Family Sociology: Functionalist and Marxist Views

Functionalism Perspective on Family

• Views family as vital to maintaining society's body, analogous to an organ
• George Murdock identified four key functions:
• Sexual: Provides stable relationships for adults
• Reproduction: Creates new society members
• Socialization: Teaches children societal norms for integration
• Economic: Provides for family members' well-being
• Talcott Parsons highlighted:
• Socialization as a core function
• Stabilization of adult personalities involving emotional support to cope with societal pressures

Marxist Perspective on Family

• Family functions primarily benefit the bourgeoisie and economy, disadvantaging the proletariat
• Friedrich Engels: Family facilitates inheritance of wealth, maintaining ruling-class status
• Eli Zaretsky: Family is a cushioning effect, offering comfort to the oppressed and relieving daily frustrations
• Families act as units of consumption, purchasing goods developed by capitalist industries
• Socialization within families transmits dominant ideologies, perpetuating exploitation in future generations

Feminist Perspective on Family

• Emphasizes the harmful effects of family life on women, perpetuating gender inequality
• Liberal Feminists: Sexism is due to families following mainstream culture and norms.
• Possible to push for social change through legal and governmental pressure
• Marxist Feminists: Women's exploitation is central to capitalism, aiding the next generation of workers at minimal cost
• Radical Feminists: Focus on patriarchal society.
• Delphy and Leonard: Family is a patriarchal institution where women do most of the work but men get more benefit

Post-Modernism Perspective on Family

• Anthony Giddens and Ulrich Beck: Individuals have more choices in relationships and family structures
• Characterized by "pure relationships" that last only as long as both partners are satisfied
• Divorce is more common and accepted
• Rise in cohabitation and serial monogamy
• Judith Stacey: Women can shape family arrangements to suit their needs, leading to more single-mother families
• Rise of the divorce extended family, where members of two families have been connected via divorce

Sociology of Personal Life Perspective on Family

• Developed by Smart, this argues that the family is not in decline but is more diverse and complex
• Family remains important in society, though not exclusively the nuclear family structure
• Relationships beyond traditional family ties are significant

Social Policies and Family

• Functionalism: Policies are deemed beneficial as they enhance family functionality
• New Right: Policies undermine self-reliance and foster dependency
• Marxism: Policies legitimize capitalism
• Liberal Feminism: Policies promote gender equality
• Radical Feminism: More comprehensive changes are needed beyond simple policy implementations.
• Conservative Reforms (1979-1997): Influenced by the New Right, aimed to reduce state control
• 1984 Divorce Act: Allowed couples to divorce within one year of marriage giving more personal responsibility

Social Policy: New Labour Government (1997-2010)

• Supported diverse family structures, not just nuclear families:
• 2005 Civil Partnerships allowed
• 1988 Supporting Families document introduced:
• Financial support (child benefit, EMA)
• Advice for parents
• Family-friendly employment laws
• Solutions for truancy/teenage pregnancy

Social Policy: Coalition Government (2010-2015)

• Aims were to reduce family breakdown and increase workforce participation:
• Domestic Violence Disclosure Scheme: Enabled individuals to ask police about a partner's domestic violence record
• 2012 Welfare Reform: A universal credit system with capped benefits, alongside a "bedroom tax" for unused rooms
• 2013: Legalized gay marriage
• 2014: Children and Families Act protected vulnerable children and altered parental leave rules

Additional Important Policies

• 1967: Legalization of the contraceptive pill
• 1975: Employment Protection Act including paid maternity leave
• 1970: Equal Pay Act

Family Diversity

• Can be understood using the acronym CLOGS:
• Cultural: Differences arising from varying norms across cultures
• Life Course: Diversity from life-stage differences related to age, career, marriage, and children
• Organizational: Different family structures
• Generational: Varies depending on the historical period in which people have lived through
• Class: Various views held in different parts of society

Causes For Family Diversity

• Changing patterns: More divorce and cohabitation, less marriage
• Increased use of sperm donors
• Post-modernization: Diversity reflects a more diverse society
• Economic factors: Increased wealth allows more people to live alone.
• Policies: 1969 Divorce Act, 1970 Equal Pay Act, and welfare benefits
• Welfare benefits may have unintended consequences such as leading to an underclass
• Late modernism: Diversity can be forced upon people due to structural changes in society.

