Studied by 38 people
Stable satisfaction of the sex drive
Reproduction of the next generation
Socialisation of the young
Meeting its members’ economic needs
Parsons argues that the particular structure and functions of a given type of family will fit the needs of society.
Pre-Industrial Family: Extended family, Unit of production, Ascribed status
Post-Industrial Family: Isolated nuclear family, Unit of Consumption, Geographically Mobile
Inheritance of Wealth- Engels
Socialisation- Althussar
Cushioning Effect- Zaretsky
Unit of Consumption- Zaretsky
Reproduction
The family is a prop to the capitalist system. The unpaid work of housewives support future generations of workers.
The family consumes the products produced by the bourgeoisie to make profits. The family supports workers to help them carry on working.
Advertised urge families to ‘keep up with the Joneses’ by consuming all the latest products
The media target children, who use ‘pester power’ to persuade parents to spend more.
Children who lack the latest clothes or ‘must have’ gadgets are mocked and stigmatised by their peers.
Inheritance of property
Ideological functions
Unit of consumption
Argue that the nuclear family has traditionally performed 2 key functions that have oppressed women.
Socialisation
Inequality
Causes of inequality in the family
Long inflexible working hours
Expectations in domestic labour
Changes in government polices- Equal Pay Act (1970), Sex Discrimination Act (1975)
Dual earning household- both parents earning an income
Changes in parenting- more stay at home dads
Changes in social attitudes- education, marriage, sexuality etc.
Payment for invisible work.
Closing the Pay gap
If domestic labour and invisible work was compensated it could equal an extra £222.54 per week for Women and £137.13 for men. Based on the average hourly rate paid to domestic workers.
The main role of the family is to maintain patriarchy.
Family is a reflection of patriarchy in society.
Family= ownership
Gender Role Socialisation
Only by getting rid of patriarchy and the family in particularly will lead to the end of women's oppression.
Separatism: Women must organise themselves to live independently of men.
Political Lesbianism: heterosexual relationships are inevitably oppressive.
Matrilocal Households: all female households (Greer, 2000)
There is a false universality of women’s experiences in the family.
Lesbian, heterosexual, black, white, middle class and working class women will have very different experiences of the family.
Intersectional Feminism: Ethnocentric View
Radical Feminism: Patriarchal Structures still persist
Anne Oakley: “Helping Out”
Over states the progress made.
Very different from Functionalists Marxists and Feminists
Which are ‘top down’ structural approaches.
This is a ‘bottom up’ Interactionist approach.
People start with the meaning individuals give to their relationships and how these shape their actions.
They look at the wider view of relationships rather than just blood and marriage ties.(Kinship)
Draws our attention to relationships that can’t conventionally be defined as ‘family’.
Instead, it looks at relationships which individuals see as significant and give a sense of identity, belonging and relatedness.
The structures of the family are no longer dictated by tradition or society
There is no such thing as the universal family type.
Giddens- Needs based family
Beck- Negotiated family
Stacey- Family is ambiguous and fluid
Leech- Cereal Pack Family
Smart- Connectedness Thesis
Working Tax Credits
Child Tax Credits
Statutory Maternity Pay
Maternity and Paternity Leave
Child Protection Plan
Early years child care
Legalisation of the Contraception Pill (1967)
Divorce Reform Act (1969)
The Beveridge Report (1942)
China- One Child Policy: 1979-2016
Limited the number of children in order to control the massive population growth in China.
Those who had more than one child faced sanctions, forced abortion and sterilisation.
Communist Romania 1948 - 1989
Aimed to increase population, restricted contraception and abortion availability, set up infertility centres and made divorce more difficult. Unmarried and childless couples paid 5% more in tax.
Aimed to increase population, restricted contraception and abortion availability, set up infertility centres and made divorce more difficult. Unmarried and childless couples paid 5% more in tax.
Child Support Agency (1993)
Children’s Act (1989)
Married Men’s Tax allowance
Section 28
Illegitimate Children given same rights as those who have married parents
Still under the influence of the New Right, however much more progressive, favouring the Duel Earning family over traditional roles. Gave some support to alternative family types but still preferred the heterosexual nuclear family.
