Sociology Year 10 Families Revision PDF

Families revision Changing family relationships in the home Sociological approaches towards the family 1. Conjugal Roles (domestic roles of married couples) Functionalist – they believe the nuclear family is a key institution i...

Families revision Changing family relationships in the home Sociological approaches towards the family 1. Conjugal Roles (domestic roles of married couples) Functionalist – they believe the nuclear family is a key institution in society 2. Division of Labour (who does what within the home) as it performs a number of essential functions. For example, reproduction, Conjugal Roles and Division of Labour primary socialisation, emotional support and economic provision. During the early part of the 20th Century conjugal roles were segregated. New Right –the nuclear family is the best family type as children are more This means they were separate and unequal. Generally married women likely to develop into stable adults if they are brought up by both parents were responsible for the housework and childcare and married men were who are married to each other. They also believe that women should be the main breadwinner (wage earner.) the carers and men should be the breadwinners. Joint conjugal roles means that the husband and wife do not have a rigid Marxist – believes that society is formed of two conflicting classes. The division of household tasks and share many tasks. The husband and wife nuclear family enable social inequalities to continue from one generation spend much of their leisure time together. to the next. For example, the rich are able to pass on huge amounts of Parsons linked sex roles to the functions of the family. In the nuclear money and property to their family members. family, the man takes the more instrumental role in the world of paid work Feminist – are critical of the family as an institution and its role in society. (the breadwinner). The woman takes the more expressive role as They see families as having a negative impact on the lives of women. housewife and mother. Feminists argue that families are patriarchal, which means that they are The Symmetrical Family - Young and Willmott in 1973 identified a new based on male power and dominance over women. family type which they argued would become increasingly common. They Rapoport and Rapoport – Pioneers in researching family diversity. 5 types: called this the symmetrical family. In this family type the husband and wife 1. Organisational – structure of families 2. Cultural – cultural/ religious both help with the domestic tasks, financial decisions are made together differences 3. Social class – class differences 4. Cohort – historical and relationships are more caring. However, Young and Willmott did not differences 5. Life course – differences in life cycle of the family. say that husband and wife carry out the same tasks, women still took the Is marriage still important? main responsibility for housework and men spent an equivalent amount of The decline in the number of marriages – the number of marriages in the time on tasks such as DIY. The developed the idea of the principle of UK peaked in 1972 at 480,00 whereas in 2011 there were just 286,000. stratified diffusion where changes start at the top of the social class system People are getting married later – compared with the 1970’s, people are and work downwards. Gatrell (2008) agrees that fathers play a greater role now getting married later. in the lives of their children than they did in the past. However, Ann Oakley Civil partnerships and same-sex marriages – In 2004 the Civil Partnership (1974) found in her research found little evidence husbands helping with Act became law and same sex couples could have their relationships legally the domestic chores. recognised. The same-sex Marriage Act was introduced in 2014, which has Conventional family – Oakley – Nuclear families with not too many made the number of civil partnerships drop from 6,276 to 1,683. children and family members have different roles based on their age, Increase in cohabitation – the proportion of cohabiting couples has occupation and gender. In Oakley’s view, people expect the conventional doubled over the last 20 years. family to bring them happiness but in fact it may cause strain for the man Increase in births outside of marriage – since the 1970’s births outside of (due to being the breadwinner) and the woman (due to dissatisfaction with marriage has become commonplace, rising to 44% of all births in 2006. housework). However, it is a powerful idea in society. Much of the increase is the result of cohabiting partners.