Birth Rate
Number of babies born per thousand each year
Civil Partnership
Legal or formal recognition of two people in a commited relationship
Co-Habitation
two people living together in the same household in an emotionally intimate and commited relationship
Commercialism of housework
when new technologies lead to new products which which can reduce amount of domestic labour people have to do
Oakley's Dual Burden
when someone does both paid work and a significant amount of domestic labour
Emotion Work
Thinking about the emotional wellbeing of the family and acting in which will be an emotional benefit to others
Individualisation
where individuals have more freedom to make life choices and shape their identities because of a weakening traditional social structure, norms and values.
instrumental role
provider/breadwinner role which involved going out to work and earning money
matrifocal household
family structure where mothers are the head of the household and fathers have less power
migration
moving from one area to another
negotiated families
vary according to wishes & expectations of members, who decide what is best by discussion.
net migration
difference between number of people immigrating and emigrating from a country
postmodernism
view that social changes since 1950s have resulted in a more diverse society
serial monogamy
where someone has a string of commited relationships, one after the other
social construction of childhood
idea that norms and values associated with childhood are influenced by society, not biology
e.g different societies view childhood in different ways, suggesting it is not biological
fertile rate
average number of babies a women has in her fertile years
nuclear family
two parents with biological children living in one household
reconstructed family
two partners living in one household and sharing parental duties or one or more children, but only one of them is the biological parent
__/3 of all familiy households are made up of married couples
2
in 2013, __% of households were made up of single parent families
29
The number of 16-34 year olds living with their parents has seen a recent rapid _________ in recent years
increase
The marriage rate has almost halved since the _____
1970's
In 2012 the mean age of marriage was _______ years for women and 34.0 years for men
36.5
Functionalist Family Functions
sexual
reproductive
educational
economical
Parsons Functional Fit
The functionalist theory that families have changed by the industrial revolution.
Before industrialisation, families were extended and everybody was equal and had many functions. Afterwards, families were nuclear.
Functionalist View on Family
warm bath theory: creates stabilised adult personalities
primary socialisation
Negatives on Functionalist View on Family
determinist: only about one culture
out of date
downplays conflict
Marxist/Engel's View on Family
Engels believed that the nuclear family emerged through capitalism as a way for the bourgeoisie to pass down wealth through the generations and not spread it out in society
Neo Marxist View on Family
The family promotes a capitalist ideology as it is a unit on consumption. e.g Murdocks economic function
Radical Feminist View on Family
Families are a source of patriarchal ideology and need to be avoided
Marxist Feminist View on Family
Believe that women's oppression promotes capitalism
for example, they soak up the men's anger so there won't be as many criminals. they also produce more babies to keep the economy going.
Liberal Feminist View on Family
Don't believe the family is entirely patriarchal and suppressive. They want to work within the system to combat sexism and believe the main cause is lack of opportunities.
New Right View on The Family
social policies have broken down traditional values of the family
for example, the welfare state has created a culture of dependency.
More crime due to lone-parents, easy access to divorce etc
Post Modernist View on the Family
Family structures are diverse and flexible, which is a positive as they can suit the needs of individuals
There is not one dominant family type, allowing people to move freely
PARSONS: Functions of the Industrial Nuclear Family
families were more geographically mobile, letting them seek work more easily
families were now a source of primary socialisation and didn't have to look after acedmic eduction
Industrialisation & Roles of the Family
PARSONS: Industrialisation created expressive & instrumental roles for the "wife" and "husband" to suit the needs of society at that time
Industrialisation & Status of the Family
PARSONS: industrialisation moved people status from ascribed to being based on achievement, creating better social mobility
Change in the Family: Industrialisation
status
roles
functions
structure
Weaknesses to Parson's Industrialisation Theory
Parson's saw the nuclear family as ideal, and something society should aim for
Ignored the "dark" sides of the nuclear family, e.g domestic abuse
Nuclear families have been found to be common before industrialisation & vice versa with extended families
Willmot & Youngs Study On Industrialisation
Wanted to challenge Parsons theory
Looked at British societies from 1950s to 1970s in London & Essex
Created a list of stages the British family had devoped through
Willmot & Young Family Development Stages
pre-industrial:
the family worked as an economic unit
work & home life was combined
early industrial:
men mostly worked
women at home, supported by extended kinship network
privatised nuclear:
family based on consumption & not production
symmetrical famil
Criticisms of Willmot & Youngs Stages of Family Devlopment Theory
Feminists argue a "symmetrical family" does not exist
ignored the negative aspects of the nuclear family, e.g domestic violence
assumes family life has gotten better and better: march of progress theorists
Symmetrical Family
Were both partners economic contribution is equally important
Labour set up the welfare state to support families
...
Thatcher reduced state intervention & promoted nuclear families
...
tony blair promoted marriage and diversity of families but cut benefits
...
David Cameron promoted marriage. e.g legalised same sex marriage
...
Changes in Family Structure
Parson's Functional Fit
Willmot & Young
The Government's Social Policies
Social Policies
Social Policies are how the government influence family structures. An example would be the the divorce act.
in _____, labour set up the welfare state to support families. this was interventionist
1948
How did Thatcher's Government influence Family Structure?
lowered taxes as thought people were "married to the state"
valued traditional nuclear families and set up laws to support this:
- child support agency
- children act
- made divorce more difficult with compulsory "cooling off" period of a year
Thatcher's Child Support Agency Act
This act forced absent mothers of fathers to pay a fair amount of money towards the upkeep of their children.
