A-Level Sociology: Family, Childhood, and Gender Roles Flashcards

Types of Family and Social Structures

Nuclear Family: Consists of a mother, a father, and their biological or adopted child(ren).
Extended Family: Divided into two forms: - Vertical Extended: Includes three or more generations (e.g., grandparents, parents, and children). - Horizontal Extended: Includes relatives from the same generation, such as aunts, uncles, and cousins.
Classic Extended Family: Extended family members who live together in the same household or in very close proximity to each other.
Modified Extended Family: Extended families that live far apart geographically but maintain regular contact through visits or technology.
Beanpole Family: A specific type of extended family that is thin and long, spanning four generations.
Patriarchal Family: A family structure where the man is the head of the household.
Matriarchal Family: A family structure where the woman is the head of the household.
Symmetrical Family: A family characterized by shared and equal conjugal roles between partners.
Reconstituted Family: Formed when one or both parents have been previously married and come together to form a new unit, often including children from previous relationships.
Lone Parent Family: A single parent living with dependent child(ren).
Monogamy: The practice of having only one partner at a time.
Serial Monogamy: A pattern of having only one partner at a time, but engaging in a series of such relationships over time.
Arranged Marriage: Marriages organized by parents or third parties with the consent of the individuals involved.
Polygamy: The practice of having more than one partner simultaneously. - Polygyny: A man having more than one wife at the same time. - Polyandry: A woman having more than one husband at the same time.
Kinship: Refers to individuals related through biology or marriage.
Household: A group of people living together who are not necessarily related (e.g., friends or roommates).
Communal Living: A group of mainly unrelated people living together and performing familial tasks (e.g., the Jewish kibbutzim, located in isolated areas with shared spaces and resources).
Societal Outliers (The Ik Tribe): Studied by Turnbull ( $1960$ s) in Uganda. Due to extremely harsh conditions, this hunter-gatherer group did not place emotional value on family, viewing children and the elderly as burdens and often kicking them out.

Functionalist Perspectives on the Family

The Role of the Family: Functionalists view the family as a foundational building block of stable societies, with the nuclear family being the ideal for industrial societies.
Murdock ( $1949$ ): Analyzed data from $250$ societies and concluded the family is universal, characterized by: - 1. Common residence/living together.\n - 2. Economic cooperation and reproduction. - 3. Adults of both sexes maintaining a socially approved relationship (husband and wife).\n - 4. One or more children (biological or adopted).
Alternative Definitions: Giddens ( $2006$ ) argued Murdock's definition was too narrow (excluding single parents) and defined families as people linked by kin connections where adults take responsibility for childcare.
Murdock's Prerequisites of the Family: - Sexual control and stability through exclusivity. - Reproduction. - Socialization of children. - Economic provision and the division of labour.
Parsons ( $1956$ ): Identified two irreplaceable functions of the nuclear family: - Primary Socialization: Teaching children the norms and values of society. - Stabilization of Adult Personalities: Maintaining emotional stability for adults (the "Warm Bath Theory" suggests the family acts as a relaxant and support system for the father after work).
Pre-Industrial Multifunctionalism: According to Parsons, pre-industrial families were multifunctional, handling: - Basic needs (food and shelter). - Education of children in family skills. - Healthcare for the sick and elderly. - Welfare for the disabled. - Justice and avenging crimes.
Division of Labour: Functionalists believe gender roles are biological/natural; women are suited to being homemakers (expressive role) and men as breadwinners (instrumental role).
Fletcher ( $1973$ ): Distinguished between core functions (reproduction, socialization) and peripheral functions (healthcare, education) that have been taken over by external institutions during industrialization.

