Families and households (copy)

AQA Sociology A Level Families and households

Marxist- Althusser

family supports capitalist structure (superstructure) and they're an ideological state apparatus(pass on ruling class ideas)

Marxist-Engles

Two stages
1-primitive communism-everything was shared
then capitalism which created restrictions
2-private ownership-more controlled( especially for women) but it helped solve inheritance issues

Marxist-Marx

concerned with inequality in society believes society is based on conflict

Marxist-Zaretsky

family in modern capitalist society creates the illusion private life is separate from the economy especially after industrialisation, however now the family don't provide psychological and personal needs creating alienation

Functionalist -Bell and Vogel

highlight dysfunctional family aspects. they accept the idea that children are scapegoats (stress release) for adults. this is good as it stabilises the family and society

Functionalist-Murdock

Believes the nuclear family is desirable and universal, he analysed 250 societies to prove this.
He also believed the family had 4 key function -sexual -reproductive -socialising - economic
Males and females have their own roles and children should copy them
Adults are a unit of production but children are units of consumption

Functionalist-Parsons

The nuclear family has 2 functions.
-primary socialisation (children)
-to stabilise personalities (adults)
he believed the loss of functions creates specialisation
functions were st after families became more geographically mobile(to get jobs)
men have instrumental roles-breadwinner
females have expressive roles-emotional support
he also created the warm bath theory- family were a mans stress relief

changing family patterns-key policies

1969 divorce reform act- cause can now me "irreconcilable breakdown"-no one has to take the blame so there were higher levels of divorce

families and matrimonial proceedings act

legal aid cheaper and easier to get

CFP-Ballard

Extended family ties provide an important source of support among Asian migrants in the 50's and 60's

CFP-Beck

we are all so focused on our own needs rather than our partners so are more likely to opt out of marriage when we don't get what we want

CFP-Chester

For most cohabitation is a step in marriage. Most see it as a 'trial' marriage and tend to marry if it goes well

CFP-Cockett and Tripp

They suggest divorce is now becoming 'normlised' and is now becoming more accepted (could talk about secularisation)

CFP-Dunscombe and Marsden

marriage remains patriarchal with men benefiting from womens 'triple shift'-emotional support,housework and paid work'

CFP-Fletcher

people expect too much in marriages and most opt out when expectations arent met

CFP-Giddins

we now have 'confluent love' so a focus on intimacy and love instead of obligation

CFP-Gittens

Women are dissatisfied with patriarchal marriage, 70% of divorce petitions are made by women

CFP- Murray

There's a growth of lone parent families due to over-generous welfare sate providing benefits

CFP-Smart

personal life perspective, divorce means different things to indidviduals

CFP-Sharpe

girls priorities have now changed from marriage, kids and love to education and careers

CFP-Weeks

increased social acceptance has lead to a trend in chosen families

Feminism-Dobash and Dobash

domestic violence is linked to patriarchy they found in their research domestic violence mainly happened when men's authority was questioned

Feminism-Oakley

sexual divisions of labor means women are expected to do domestic work and childcare. so they become economically dependent on men.
women are expected to deal with men's frustration and anger as men control everything
women lose their own identity. their positions are crucial for oppression(capitalist exploitation)
men only help with 15% of housework and 25% of childcare

Feminism-Millet

men benefit directly from the exploitation of women in the family and society

Feminism-Benston

Capitalism gets 2 for 1- women work for men if they didn't employees would have to pay men more to pay for domestic work

Feminism-Brugal

women are easy to hire and fire so create a reserve army of labor.
women's unemployment is disguised as primary work is a housewife.

