Families and Households

Theories Functionalist Marxist Feminist New Right Personal life perspective

(Murdock) Reproductive, Economic, (Engels) Inheritance of wealth Rad: (Greer) Political lesbianism, male enemy (Murray) Dependency Culture, Anti Structural, Anti ‘assumption’.
Educational and Sexual = 4 functions (Zaretsky) Haven Lib: March of progress e.g. Abortion act inadequate socialisation + underclass Individual family forms with: friends, fictive
(Parsons) functional fit, 2 irreducible (Marx) Unit of production/consumption Marx: (Ansley) takers of shit, reserve labour, kin, lgbt chosen families, dead relatives, pets
functions: primary socialisation + warm (Althusser) socialisation into subordination reproduce workforce, unpaid domestic work Also believe in gender roles (Smart) Donor conceived kids: genetic ties or
bath Diff: Haven from Racism social ties stronger?
Couples Division of labour Equality Decision making + Money managment Domestic Violence
(Parsons) instrumental and expressive (Oakley) Dual Burden (Gershuny) Working Women do less housework 1. (Edgell) both/men = V. important, men= Inevitable in patriarchal society
(Bott) joint & segregated conjugal roles BSAS: 1984= 50%, 2012= 10% believe in sex roles, important, women= trivial. Due to gender roles, (Dobash+Dobash) Marriage legitimates violence, husband
(Young+Willmott) symmetrical family yet women do 2x housework, only 4% of Men lead childcare= male authority and male financial capital lashes out at challenges to his authority (Ansley) Takers of shit
(Oakley) Men over estimate their role, Background fathers 2. Allowance patriarchal, pooling co-dependance 7.5% women, 5% men each year (Hindin) women’s more severe
20% take a major role in childcare (Allan) Women’s tasks are less intrinsically satisfying but men may pay in more so control pool Not equal risk: low income, disabled, drug dependant, young
(Duncombe+Marsden) Triple Shift M have uninterrupted leisure time, W multitask & juggle childcare (Barret+Macintosh) strings attached to male Official Stats: prove widespread problem, but Dark figure as:
Sex typing of domestic chores Cultural: Generation effect, (Dunne) Lesbians lack gender scripts finance, gain more than give back continuous abuse hard to measure, average 35 incidents before
Material: Nanny’s + White Goods mean more capital = less H/W PLP: gay couples no label to who controls money self report, police reluctant to record
Childhood Social construction Future Childhood Position of children is worse
(Wagg) different cultures have different definitions of childhood, in LEDC’s (Postman) Disappearance of Childhood, information hierarchy Fewer births, higher spending on children (227k), emotional investment, respect, media
Responsibility taken earlier, less respect for elders, diff view of sexuality Tv blurring the lines between adult written word and child (Palmer) toxic childhood= rapid change: junk food, marketing, testing, media
(Aries) 13th century childhood non-existent, ‘little adults’ in artwork (Jenks) over nurturing, protecting of children to help stabilise Intra: (Bhatti) Izzat restricts girls, (Bordeaux) cultural capital, (Oakley) anti- sex roles
Introduction of: compulsory ed, welfare, ban of child lab, industrialisation adult life in period of uncertainty Inter: (Firestone) protection is actually form of control, makes children powerless:
(Mayall) must investigate from childs perspective (Smart) PLP (Hockey+James) acting up & down to overcome age patriarchy Neglect & abuse, restriction on space, controlled time/ routine, bodies, resource access
Demography Births & Deaths Ageing population Migration & globalisation
Overall Decline in fertility as: changes in Women’s position, decline in (Hirsch) end of the age pyramid, Life expectancy  infant Increased immigration: Windrush, diversity increases, 14% pop
infant mortality, Economic costs, Child centeredness , result= dual earner mortality  fertility. Result= strain on public services, single Increased emigration: Push: recession, unemployment Pull: opportunities
families, initially  dependency, then  dependency ratio, ageing pop pensioners, greater dependency ratio, ageism from gov, Impact: Population growing, higher net migration, lower average age direct & indirect
Decline in death rate as: improved nutrition, medical improvements, diet blurring of boundaries, elderly as a new market. (Vertovec) superdiversity (Cohen) 3 immigrant types: Citizens, Denizens & Helots