Neo-Functionalism and the "Fit Thesis"

Neo-Functionalism (Horwitz, $2005$ ): Focuses on the family as a bridge between the micro world (individuals) and the macro world (society). Family is the best site for learning because: - Rules are enforced by people with emotional bonds. - Emotional closeness encourages cooperative behavior. - Children subconsciously mimic adult behavior.
Loss of Functions Debate / Fit Thesis (Parsons): Argues that family structures change to meet the needs of society. Pre-industrial families were large, multifunctional, and kinship-based because they were labour-intensive and lacked a welfare system.
Industrialization Effects: Urbanization and industrialization fractured the large family. The nuclear family became the "fit" because it is geographically mobile, socially mobile, and dependent on consumerism, making the extended family obsolete.
Arguments against Parsons: - Finch ( $1989$ ): Questioned the evidence for the pre-industrial family types Parsons described. - Anderson ( $1995$ ): Argued that extended families actually grew during urbanization because of a lack of government assistance, high death rates (orphans), and the need for pooled income and shared childcare.

Evaluation of Functionalism

Lack of Diversity: Idealistic, heteronormative, and ignores various family forms.
Ethnocentricism: Based on Western experiences; extended families remain dominant in many non-Western cultures and among Western people of colour.
Neglect of Agency: Assumes children are passive vessels for socialization; ignores that children can rebel or socialized their parents.
Cause and Effect: Nuclear families may have emerged before industrialization, suggesting the "fit thesis" is backwards.
Work-Family Separation: In places like Japan, the workplace functions like a family with shared moral obligations.
Dark Side of the Family: Cheal ( $2002$ ) notes the family can be a breeding ground for domestic violence and murder, which functionalists ignore.
Feminist Critique: Cordelia Fine argues that gender roles are not biological but part of a patriarchal ideology.

Marxist Accounts of the Family

Conflict Structuralism: Marxists believe the family structure benefits the bourgeoisie (ruling class) while harming the proletariat (working class) by supporting capitalist ideology.
Engels ( $1800$ s): Proposed that before capitalism, humans lived in "primitive communism" or promiscuous hordes with no private property. Monogamy emerged solely to ensure the inheritance of private property by legitimate heirs, allowing the upper class to protect its wealth.
Zaretsky ( $1976$ ): Argues the family socializes children to defer to authority, benefiting the bourgeoisie. He claims the family acts as a "ball and chain" for workers; they cannot strike or protest easily because they must support dependents (spouse/children).
Unit of Consumption: The family creates demand for goods via: - False Needs: Commercial wants marketed as necessities. - Keeping up with the Joneses: Peer pressure to consume material goods like cars and holidays. - Pester Power: Media targeting children who then incessantly persuade parents to buy items.
Neo-Marxism (Bourdieu, $1986$ ): Developed the concept of three types of capital passed through families: - Cultural Capital: Knowledge and attitudes that give children a head-start in education. - Social Capital: Social networks and favors (quid pro quo) within the upper class. - Symbolic Capital: Developed traits like authority and charisma.
Evaluation of Marxism: - Overly deterministic; ignores critical thinking/resistance in the population. - Labels the family as solely negative, ignoring it as a place of comfort. - Feminists argue it ignores the intersection of race, culture, and gender. - Dated views on gender, as laws like the Sex Discrimination Act have changed workplace and household dynamics.

Feminist Perspectives

Liberal Feminists: Focus on legal and social reforms (e.g., Equal Pay Act, Sex Discrimination Act). They advocate for individual changes like men doing more housework.
Radical Feminists: View the nuclear family as a tool of the patriarchy that exploits women's unpaid physical and emotional labour. Solutions include: - Establishing matriarchal societies. - Baby Strike: (Purdy, $1997$ ) Refusing to give birth to retain leverage. - Reproduction through artificial means to exclude men.
Marxist Feminists: Argue women face a dual burden or triple shift (paid work, housework, and emotional labour). They believe women act as a "safety valve" for male frustration caused by capitalism, often leading to domestic violence (Ansley, $1972$ ).
Black Feminists: Argue that African American women face specific intersectional exploitation (race + gender). They often see the family as a safe haven from external racism.
Difference Feminists: Emphasize that women's experiences of the family differ based on class, ethnicity, and sexuality.

