Grittins – Argues that there is an ‘age patriarchy’ where children are oppressed in patriarchal society as they are more often than not abused by violent husbands.
Lee – Argues that we live in an ‘age of uncertainty’ where everything is undergoing change and is therefore unstable.
Postman – Argues that childhood is disappearing, media helps break down the barriers between adult world and children’s world. Also argues that the definitions of ‘child’ and ‘adult’ would soon need to be changed.
Marrow – Argued that children are constructive and reflective contributors to family life.
Hillman – Argued that Asian families are usually more stricter with their daughters
Brannen – Argued that boys generally get granted more freedom from their parents
Child liberationists – Argue that society oppresses children by using ‘enforced dependency’ to ensure they are ‘protected’ from paid employment making them reliant on the parent
Families and Households – Function of the Family
Functionalist – Argue the role of the family is to perform stabilisation and socialisation effectively.
Feminists – Feminists argue the role of the family is to oppress women
New right – Argue the main role of the family is to keep hold of traditional values and roles
Marxists – Argue the role of the nuclear family is to maintain the position of the ruling class.
Murdock
- Studied 250 societies and found that the convention of family was present in all societies he went
- Argued that the family has four basic functions; sexual, economic, educational and reproductive
Tallcott Parsons
- Came up with the ‘warm bath theory’.
- Argued that the family has two basic and irreducible functions; socialisation and stabilisation
Engels – Argues the family has an economic of keeping wealth within the bourgeoisie by passing it down from generation to generation
Zaretsky – Argued that family is the only place in society where the working class can have full power and control, i.e. when the husband get home from work he is the ‘king of his own home’.
Charles Murray – Argues that welfare benefits too high, resulting in a ‘culture of dependency’ because of this individuals find it acceptable to take benefits rather than work.
Fletcher – Criticises structural differentiation as he argues that the family has retained its functions which have become increased in detail and importance, goes on to say hospitals and schools have improved but have not taken the functions away from the family.
Ansely – Criticises the warm bath theory negatively, she states that it helps maintain capitalism by soaking up the anger of workers so they take it out on their wives, women are a ‘reserve army of labour and are the ‘takers of shit’.
Freeley – Argues the family is an ideological controlling device where the wife is taught to accept her subordinate position in society. Women are taught to accept the authority of their husband
Delphy & Leonard – Studied w/c areas and found that work women do in family are the main cause of their oppression. Argued women kept their husband ‘sweet’ because they depended on them financially
Greer – Argued that marriage is set up to please men called this the ‘con of marriage’ & the role of the mother is the most undervalued job in society.
Somerville – Argues that radical feminists fail to acknowledge the changes and progress made over the years i.e. sex discrimination act, divorce reform act etc.
Families and Households – State Policy
The welfare state – Was set up by the Labour party in 1948 to support families’ through benefits, public housing, health care and family allowances.
Conservative party (1979) - Argued the government had become a ‘nanny state’ where the state has too much control over individuals’ lives – believe society should be free for state interference.
Means Testing – Benefits are given to those whose income is below a specifics figure
Margret Thatcher – Describe the nuclear family as being the ‘building block of society’
Labour Party – They were less ideological but prefer the nuclear family – introduced civil partnerships and invented laws that have helped cohabiting couples to adopt.
Marxists – Marxists argue that state policies are designed to protect capitalism. Reducing benefits to poor people only makes them pooper. The state uses laws to reinforce traditional gender roles.
Functionalists - Functionalists see the law as reflecting the value consensus and representing the interests of society as a whole.
Feminists – Argue state policy is designed to protect patriarchy. The state encourages women to stay at home and look after the family by distributing carers allowance to those who do this they use women as a ‘reserve army of labour’.
Equal Pay act – ensures women have equal pay as men – new right argue policies like these take women away from their traditional roles leading to children becoming ‘maternally derived’
Divorce reform act (1971) – Gave more grounds for divorce thus making it easier for women to divorce their husband
Tax & Welfare policies – Have always favoured married couples
Child Benefits – state is reluctant and discourages the women to go back to work until the child is 3
New deal (1998) – Labour encouraged single mothers to go back into paid employment
Conservative (1991) – Enforced a law that states marital rape is illegal.
Abbott & Wallace – Argue that pre industrial society secured capitalism and patriarchy
Child Support act (1991) – Ensures children are protected from incapable parents
Children’s act (1989) – Ensures the child is financially supported by parents even if are not present
School leaving age – The school leaving age will increase again from 16 yrs to 18yrs
Children act (2004) – Ensured that no child under the age of 16 can be employed; it will lead to a criminal conviction.
Families and Households – Division of Labour
Wilmot & Young
- Argued that increase of nuclear family = joint conjugal roles would develop
- Carried out a study on house work and found that 72% of men helped out around the house
Anne Oakley – Criticised W & Y as the study only required men to do 1 household chore a week and time was overlooked i.e. masking the bed.
Edgell
- Tested the theory of W & J and found that no families he studied had joint conjugal roles however he found increased share in childcare.
- Interviewed middle class couples and found men had more control over decision making – i.e. women’s decisions = frequent & unimportant men’s decisions = infrequent &important.
Pahl - Researched on money management and found most common example was husband controlled pooling this was where money was shared but men had control over what it was spent on.
Functionalists – Roles in the family should be segregated as it ensures the smooth running of society
Marxists – Men and women have unequal roles because capitalism works best that way. It promotes the mother as being the natural role of the women in society. Role is maintained through media.
Feminists – Patriarchal society will produce unequal conjugal roles because society benefits men
Anne Oakley – ‘Dual burden’ in the family taking on paid employment & traditional roles.
Duncombe and Marsden – Women have ‘triple shift’ of childcare, work and housework-
Boulton – Men so certain things when helping out with children but they avoid nappy changing
Dunne – Studied lesbian couples and found 81% of household neither partner did more than 60%
Charles – Some women desired their traditional roles as mothers and accepted their subordinate position in society.
Allan & Crow – Women get satisfaction form self sacrifice and they put their husband’s needs firsts.
Criticism of A & C – Self sacrifice can be seen as an indication of male power and dominance in society
Week et al – It’s easier to have a relationship with same sex as they offer more support for each other
Wilmot and Young – Came up with the terms ‘joint conjugal roles’ segregated conjugal roles’ and ‘symmetrical family
Families and Households – Industrialisation
Industrialisation – Shift between agriculture to factory production
Urbanisation – Shift from country side to towns and cities
Geographical Mobility – This is where after industrial revolution families started moving around.
Anne Oakley – Cottage industry
Parsons – Attempted to trace development of pre industrial society found extended family benefited from free labour
Zaretsky
- Development of factories destroyed the family as a unit of production. Family life and work were separated under capitalism.
- There was a sense of belonging, purpose & control when family was extended.
Wilmot & Young
- Movement towards nuclear family was not as sudden as Parsons suggested.
- Studied an area in Bethnal Green and found that many working classes still depended on their relatives for social and financial support thus creating extended kinship networks.
Anderson – Studied the textiles industry in Preston and found that extended family became more common during industrialisation as the w/c needed as many members working as possible
Laslett – Studied parish records and found that 10% of families were extended before industrialisation because of health care sanitation people usually never lived as long as they do now so grandparents probably died.
Fletcher – Family has retained its functions they have just become more increased in detail and importance and institutions have not take over the role of the family.
by
fosia1234 (student)
