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  7. Unit 1 SCLY1 - Culture and Identity; Families and Households; Wealth, Poverty and Welfare (7192)

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Summary AQA A-Level Sociology Families and Households (Paper 2)

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These notes explore Families and Households, which is one of the topics that appears in AQA A Level Sociology Paper 2 (worth 40 marks: 50% of Paper 2). They have been structured with the help of the actual exam specification provided by AQA, ensuring that everything has been covered. Other topics a...

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  • May 15, 2019
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  • 2017/2018
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Families and Households

Family - Two generations of two or more people who are related through blood, marriage or adoption in
the same household (e.g. nuclear family, extended family, lone-parent family, reconstituted (step) family
and same sex family).
Household - A person living alone or two or more people who share a domestic living space, who may or
may not be related to one another (e.g. single person, married/cohabiting couple, friends, professionals,
students and elderly care homes).

The relationship of the family to the social structure and social change:

Different sociological views:

Functionalist view - Suggests that the family functions for the good of society and the individuals.
Functionalists want to explore the family because it is an indispensable institution, which performs
essential functions.
George Murdock - Believes the nuclear family is universal - it exists in every society, and it performs 4
functions (REPS):
1. Reproduction (of a new generation).
2. Economic (warmth, shelter and food for members to enable survival).
3. Primary socialisation (to ensure a value consensus in society).
4. Sexual regulation (allowing adults to express sexual behaviour in a socially acceptable way).
Talcott Parsons - Believes the family has lost many of its functions in a modern, advanced and industrial
society. This is because of structural differentiation - institutions have become specialised in the
functions they perform (e.g. teaching lost to schools, entertainment lost to the media, healthcare lost to
hospitals etc.). However, there are 2 essential functions left:
1. Primary socialisation - the family teaches society's norms and values to their offspring to ensure
a value consensus in society.
2. Stabilisation of adult personalities (SOAP) - a modern, work-centred society means stress and
pressure for adults - mainly men. The family's sexual division of labour means that the female
can provide a relaxing haven where personalities can be re-stabilised.
Sexual division of labour in the family:
 Instrumental leader - men naturally take on this role as the breadwinner.
 Expressive leader - women naturally take on this role, providing a 'warm bath' effect - a relaxing,
comforting experience for the instrumental leader that counteracts the stresses of the
workplace.
Ronald Fletcher - Believes the family has actually gained functions as society is modern, advanced and
industrial:
 Healthcare - managing children's diet and exercise, diagnosing illnesses, referring to doctors etc.
 Education - attending parents evenings, helping with homework, paying for school trips and
other resources etc.
 Economic - being a unit of consumption to support the economy, as opposed to self-sufficiency.
Positives of Functionalist view of the family:
 Gives us a clear understanding of family roles.
 Shows us how important the family is to society, with its positive functions.

,  Shows us how the family adapts to meet the needs of society.
Criticisms of Functionalist view of the family:
 Outdated - written in the 1950s, with the nuclear family losing its dominance.
 Sexist, stereotypical views of the roles of males and females are offered, with women now
having entered the labour market.
 Far too 'rose-tinted' and positive - there is a 'dark side' to the family.

Critical view - This refers to the 'dark side' of the family, used to criticise the functionalist's overly
positive, rose-tinted view of the family. This includes:
 Ill health: mental/physical health, disability and suicide.
 Domestic abuse (1 in 4 women and 1 in 6 men experience this in their lifetime - probably more
cases than this because men are less likely to report it, 1 in 8 women every year, 7 women and 2
men killed by their current of former partner every month in England and Wales).
 Neglect and child abuse (1 in 14 children aged 11-17 have experienced physical abuse by their
parents/guardians, 1 in 20 children under 11 have been neglected, 1 in 30 children under 11
have been severely neglected, average of 1 baby killed every 2 weeks in the UK).
 Debt, poverty and unemployment (1 in 4 children living in poverty in the UK).
 Drug/alcohol abuse.
 Family conflict.
 Crime/imprisonment.
 Effects of parental separation and divorce.
R.D. Laing - Takes an anti-psychiatry approach in thinking that the close-knit, nuclear family of modern
society is schizophrenogenic (schizophrenia-producing).
 The family is riddled with anxieties, emotional tensions and conflict, which is destructive to
individuals.
 The schizophrenic patient does not need ECT, but therapy.
 Laing's work led to family therapy.
Edmund Leach - Argues that the family 'huddles in misery behind closed doors', and is critical of the
nuclear, lone-parent and reconstituted family types, which are too isolated from the outside world.
 These families hold their issues without seeking help.
 The stresses and conflicts within the family are destructive to individual mental health.