Perspectives in Family Diversity

• Parsons (functionalism): Describes functional fit, saying families change functions to suit society
• Murray (New Right): The nuclear family is under threat because of social policies.
• Postmodernists: Diversity is a new norm. People remain in relationships as long as they need to
• Stacey (feminist): Women have more freeedom, family needs to fit their lives
• Chester: Change led to a neo-conventional family, where couples are dual earners

Domestic Division of Labor

• men traditionally have an instrumental role
• women have the expressive role
• Wilmott and Young: Early industrial families have segregated roles, but gender equality becaome part of society after industrial revolution.

Reasons for Roles Changing

• More women are going into work
• Paternity leave
• Feminism
• Technology lessons housework

Domestic Division Of Labor: Changes Being Exaggerated

• More women in time
• More women were in full time work, families more symmetrical women aged 16-64 years employed increased 14% from 1971-2013
• Even in dual career families women were a major responsibility for domestic tasks
• Career women viewed as wives/mother
• Full time working women spend 3 hours a day on housework: man 17 minutes a day according to Rapoport and Rapoport
• Oakley: Found that housewives likened house work to factory work
• Employed similar coping strategies

Consequences Of Inequality

• Impact job prospects high before mother job prospects, then negatively impacted viewed as risk to hire
• Impact of the triple shift on women
• Isolation from society
• Can lead to depression/loneliness

Domestic Violence Perspectives

• Radical feminist: Marriage: Legitimize violence against women
• Husbands draw power who challenges authority
• New right focus only one dysfunctional middle upper class are not dysfunctiontional enough
• Post- modernist: Giddens caused by emotional, intensity, increasing isolation nuclear families
• Marxist feminist Wilkinson= violence is a result of stress caused by social inequalities (capitalism, oppression

Cohabitation Marriage and Divorce

• Impact of family life of career and job prospects
• Before job: High
• Career +Mother: Negative, may have more children etc
• Divorce = More gender equality development of child

Causes of Trends

• Sex-role =Less women married, more divorce
• Seclarization: Less religious influence required
• Changes in norms: Great stigma
• Legal change: Sooner
• Economic cause=Post-material reasons No single family system in society, it is a society
• Still important to develop children not having support system increase likely to turn to crime-Education

Child Bearing

• Total fertility from 1900 to 2012 has decreased in family sides Rate of children being born per woman
• More women: Education, the role Value changes: Women more focused + less stigma if they decide not Economic change: Child is smaller Reduce labor force sourcing left Increase dependency and growth by the family ratio Voluntary: Childs education affects the workforce

Childhood

-Social Construction Separate social status to adult Fiscal immaturity Children have own sections In general psychological required production world

Construction of childhood social

Simple moral frameworks where the adult moral impact the behavior of children Social construction depend on the child Infants -depended not social From -5 onwards dependent with each society

Social Experience

Cultural relativity childhood differ: Culture whygodsky No single universal adulthood not natural it shoulder distingished from biology

Historical Relativity

• Experience childhood change after aging time
• Ares is in 12 times Children did not exist
• Work were able
• World War one

The March

• Progress view child better
• Work:25 or school 3 or older Central to society More money parents Bonds batter & Quality life

Demographic conflict

• child progress incorrect

• societies based Intra child-nationality= 1.9 cents low birth rate
• Developing countries Hillman focused on Gender +Boys-girls= treated differently

Ethnicity of family

Asian More strict

• Woodroffe children manual-un skilled workers
• 3 timers hyper and children

Child liberation from adult control

• neglect & Abusive Taking place

• where to take & Can't
• Left spaces time
• Control is physical future in which have the: post man-child
• narrowing- adults commit crimes that are similar

Childhood mass literacy

• more because children are more capable +toxic + childhood (palm)

Unruly-children

+Commercial and advertising +Constant school needs 18=Less dependence the client children need to be independent =Reduce the communication of the attention span

• increase education and anxiety and stress

In Summary: Childhood

• Universal
• Focus children from all
• Agency creation is ignored
• Interviews more common
• Birth rate= people having/not, having children +birth rate impact small work force Rate fertility: Re-deceasing = for a few to a lot
• Smaller family rate=Decreasing. Good Health decrease good and longer life +Increased people rate = mortality: Decrease health less small chance dependency- Long term decrease expectancy= better Health and good health Extended Large dependency