Marriage and Divorce Patterns

Marital Trends: Marriage rates have declined (halved in the UK by $2015$ from $480,000$ in $50$ years). The average age of marriage is rising. Marriage is increasingly becoming a middle-class institution as weddings are expensive.
Murdock's Global Research: Studied $1231$ societies; only $186$ practiced legal monogamy, over $1000$ practiced polygyny, and around $80$ practiced polyandry.
Marital Diversity: - Polyandry: Often found in poorer societies; can be fraternal (one woman married to brothers) or sequential (marriage for impregnation only). - Same-Sex Marriage: Legal in approximately $34$ countries as of $2023$ , but punishable by death in others.
Divorce and Separation: - Separation: Living apart without legal divorce. - Empty Shell Marriage: Living together without an active relationship, often for financial reasons. - Causes of Divorce: Lack of romantic/confluent love, secularization, reduced stigma, and abuse.

The Social Construction of Childhood

Aries: Argued childhood is a social construction. In pre-industrial societies, children were treated as "mini-adults" and judged by physical ability rather than chronological age. He used medieval paintings as evidence, noting that children were depicted as reduced versions of adults.
Critique of Aries: - Pollock: Paintings represent wealthy elites and is not typical of wider society. - Wilson: Aries is ethnocentric and applies modern standards to the past.
Industrialization and Childhood: Initially, working-class children worked in factories. Social attitudes shifted in the middle of the $19^{\text{th}}$ century, leading to: - Factory Acts: Restricting child labour hours. - Compulsory Education: Established in Europe and the USA. - Child-centeredness: Children moved from being economic assets to economic liabilities (high costs to parents).
Contemporary Childhood perspectives: - Postman: Argues childhood is disappearing due to "social blurring," where children and adults consume the same media (e.g., Netflix). - Phillips: Believes parenting is undermined by state policies and the media. - Brooks: Parents are now obsessed with safety ("Stranger Danger" and CCTV). - Age Patriarchy: Adults control children's space (road safety), time (routines), behavior, and bodies (how to sit/walk).

Life Expectancy and Aging

Life Expectancy: Women generally live longer than men. Increased life expectancy has led to more beanpole families ( $4$ generations).
Grandparents: Provide childcare that reduces costs for parents and offer emotional support to grandchildren.
Sandwich Carers: (Healey and Yarrow, $1997$ ) Women are often "sandwiched" between caring for their own children and their aging parents.
Cultural Differences: In many non-Western cultures, the elderly are given high respect (filial piety) and often act as the head of the household with final say on financial decisions.
Jessel et al. ( $2011$ ): Found mutualistic relationships in Bangladeshi families where grandparents teach culture/language and children teach technology.

Parental Roles and Changes

Motherhood: Seen as a constant sacrifice. Wilkinson ( $1994$ ) argues a "genderquake" means women no longer prioritize family over careers.
Fatherhood: Miller ( $2010$ ) argues the role is less strict; men are often absentee or emotionally unavailable without repercussion. However, Beck ( $1992$ ) notes that in contemporary society, men are becoming more dependent on children for sense of identity as jobs become less secure.
Conjugal Roles: Willmott and Young ( $1970$ s) observed a blurring of roles in the UK, with mothers taking on a dual burden of jobs and housework.

Questions & Discussion

Question: Describe two social policies that restrict the behavior of children.
Response: - 1. Age-restricted laws for behaviors/activities (e.g., minimum age for working, voting, drinking alcohol, driving).\n - 2. Compulsory education laws that mandate school attendance. - $$3. Requirement for parental permission for medical treatment, choice of school, or travel abroad.
Question: Evaluate the view that gender is the most important factor affecting the experiences of children in the family.
Argument For: Gendered primary socialization (Oakley) via canalization, manipulation, and exposure to different gender-stereotyped toys and activities.
Argument Against: Social class may be more significant. Lareau notes "concerted cultivation" in middle-class families vs. "natural growth" in working-class families. Ethnicity also plays a role; Strand found Indian and Chinese parents have high expectations regardless of gender.