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William Corsaro (2011)
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This sociologist is critical of gender role socialisation arguments. He argues that there is little research on parent-child relationship in the home, and there is no real and convincing evidence and analysis of how toys are used or symbolically valued.
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Ronald Fletcher (1966)
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This functionalist sociologist denied that the family had lost many of its functions in contemporary society. He argues in pre-industrial and early industrial society: -Poverty meant functions such as welfare, education or recreation were often not carried out. -Children were frequently neglected, and male peasants often cared more about their animals than about their wives. He argues that the family now: -Has more, not fewer functions (responsibilities) placed on it. -The health and welfare functions of it have been strengthened by the welfare state, and parents today are more preoccupied with their children's health, and retain responsibility for diagnosis of minor illness and referral to doctors and other welfare state agencies. -Social services departments, with their powers to intervene in families if children are neglected or abused, have increased the responsibilities of parents, not reduced them. -Plays an important economic role as a unit of consumption. -The modern family is particularly concerned with raising its living standards and keeping up with the neighbours through buying a whole host of goods targeted at family consumers, such as large-screen TVs, home media and broadband packages, music systems, computers and computer games and holidays abroad.
Evaluations of this sociologist: -Marxists see the pressure of the family to purchase consumer goods as a means of motivating workers in boring, unfulfilling jobs. -Feminists see the modern family as a unit of production, since women's unpaid domestic labour (housework and childcare) produces a wide range of goods and services in the family which would prove very expensive if they were provided and paid for outside the family. |
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John Bowlby (1951)
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This psychologist coined the term 'Maternal deprivation', which he claimed: -An emotional and psychological bond existed between a mother and a newly-born child. -He argued that if that maternal bond was broken (because the mother returned to work, for instance) the child would feel deprived of maternal love and experience psychological problems that might be acted out, for example, through crime and delinquency.
Evaluations of this psychologist: -Feminist sociologists claim that there is no convincing scientific evidence that maternal deprivation occurs and argue that this is yet another patriarchal ideology. |
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George Murdock (1949)
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This functionalist sociologist stated family is "a social group characterised by common residence, economic cooperation and reproduction. It includes adults of both sexes, at least two of whom maintain a socially approved sexual relationship, and one or more children, own or adopted, of the sexually cohabiting adults".
He studied over 250 different societies. He found family to be a universal feature, focusing primarily on the nuclear family - a unit consisting of a husband and wife and their children (most common). It existed in all societies studied by him, and performed clear functions for its members and wider society. This sociologist outlined the functions of the family: -Economic: man working and providing for the family, basic needs earned through labour of the men. Women have a domestic role, characterised by unpaid labour at home. -Sexual Regulation: sexual relationships are heterosexual, marriage controlled, with regulated sexual urges and heterosexuality being promoted. The next generation ensured socialisation into gender appropriate roles. -Education: the function of socialisation by family of their children, norms and values are learnt through parents, including gender norms and values, to allow people to 'fit in'. -Reproduction: men and women reproduce, gender socialisation prepares children to take on these roles, promoting social behaviours will allow them to reproduce, once in a stable heterosexual relationship. Without reproduction, society could stagnate, straining the elder members of society.
Evaluations of this sociologist: -Feminists: his ideas don't acknowledge the most universal unit is mother and children. -Marxists: he ignores the influence of capitalism for reproducing the next generation of workers and controlling the ability of workers to challenge the ruling class. -Outdated view: he fails to acknowledge changing gender roles and greater diversity of family types and gender transitions. |
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Eli Zaretsky (1976)
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This Marxist sociologist states, "the family has become a vital unit of consumption. The family consumes the products of capitalism and this allows the bourgeoisie to continue producing surplus value".
He argues that the modern nuclear family mainly benefits capitalism and the ruling class at the expense of other members of society. This can be illustrated in 3 ways: 1. He sees the family as a crucial agent in the socialisation of children, and therefore future workers and citizens, into capitalist ideology, that is, values and norms that advocate the view that capitalist societies are organised in a fair and just way. A working-class child's experience of socialisation usually involves learning obedience, conformity, showing respect for those in authority, and so on. Consequently, such children become conformist citizens and passive workers who accept inequality and exploitation as part of the 'natural' state of things. Marxists therefore suggest that the family is partially responsible for the suppression of ideas that might challenge the current organisation of the capitalist system. 2. He is very critical of the Functionalist sociologist Parsons' stabilisation of adult personality' ('warm bath theory') argument. He argues that the role of the family is more sinister because its real function is to help workers manage their resentment of the capitalist workplace that generally oppresses and exploits them. He notes that the nuclear family dampens such feelings because the worker who has a family is unlikely to engage in actions that threaten their income and therefore their family's standard of living. There is evidence that companies such as Ford would only employ married men with families in the 1980s because these types of men were more reluctant than single men to take strike action since they felt that their main responsibility was to their wives and children rather than to their fellow workers. 3. He argues that the nuclear family is an essential component of capitalism because it is the major unit of consumption of manufactured goods and services, and therefore it is essential to the success and especially the profitability of the capitalist system. Moreover, the pursuit of consumerism and materialism may have the added bonus for the ruling class of distracting workers from the organisation of capitalism. For example, Marxists argue that parents are encouraged to teach their children that the main route to happiness and status lies in consumerism and the acquisition of material possessions. Consequently, the inequalities in wealth and income produced by capitalism often go unchallenged by a generation fixated on the acquisition of the latest designer labels and gadgets.
