s mental health drastically by leading into frustration and low self esteem.

Oakley concluded that conventional family stereotypes persuaded people to find alternative ways of living.

Criticisms:

• Sample size was small and limited, this generalised the results.

• Changing family dynamics with more flexible roles - doesn’t apply to all families since nowadays there is a acceptance in shared domestic labour(outdated).

• Focus on negative aspects - some women find satisfaction in domestic roles.

Delphy & Leonard - Radical feminists

• Men benefit from women’s labour.

• Family is responsible for ensuring that patriarchy remains.

• Women are oppressed because they have to carry out tasks at home after coming back from work (dual burden). This is a form of exploitation as the household tasks aren't equally shared.

Charles Murray(1998) - New Right

• Murray argues that welfare policies led to a dependency culture, which encourage people to start single-parent families or to get a divorce and form a single-parent family

• Argues that the economic function proposed by Murdock was carried by the state in underclass families. This means that people might have children without being a working parent because the state will provide conditions for the children.

  Criticism:

• some argue that this view blames the poor for their own poverty rather than finding an actual solution/cause.

• Marxists argue that this view is merely an ideological reason for capitalist and bourgeoisie politics

• Some argue that the new right isn’t a sociological perspective, but a political one.