and smoking, result=  life expectancy 2y for every dec. CGE differences CG differences (Hirsch) new policies and attitudes needed (Hochschild) migration feminisation, expansion of service sector, need for domestic workers
(Eriksen) Transnational identities, Politicisation of migration: assimilation, multiculturalism
Changing Divorce Partnership Children EM’s
family Rise in divorce: 6x higher than 1961, 40% of marriages end Marriage: less marrying + later, but more remarriages, serial 47% children now born outside marriage Women are having Black families 50% lone parent families
patterns 2/3 of divorces requested by women= change of power? monogamy. Reasons= secularisation, stigma, women’s children later, and fewer. Lone parent families 22%, mostly 10% Asian, so much higher reasons:
Reasons: changes in law, (Goody) loss of stigma, position, fear of divorce, career and education matrifocal Due to belief in expressive role (Renvoize) prof. High unemployment, slavery aftermath,
secularisation, (Fletcher) rising expectations, female Cohabitation increasing: destigmatised pre-m sex, women’s women better able to provide alone, WC more welfare reliant (Mirza) actually high value black
financial independence, dual burden, (Beck) lost meaning finance, secularisation (Chester) pre-marriage step for most (Murray) perverse incentive. Step families (Ferry+Smith) women place on independence
Study each groups view of divorce rate rising Same Sex: 5-7% pop, acceptance, (Weeks) assigned families Largely similar, but at greater risk of poverty (Allan) Divided Asian families larger, extended, 3 gen.
Single households: rising, over 65 mostly, increased divorce loyalties. Increase in divorce, remarriage, more children.
Diversity Nuclear New households Post-modern Personal life Perspective
F:(Parsons) functional fit- provides geographically mobile (Chester) move from nuclear to Neo- (Cheal) greater freedom but greater instability Evaluation of individualisation: (Smart+May) limited
workforce and 2 irreducible functions Conventional dual earner and symmetrical. (Stacey) Benefit to women as they chose structure, new by traditional norms and social context, ignores
NR: natural biological structure, lone families= poorer, Most part of N-C at some point, little change. ‘divorce extended family’. (Harevan) Life course analysis CAGE factors and deprivation. Not everyone can
inadequate socialisation, burden on welfare (Rapoports) diverse families= adaption to (Beck+Giddens) Individualisation= loss of meta-labels CAGE exercise choice
(Benson) marriage stabilises partners and stops lone fams pluralistic society. 5 types: Organisational, (Giddens) the pure relationship, choice and equality= more Alternative:(Smart) Connectedness thesis, lives are
(Oakely) cross cultural studies undermine ‘biological’ facts cultural, class, life stage & generational fulfilling, less stable. (Beck) Zombie family, when it doesn’t interwoven, even against choice, can’t ‘walk away’.
(Smart) poverty not cohabitation causes failed relationship diversity. provide what people hope for- breaks down. Cost & rewards Families extended
Social Policy Policies Perspectives on Policy Cross cultural
Divorce reform act 1969, Abortion reform act 1967 Func: Harmony (Fletcher) NHS, education etc effective support. Assumes equal benefit + progress China one child policy, sterilisation, fines
Con: 1979 promoting LGBT banned, enforced maintenance, Fou: (Donzelot) state control, ‘caring proffessionals’ actually policing the family, surveillance Romania restriction to abortion + contraception
Lab: 1997 tax relief on childcare, longer maternity leave, adoption reform, NR: Cut welfare + state intervention to cut dependency. Policy provides perverse incentives Nazi Germany drive up racially pure births, sterilised
outlaw LGBT discrimination, civil partnerships act Fem: supports patriarchal ‘normal’ family- self fulfilling prophecy. Tax, childcare and elderly care disabled a two fold scheme
Co: 2010: Gay marriage, austerity cuts to welfare may be aimed to ‘help’ women, but reinforce patriarchal norms. Equal pay, refuges, anti-discrim. Democratic society is it truly a private sphere? Policy
Recent: 2018 Irish abortion referendum, (Drew) Gender regimes: familistic + individualistic. State vs Market show anti- march of progress can influence diversity and curb the ability to chose