Parenting Order for parents of unruly children
Longer Maternity leave
Allowed unmarried and same sex couple adoption
The New Deal
Working Families Tax Credit
Civil Partnership Act
The coalition government had very inconsistent policies on the family due ro the conflict between the two camps of MP’s:
Modernists- acceptance of diversity in the family
Traditionalists- who favour the New Right’s view of the traditional nuclear family.
Removed couples Penalty form Tax Credits
Introduced shared parental leave
Equal Marriage Act
The Conservative government has been mostly concerned with the issue of the UK leaving the European Union, however they have passed some polices relating to the family which return to the New Right focus they had in the 1980/90’s
Reintroduction of the Married Couples Tax allowance
2 Child cap on Child tax
Civil Partnerships for Heterosexual couples
2 child tax credit cap- Conservative Govt 2016+
Civil Partnership Act- New Labour 1997-2010
Equal Marriage Act- Coalition Govt 2010-2016
Married couples tax allowance - Conservatives 2016+
Longer maternity leave- New Labour 1997-2010
Shared Parental Leave - Coalition Govt 2010- 2016
Working Family Tax Credits- New Labour 1997-2010
Illegitimate children given the same rights as those to married couples- Conservatives 1979-1997
Child Support Agency- Conservatives 1979-1997
Parenting Order- New Labour 1997-2010
The main difference is in pre-industrial Britain, childhood and adulthood were not clearly distinguished from each other.
Shorter (1975)
Children had similar responsibilities to adults
Work began at an early age
There were no differences in rights
High infant mortality rates meant that parenting attitudes were different
Differences in childhood over time
Laws & Legistlation (e.g. child labour, child protection, children’s rights, age limits)
Compulsory schooling
Lower infant mortality rates
Increased medical knowledge related to children
The main catalyst for this change was industrialisation.
Postman thinks that childhood is disappearing.
He thinks that the shift from print culture (written words) to television culture has been the cause of change.
Therefore there is no longer an information hierarchy.
Aries believe that children in today’s society:
Are more valued
Are more protected
Are better educated
Are healthier
Have by more rights.
Childhood is the opposite of adulthood
Physical and symbolic separation
Different ‘rights’
Palmer believes that rapid technological and cultural changes have damaged children’s physical, emotional and intellectual development.
This is the result of
intensive marketing to children
parents working long hours
testing in education
1 in 14 children have been physically abused
Physical abuse is 19% of a child abuse cases
Over a third of all police-recorded sexual offences are against children
73% of UK children know another child who is suffering neglect
Found that thousands of children, some as young as 10, are serving as soldiers around the world
Observes that African states have been at the epicentre of using child soldiers
In Northern Uganda as many as 14,000 children have been abducted to serve as soldiers in the Lord's Resistance Army
During the civil war in Sierra Leone in the 1990s, many children were drugged and brainwashed by rebel militias and were forced to kill miam civilians, those who objected were killed
Girls were often used for sexual purposes
Abuse or neglect may stunt physical development of the child’s brain and lead to psychological problems, such as low self- esteem, which can later lead to high-risk behaviours.
Consequences of child abuse
Physical health : increased risk of brain damage, heart attack etc
Psychological : Diminished executive functioning and cognitive skills, attachment and social difficulties,
Behaviour : alcohol and other drug use, future maltreatment
Found that religion had a big impact on childhood experience of Asians
He found that generational conflict between Asian parents and children exists, but it is often resolved through compromise
For example, many Muslim children spent there Saturday mornings learning Qur’ an
Children in developing countries are less likely to have access to education (67.4 million do not attend school)
122 million children 18 and under cannot read and write
⅔ are thought to be girls
Housework is a relatively modern invention. In pre-industrial times, household tasks were not clearly distinguished from more general economic tasks, such as working on the farm, tending to the animals, baking and the various activities of cottage industries
During the Industrial Revolution, men became increasingly identified with the public world of production and wage labour, while women were confined to the private sphere of consumption and the home.