Feminist view - Suggests that the family perpetuates patriarchy.
Liberal feminists:
 Cause of oppression - gender socialisation and learning how to be masculine or feminine (e.g.
differing toys, language, expectations etc.).
 Maintenance of oppression - sexist prejudices and stereotypes.
 How oppression can be ended - legal/political/social reform and equality in gender socialisation.
Ann Oakley - Blames gender socialisation for the oppression of females and argues that gender
inequality begins in the home, at a very early age.
Positives of Liberal Feminist view of the family:
 Most realistic, looking for long-term, gradual reform.
 Relevant in terms of the cause of oppression.
Criticisms of Liberal Feminist view of the family:
 Legal change and gender-free socialisation is not effective on its own - social change is needed
too i.e. a change in attitudes.

,Marxist feminists:
 Cause of oppression - capitalism.
 Maintenance of oppression - in the family (acting as a cushion for the economy) and in the
workplace (the 'glass ceiling' effect).
 How oppression can be ended - abolish capitalism and the introduction of workplace laws.
Fran Ansley - Believes that women are the 'takers of shit', who act as a cushion to the economy, soaking
up the frustrations their husbands feel in the capitalist workforce. They provide the 'warm bath' effect
to allow their husbands to return to work refreshed and soothed.
Michelle Barrett - Argues that familism (the idea that marriage and having children is how women will
be truly fulfilled) is a capitalist ideology that oppresses women and should be overthrown by capitalism.
Positives of Marxist Feminist view of the family:
 Relevant as women are expected to be housewives in capitalist societies and do experience the
'glass ceiling'.
Criticisms of Marxist Feminist view of the family:
 Too revolutionary.

Radical feminists:
 Cause of oppression - patriarchy (male dominance) and women's own biology.
 Maintenance of oppression - heterosexuality, pregnancy and childbirth/rearing, with an
expectation of women as the primary caregiver.
 How oppression can be ended - baby strikes, artificial human reproduction technology,
separatism (living apart from men) and political lesbianism (form of non-oppressive sexuality).
Laura Purdy - Believes that women should go on a baby strike until they gain true equality, as men will
then take notice of their subordination, meaning true equality can be gained.
Shulamith Firestone - Advocates the end of oppression for women (through the ways listed above).
Further suggests that pregnancy is 'barbaric', writing that one of her friends compared it to 'shitting a
pumpkin'.
Positives of Radical Feminist view of the family:
 Shows just how far society needs to change in order to gain true equality.
Criticisms of Radical Feminist view of the family:
 Aiming for matriarchy rather than equality.
 See men as the enemy to women.
 Takes rights and choices away.
 Too revolutionary and unrealistic.

Marxist view - Suggests that the family is used to perpetuate capitalism. They see the family as part of
the superstructure, which is how it supports the bourgeoisie.
Development of capitalist society and how the family supported it:
 Hunting and gathering society - this is the earliest type society. There was no family type as
such, and no private property. Society was matriarchal as women had sexual power and were
promiscuous.
 Pre-industrial society - individuals began to settle and become self-sufficient, with crops and
animal rearing. Trade began with other settlements and the extended family emerged. Older
people had power and status, and there was no gender inequality as everybody had equal roles.
 Industrial capitalist society - in the 1750s, mass production began and men took ownership of
factories. Patriarchy began and the economic system of capitalism emerged. There was private