Evaluations of this sociologist: -He doesn't consider that some working-class parents may resist ruling-class ideology by teaching their children values and norms that are a product of working-class culture, and thus empower their children with knowledge of capitalist inequality and exploitation. Another possibility is that working-class parents may be well ware of the pitfalls of capitalism, such as inequalities in wealth, but feel that the standard of living provided by capitalism is so comfortable that they are willing to dismiss inequality as a lesser evil. |
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Fran Ansley (1972)
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This Marxist feminist sociologist stated women create the 'haven' in the home and act as 'takers of shit', by soaking up their husband's stress.
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Charles Murray (1984, 1999)
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This New Right sociologist argues that lone-parent families are more likely than other family types to produce crime, hooliganism, drug abuse and educational failure.
He also argues that the welfare state creates perverse incentives that encourage people to rely on welfare and discourage them from working: -According to him, generous welfare benefits have created a culture of dependency, particularly in low-income communities, where many people rely on government assistance rather than seeking employment. -He argues that this has led to a breakdown of the traditional family structure, as people no longer feel the need to work to support themselves and their families, and instead rely on government support. -He suggests that this has led to a decline in social and economic mobility, as people become trapped in a cycle of poverty and dependency. |
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Talcott Parsons (1951)
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This functionalist sociologist viewed the nuclear family as being a universal family type. He states it is more isolated to other family types ('privatised nuclear family'), with a domestic division of labour (men and women taking on specific roles based upon biological characteristics) and has 2 basic irreducible functions compared to extended kinship networks of early and the pre-industrial era. These functions are: 1. Primary Socialisation: this is early socialisation of children into norms and values of societies. This includes teaching of appropriate behaviours in social situations, the core values of society, and pro-social behaviours. Parents reinforce behaviours that are positive and sanction socially undesirable behaviours so that children will 'fit into' wider society. 2. Stabilisation of Adult Personalities: this is more commonly referred to as 'warm bath theory'. It describes family life providing emotional security (a warm bath - soothing the adults from the stresses of modern society) for adult members. Adults are also able to indulge childish tendencies through interacting with their children. Marriage especially is essential for stability, health and happiness of adults. These actions stabilise personalities and provide a sense of fulfilment, whereby the family is therefore a 'haven in a heartless world'.
He defined Functional Fit Theory: -He suggested the nuclear family formed as an adaptation to industrialisation. -Functions of the extended family needed to be replaced (such as healthcare, education, etc.) as the nuclear family became socially and geographically mobile. -This led to the nuclear family becoming the better fit for modern society as people move for work and are rewarded for their efforts with promotions, leading to movement up the social class system. -The effects of this was that the family has lost most of its functions, with the only functions which he describes (primary socialisation, stabilisation of adult personalities) remaining. The husband and wife have clear social roles (division of labour) now that home and the workplace are separate. There has been an introduction of leisure time, and people have become wage-earners, and the family is now an agent of consumption, rather than agent of production.
He defined Sex Role Theory: -He suggested that roles in the family were divided upon biological characteristics and gendered socialisation. -There is an instrumental role taking on by the male - economic support through going to work, and he provides discipline. -There is an expressive role taken on by the female - emotional support and nurturing role.
Evaluations of this sociologist: -Feminists: criticise him for stereotypical views of the female role and expectations of females towards males. -The nuclear family has been argued to not have evolved due to industrialisation. -Outdated view: it is criticised by more contemporary research that states a decline in the functions of the family. -It is an ethnocentric view based on American ideals and theoretical in nature rather than being based on research. |
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Ann Oakley (1974)
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This feminist sociologist focuses on how domestic labour mainly done by women reinforces inequality.
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Somerville and Hakin (2000)
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These sociologists argue radical feminists probably exaggerate the exploitation of women in the family. They suggest most women value their relationships with men and that the bulk of male– female relationships are based on mutual love and respect rather than exploitation, domination and subordination.
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Judith Butler (2010)
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This New Right sociologist argues that strong and durable families are important to the stability of society as 'broken families' are more likely to produce children who will break the law, be unemployed and/or be dependent on benefits.
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Friedrich Engels (1884)
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This Marxist philosopher claimed that the monogamous nuclear family only became popular after the industrial revolution as a way of protecting the wealth gained by the wealthy ruling class. He claimed that monogamous marriage, in particular, was useful to the ruling class as it conferred legitimacy on children and therefore members of the bourgeoisie were able to ensure that their fortunes were inherited by their direct descendants.
Evaluations of this Marxist philosopher: -His speculation is not based on any convincing historical evidence. |
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Patricia Morgan (2002, 1999)
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This New Right sociologist argues that gay families are unnatural because children can only be the outcome of what she describes as the natural loving sexual union of a man and woman: -She further suggests that the motivation of lesbians and gay men for children is questionable. -She claims that they only desire children to acquire the benefits of a life that imitates heterosexuality: children are merely prizes to be shown off to other gay couples.
-She claims that children brought up in homosexual families, whether they are adopted or the outcome of IVF or surrogacy, are not the outcome of love. -They are trophy children, who may suffer bullying and stigma because of their association with their gay parents.
She is also very critical of the welfare state's policies towards lone-parent families: -She argues that 2/3 of the average income of lone-parent families comes from benefits and tax credits. -She states that this is a major problem because the willingness of the state to pay for the upbringing of children in these families is undermining 'self-supporting family structures'. -In other words, people in these families are being discouraged from supporting themselves and their children because the payment of benefits encourages them to stay at home rather than to actively look for work. |
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