Feminism-Ansley

supports parsons - family functions stabilise adult relationships as wives provide emotional support as a 'safety valve' for their frustration
"when wives play their traditional role of takers of shit, they absorb their anger from their own oppression"

Feminism-Delphy and Leonard

women contribute more work into family life than their husbands do but they dont benefit as much. men hold ultimate power over everything. the family is patriarchal- men dominate and exploit women.
women provided 57 varieties of unpaid services. wives arent always passive but its hard for them to fight back

Feminism-Wollstonecraft

women should be equal partners in marriage and should be allowed and education, women are caged birds trapped by patriarchal society-as their lack of education meant it was impossible to get employment and become independent

Feminism-Beechey

women are regarded as dependent on men. employers can pay lower wages to women which aren't enough for women to live on so they're kept dependent on men

Feminism- Firestone

childbearing is a burden which put women at a disadvantage. she thinks new reproductive technology, separatism and lesbianism will free women's dependence on men

Feminism-Rich

refers to the idea of "compulsory sexuality" where being heterosexual as the only relationship seen as acceptable
Lesbianism was seen as deviant but some believe it's a solution to not being oppressed as they don't have to rely on men for sexual pleasure

Feminism-Amos and Parmar

Black women have different experiences as they have to deal with racism and sexism but their families are a great source of comfort and support

New Right-Dennis and Erdos

fatherless families are a problem as boys lack role models and children don't learn discipline or the boys don't know how to be good fathers

New right-Murray

believes there's an underclass, which are benefit dependent lone parents. he also believes lone parents create a cycle of dependency

Personal life perspective-clarke

family aren't just blood related they have a lot of diversity and focus on how individuals feel especially in relationships
marriage is the base of families

PLP-Laing

families give themselves a barrier. families have more arguments which can cause schizophrenia as a way of coping as the family play tactical games with a high demand for attention

PLP-Leach

family form a wider kinship that provided practical and psychological support
now the family is nuclear and isolated which creates stress leading to increased conflict

PLP-Nordquist and Smart

researched donor conceived families and emphasised the importance of social relationships. role of the mother is based on time and effort spent n the child rather than blood and genetics

Demography-Castles

Assimilation policies don't work as they see minority cultures as backwards. this offends migrants so they only follow their cultures and ignore the host culture

Demography-Cohen

3 types of migrants
citizens- full rights
denizens- privileged foreign nationals welcomed by the government
Helots(slaves)- exploited workers unskilled poorly paid

Demography-Eade

researched Bangladeshi Muslims in Britain and found second generations in the family crates a hybrid hierarchical identity: Muslim,Bengali, British

Demography- Enreheich and Hoschild

globalisation of gender division of labor. found there's more poor migrant women working in traditional female roles e.g care workers, cleaners

Demography-erikson

researched globalsiation of individuals and people moved back and forth creating transnational neither nor identities
governments also practice superficial diversity either shallow or deep

Demography-Harper

education for women is the most important factor for reducing birth rates

Demography-Hirsh

social policies need to change for the aging population

Demography-Mckeown

improved nutrition accounted for about half of the decline in death rates specifically TB

Demography-Pilcher

in old age there's still inequality and a persons previous job determines how good their lifestyle is

Demography-Shutes

40% of adult care workers in the UK are females from poor countries

Demography-Tranter

over 3/4 of the fall in death rate was due to a fall in infectious diseases but now we have diseases of affluence

Demography-Vertovec

super-diversity as migrants come from a wider range of countries under many circumstances

Conjugal roles-Young and Willmottt

march of progress- they fund the family is becoming ore equal and fair especially as women work and men are helping them more and couples share leisure time. symmetry was more common in younger couples

CR- Smart

there's a positive change as same sex couples attach no importance to who controls moneys they all also have more freedom

CR-Southerton

responsibility of co-coordinating scheduling and managing 'quality family time' is usually placed on mothers

CR-Silver and Schor

commercialisation of housework e.g washing machines dishwashers.

CR-Reeves

we are half way through revolution with the interaction between gender roles and family life. by 2045 terms describing home life will lose their novelty

CR-Ramos

when women work unemployed men do the same amount of housework

CR-Parsons

females-expressive- help support emotions and do housework
males -Instrumental-breadwinners
division of labor was based on biological differences

CR-Pahl and Vogler

2 main types of control of family income
pooling- both have access
allowance-men give women money
pooling is increasing but men still make key decisions which they benefit from

CR-Kan

younger men do more domestic work proof gender roles are changing

CR-Gershuny

women working full time is leading to a more equal division of labor in the home as they did less domestic work due to working full time

CR-Edgell

men make very important decisions due to investing their money while females made jut important deciions

CR-Dunne

same sex couple have more symmetry as they don't feel the need for typical gender roles supports the idea traditional gender roles are patriarchal

