soc 2301 Is the family univeral - gittens

Gittins’ main argument

The family is not a universal institution; ideas and practices surrounding family vary across cultures, history, and social groups.

Functionalist view of family

Functionalists generally view the family as a universal institution that performs specific functions necessary for society.

Murdock’s definition of family

A social group characterized by common residence, economic cooperation, reproduction, and a socially approved sexual relationship between adults.

Four functions of family according to Murdock

Common residence, economic cooperation, reproduction, and sexuality.

Household

A group of people who share a residence and may share activities such as sleeping, eating, food preparation, and caring for others.

Family vs. household

Family and household are not necessarily the same; families may live apart, and people may share a household without considering themselves family.

Why family and household are not equivalent

Family members may live in different locations, while people who live together may not have a family relationship.

Economic cooperation

The production, distribution, and allocation of resources such as food, goods, care, skills, time, and space.

Why economic cooperation is not unique to families

Economic cooperation occurs between individuals and households throughout society, not only within families.

Division of labour

The distribution of different tasks and responsibilities among people, often influenced by age and sex.

Power and division of labour

The allocation of resources and tasks creates power relationships because resources are finite and are rarely distributed equally.

Gittins’ view of sexuality

Sexuality is not specific to families and should not be assumed to be heterosexual or universally organized in the same way.

Murdock’s assumption about sexuality

Murdock assumes sexuality in families is heterosexual, partly because reproduction requires heterosexual relations.

Why heterosexuality is not universal

Different societies organize sexuality, mating, and family relationships in different ways.

Gittins’ view of marriage

Marriage varies across cultures, historical periods, and social classes and is not universally heterosexual, monogamous, or connected to reproduction.

Examples showing marriage is not universal

Polygyny, polyandry, serial monogamy, and marriage between people of the same sex have existed in different societies.

Nuer marriage practices

The Nuer have practices including women marrying women and “ghost marriages,” demonstrating that marriage does not have one universal form.

Incest

Rules about which relationships are considered sexually or matrimonially acceptable vary across cultures and historical periods.

Why incest rules challenge universal family definitions

Different societies have defined acceptable and prohibited relationships differently, showing that family boundaries are socially organized.

Problem with Murdock’s definition

It does not adequately account for the diversity of ways that residence, economic relationships, sexuality, and reproduction are organized.

Western ethnocentrism

The tendency to treat contemporary Western ideas about what a family should be as if they describe families everywhere.

Kinship

A system of socially organized relationships involving birth/descent, mating/marriage, parentage, descent, relatives, and rights across generations.

Why anthropologists prefer kinship

Kinship emphasizes that relationships are socially constructed and vary depending on how societies define them.

Kinship as a social construction

The meaning and organization of kinship are created and defined by society rather than being determined entirely by biology.

Biological parenthood

Parenthood defined primarily through genetic or biological relationships.

Social parenthood

Parenthood defined through the social role of raising and caring for a child.

Western view of biological parents

Western society often treats biological parents as the “real” parents who should have the strongest ties to their children.

Alternative views of parenthood

Some cultures define the person who raises a child as the real parent regardless of who was biologically involved in reproduction.

Fictive kinship

Relationships in which people who are not biologically related come to define themselves as kin.

Example of fictive kinship

Friends who come to consider themselves family can form a fictive kin relationship.

Importance of fictive kinship

It demonstrates that kinship is not simply based on biological or “blood” relationships.

Kinship and responsibility

Kinship identifies people as special to one another and establishes obligations and responsibilities between individuals and groups.

Motherhood as a social construction

Although pregnancy and childbirth have biological bases, the roles, expectations, and practices associated with motherhood are socially and culturally variable.

Why motherhood is not entirely biological

Who raises children and how children are cared for varies across cultures and historical periods.

Maternal instinct

Gittins challenges the assumption that women naturally or instinctively perform all forms of childcare and mothering.

Ethnocentric views of motherhood

Applying one's own cultural ideas about motherhood and “good mothering” universally to other societies.

Childrearing

Who raises and cares for children varies across cultures and may involve biological parents, grandparents, other relatives, or unrelated caregivers.

Sibling relationships

Sibling relationships can be important forms of kinship and, in some societies, may be more important than parent-child relationships.

Why sibling relationships matter

Sibling relationships challenge the assumption that parent-child relationships and reproduction are always the universal core of kinship.

Gender and kinship

Gender is socially constructed in all societies and is closely connected to how kinship is organized and defined.

Gender and division of labour

Gender can influence how societies allocate work, resources, responsibilities, and roles.

Age and division of labour

Age can influence the tasks and responsibilities assigned to people within households and societies.

Gittins’ view of gendered work

Biological differences between men and women do not adequately explain why particular tasks are assigned to one sex.

Cross-cultural division of labour

Tasks considered appropriate for men or women vary across cultures and historical periods.

Why “the family” creates a static vision

It suggests that family relationships and structures are fixed when they actually change across cultures, time, and social groups.

Family as a variable institution

Childbearing, childrearing, gender, resource allocation, mating, marriage, sexuality, and ageing all vary across societies and historical periods.

Family as a symbol-system

The collection of culturally specific beliefs about sexuality, reproduction, parenting, gender, age, and power that Western society labels as “the family.”

Patriarchy

A system of social organization involving gendered power relationships and inequalities.

Family ideology

The culturally specific beliefs and expectations surrounding how family relationships are supposed to function.

Relationship between family ideology and patriarchy

Western ideas about the family are connected to patriarchal beliefs about sexuality, reproduction, parenting, gender, and power.

Why patriarchy is not universal

Forms of gender relations and power vary across cultures and historical periods, so Western patriarchy cannot simply be treated as universal.

Deconstructing family

Questioning assumptions about what “family” means rather than automatically accepting culturally specific definitions as natural or universal.

Why household remains a useful concept

Co-residence is common and remains useful for studying how people live together, although households are not necessarily homogeneous or equal.

Household inequality

Households contain divisions of labour and unequal access to resources based partly on differences in age and sex.

Power within households

People have different access to resources, responsibilities, and decision-making power, creating unequal relationships.

Western relationship ideals

Western society gives particularly high status to long-term relationships between men and women and between parents and children.

“Natural” family relationships

Relationships presented as natural or universal may actually be culturally and historically constructed.

Social institutions and family ideology

Legal, social, religious, and economic systems reinforce particular ideas about acceptable family relationships.

Pressure of family ideology

People may feel pressured to follow culturally accepted norms regarding marriage, relationships, children, and family roles.

Gittins’ conclusion about relationships

Relationships are universal, but the forms they take are highly variable and can change or be challenged.

Universal vs. variable

Relationships, intimacy, sexuality, emotional bonds, and some form of co-residence are widespread, but their specific forms are culturally and historically variable.

Main criticism of Western family definitions

They often mistake culturally specific Western ideals for universal characteristics of family.

Gittins’ approach to studying family

Recognize variation, identify cultural patterns, avoid assuming a perfect definition, and deconstruct assumptions about what family means.

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