, ownership and property to pass on, so men needed to control the sexual activity of women in
order to identify their offspring. The state passed laws on marriage. Ultimately, inheritance,
primogeniture (inheritance from father to eldest son) and social class reproduction could now
occur.
Friedrich Engels - Believes that the monogamous (faithful) nuclear family is essential for an industrial
society and inheritance, so that economic wealth can be maintained from generation to generation
(social class reproduction).
Louis Althuser - Believes that the family has an ideological function, passing down messages in order to
maintain bourgeoisie power and keep the workers subordinate as an Ideological State Apparatus - the
family controls people's minds by the way it passes on certain ideas. This ensures obedience to authority
and makes people see the apparent value of hard work.
Eli Zaretsky - Believes that the family has an ideological function, providing an apparent safe haven to
strengthen the false class consciousness - an unawareness of the level of exploitation.
 This is good for the individual as it gives them a private life, making life bearable, whilst
strengthening the false class consciousness.
 This is good for capitalism because individuals are better contributors to the economy and so
won't challenge it and revolt.
Other important functions:
 Reproduction of the next generation of workers.
 Being a unit of consumption to support the economy.
Positives of Marxist view of the family:
 Still relevant today because the nuclear family remains the norm (although it is losing its
significance), the economic system of capitalism still exists and the family supports it though
socialisation into capitalist values through inheritance of wealth from generation to generation.
Criticisms of Marxist view of the family:
 Marxists have a very negative view of the family and ignore the importance of it for society and
individuals, according to the Functionalist view of the family.
 Marxists focus on social class inequality too much and ignore gender inequalities, according the
Feminist view of the family.
 Social mobility is more likely today through improved equality opportunities, so the theory is
less applicable, according the Postmodernist view of the family.
Functionalist and Marxist views of the family comparison:
Similarities Differences
Both maintain that the nuclear family is the Functionalists hold a very positive view of the
norm. family, whereas Marxists are much more critical.
Both say the family is important in terms of the Functionalism is a consensus theory, whereas
functions it has, as structural theories. Marxism is a conflict theory.
Both are quite dated in the sense that they look Functionalism sees the family as functioning for
at the family in a modern society - not a the good of society and individuals, whereas
postmodern one. Marxism sees the family for functioning for the
needs of the capitalists.

The Functionalist, Feminist and Marxist views of the family have 2 main weaknesses:
1. Ignore family diversity - tend to assume that the traditional nuclear family is the dominant
family type - this view is too rigid.

, 2. All structural theories - assume that families are shaped by society to perform certain functions
and roles - these theories ignore the fact that we have some choice in creating our family
relationships.
The Personal Life Perspective - This is the view adopted by sociologists from the interactionist and
postmodernist perspectives. They argue that we must recognise that individuals give different meanings
to their relationships in order to understand the family.
 Criticises structural theories for being too rigid in their perspective of what counts as a family.
 These theories see families being shaped to fulfil important roles for society, focusing on the
importance of the nuclear family, ignoring family diversity.
However, this perspective looks at relationships with wider meanings, that illustrate the idea that people
create their own 'family' relationship:
 Friends (e.g. like a brother or sister to them).
 Fictive kin (e.g. close friends treated as relatives, like a mum's friend who is called 'auntie').
 Dead relatives (e.g. people who live on through memories and who continue to shape their
identities).
 Relationships with pets - Becky Tipper found in a study of children's views of family relationships
that children saw pets as part of the family.
Nordqvist and Smart - Studied the effects on relationships for donor-conceived children and found that
relatedness is not always important or positive to the people involved in forming family bonds.
Positives of The Personal Life Perspective of the family:
 Helps us understand how people construct and define their relationships as 'family' rather than
always experiencing traditional expectations of the family (based on blood, genes and marriage).
Criticisms of The Personal Life Perspective of the family:
 Too broad a view - wide range of different kinds of personal relationships ignores what is special
about relationships based on blood or marriage. This makes it hard to define what a family is.

The impact of government legislation (social policy and the family):

Social policy - A way that the government deal with a social issue/problem. The government in power
will manipulate the issue according to their values.

The political spectrum - Line which ranges from 'left wing' ideologies to 'right wing' ideologies.
Left wing Right wing
Traditionally supportive of the working class. Traditionally supportive of the middle class.
Support and value the welfare state. Shrink the welfare state and value the 'big
society'.
Increase taxation (ideally for the rich). Cut taxation.
Liberal views: modern and progressive. Conservative views: traditional and self-reliant.

Political views on the family -:
1. Left wing - focus on supporting all family types through choice.
2. Right wing - focus on trying to strengthen the nuclear family.
Cross-cultural evidence shows the very real consequences that social policy can have on family life. For
example, China's one-child policy was introduced because population control was needed after it
exploded in the 20th century, which led to the prevention of 400 million births.

Sociological viewpoints on social policy:

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