CR-crompton and Lyonette

2 explanations for unequal divisions of labor
cultural- patriarchal norms and values
economic-women earn less so it makes sense they do domestic work

Postmodernism-Ballard

Asian families are more likely to be extended and patriarchal

PM-Barrow

Black families are more likely to be lone parents and matriarchal

PM-Beck

individualisation thesis- increase on our own needs
risk society- fewer controls create an unstable society, less certainty
Negotiated family- we chose our own families to meet our own needs - no longer nuclear(zombie families-death of traditional families)

PM-Chester

cohabitation is a 'trial marriage'
degree of diversity is exaggerated and stats are misleading
growth in neo-conventional families(dual earner)

PM-Functionalist

dislike diversity as it gets rid of the nuclear family and their 4 key functions

PM- Giddens

higher divorce due to 'confluent love' and 'pure relationships' based on love only we only stay as long as we are happy
changes are due to increasing equality which creates instability

PM-Morgan

families are now what we choose
we shape our own life course so there's more diversity

PM-Murdock

nuclear family is ideal and universal
and provide 4 key functions
-sexual-reproductive - economic and - education

Rapports

different types of diversty
Cultural
Life stage
Organisational
Generational
Social class

PM-smart

critisises individualisation thesis with connected thesis as we are social beings within a "web of connectedness" we don't have complete choice

PM-stacey

women can free themselves from oppression by creating their own families. there's a growth in divorce extended families

PM-Weeks

sexual morality is a choice people are more accepting of diversity

Domestic violence-Ansely

women are safety valves they absorb men's frustration

DV-Cheal

family is seen as a private sphere so police don't like to get involved also the family is seen as a positive institution so people don't want to think there's anything wrong with it

DV-Dobash ad Dobash

109 women interviewed from a refuge of those interviewed 88% went back to their partners
domestic abuse also mainly happens when men's authority is questioned

DV-Firestone, Millet

DV is evidence of patriarchy men benefit directly from exploitation
solution is seperatism

DV-Mirlees -Black

1 in 4 women experience domestic violence
99% of violence against women was committed by men

DV-Wilkinson

poverty leads to domestic violence. long shifts and poor wages lead to social isolation

DV-Yearnshire

women experienced 35 incidents of domestic violence before reporting it

Childhood- Aires

childhood didn't exist in medieval Britain. Children were just mini adults (dressed the same)
now believes there's improvements 'march of progress'

CH-Benedict

children have more responsibility (globally). less value is placed on obedience to adult authority so they're less obedient and they aren't as protected .

CH-Brannen

Asian parents are more controlling of girls so there's ethnic differences

CH-Firestone

Children are oppressed as care and protectiveness kind of just restricts them e.g labor banned for children makes them more dependent

CH-Gittins

there's an age patriarchy where there's adult domination that keeps children controlled and dependent. this is primarily men controlling women and children

CH-Hillman

there are gender differences as boys were allowed out later and they have more freedom

CH-Hood-williams

children are consumers which makes them more like adults

CH-Howard

there's class inequalities
he believed working class had poorer diet therefore they're unhealthy which lead to more illness so they missed more school and fell behind
w/c are also more likely to be on child protection register

CH-Jenks

childhood is a post modernity. childhood isn't disappearing but changing to be more complex. childhood lacks stability so there's more control

CH-Ennew

childhood is controlled by western views which changes their life structure .in Jamaica children are important source of work. they're a vital part of the labor force and they're a unit of production

CH-Lee

childhood is disappearing as children are getting rights however childhood is complex and contradicting

CH-Palmer

childhood is now toxic as children experience obesity, self-harm and bullying

CH-Pilcher

childhood is a 'distinctive stage' before becoming and adult

CH-Postman

printing press created informational hierarchy as books were made and adults were able to read yet children couldn't

CH-Opies

childhood isn't disappearing its still a time for fun, games, songs and jokes

CH-Smart

children are active agents so they need their viewpoints,believes we need to talk to children so they have a voice

CH-Wagg

for millions of children around the world they've never had a childhood in the first place

social policy-Lasch and Denzelot

family policies are examples of government interfering with and manipulating families