This would deter couples from splitting up, promoting the traditional nuclear family.
Thatcher's Children Act influence on Family Structure
This outlined a childs rights for the first time, giving parents more responsibility over them and deterring them from splitting up.
Consequently, the nuclear family was promoted.
The _____ Labour, lead by Tony Blair, based their views on the "_______ way". This was were their views were in between right wing and left wing ideology.
New
Third
The New Labour had ___________ as their prefered basis for family life but were open to the diversity of family structures.
E.g they introduced the _____ partnership and set up laws were cohabiting couples were able to adopt. this showed the diversity the
marriage
civil
benefits
David Cameron led to ___________ government, which was a mixture of conservatives and liberal democrats
coalition
How did the coalition government influence family structure?
They promoted marriage through social policies.
For example, they legalised same-sex marriage and cut benefits where partners living apart were given money
Roles on men & women within the family
Bott's Roles
Willmot & Young Study
Emotional Work
Oakley and Dual Burden
Creation of the housewife
Bott's Housework Roles
identified two ways partners can share the housework
- segregated roles
- joint roles
Willmot & Young & Roles within the Family
Their study of British Families showed:
an increase in nuclear families led to joint conjugal roles
However Oakley contradicted this and said it was segregated conjugal roles
A study into lesbian households has shown that the responsibilities between the two partners were more ________
equal
Triple Shift
sociologists have found that women are often required to do paid work, house work and emotional work
Oakley's "Creation of the housewife
Industrialisation made wifes stay at home because they were not allowed into the factories, so the housewife role was created
this ideology was seen as so dominant it was seen as biological
Studies into inequality of decision making
interview showed that with middle class couples, the man had control over decision making
a study showed that the most common form of financial management, was husband-controlled pooling, where the money is shared but the husband has control
but personal
Functionalist view of the roles of men & women in the family
each gender has a certain role which makes them work most effectively
Marxist view of the roles of men & women in the family
the unequal roles are evidence of the power of capitalism within the family
e.g capitalism needs to promote the expressive role because they keep workers fit, happy and healthy
Violence within the family
child abuse & power relationships
domestic violence & radical feminists
child abuse & power relationships
career able to abuse a child by manipulating responsibilities and trust of their roles
families are separated from society, so abuse is less likely to be reported: which careers know
a domestic violence occurs every 6-___ seconds in the uk
20
domestic violence & radical feminism
study found that police do not usually record crimes by husbands against wifes
victims are stigmatized, shamed and blamed for their abuse
victims are often conditioned to feel as if their abuser if the only person they can turn to
Problems with the radical feminist view on domestic violence in the family
it overemphasis the place of domestic violence as functionalists believe most families work harmoniously
present men as all-powerful and women as powerful which is often not the case
_______ trends are good to show the changing patterns in the family. these can be found by official statistics.
examples of these are:
two of the biggest increases in household type has been _____ parent and ____ parent families
cohabitation has doubled s
social
single
lone
1996
types of family diversity
class diversity
cultural diversity
organisational diversity
life-course diversity
cohort diversity
organisational diversity
differences in the way families are structured individually
cultural diversity
differences that happen due to the different norms and values of different societies
class diversity
different views held by different parts/classes of society
cohort diversity
differences created by historical periods a family has lived through
life-course diversity
diversity caused by the different stages people have reached in their lifes
____________ more cohabiting couples in the 2014 than 2001
1 million
� the single population are classed as "________________________" with someone
living apart together
Average age women and men are getting married increased by __ years in England and Wales
8
___________ pensioners make up a lot of single-person households
widowed
__% of marriages end in divorce but the overall percentage of marriages that have ended in divorce has fallen due to increase in _______________
40
cohabitation
Why has there been an increase in divorce?
Easier and cheaper to obtain due to divorce reform act
secularisation means there is less stigma attached
feminist has led to better employment opportunities for women, resulting in them being less financially dependant on partners and can live alone
The Birth and Fertility rates were unusually high after WW1, WW2 and the 1960's. These periods are known as the _______ _________ years.
Since the 1970's the rate has ______________, but is now ______.
baby boomer
fluctuated
falling
Why are birth rates falling?
high access to contraception
FEMINISM: women are putting careers first and having a family later
commercialism of looking after a child puts people off as it is too expensive
Infant mortality has gone from ______% to 0.5% since _____
13.6
1901
Why has the infant and adult mortality rate fallen?
better health care, e.g NHS, has meant people are getting free treatment they might not otherwise be able to afford
government has improved public health by enforcing hygiene laws
better nutrition has lead to a healthier population
serial monogamy
having a string of multiple, sexual relationships one after the other
? babies born in 2013 will have life expectancy of ____
100
burden of care
when society has responsibility for vulnerable groups
burden of care shifts towards older people in aging population, increasing the _____________ ratio
dependency
Underclass of ______________ developed due to older people not being able to rely on income from jobs
pensioners
Women have __________ pensions because they take time off work to look after kids
smaller
Why did the foreign population increase?
labour shortage encouraged polish soldiers to come after WW2
British Nationality Act made it easier for Commonwealth citizens to move into the UK
new countries have entered the EU and encouraged more free movement
migrants often don't belong to one specific country but a _______ of countries
network
people can migrate due to __________ or educational reasons
economic
Functionalist View on Family Diversity
the nuclear family remains the dominant family type
nuclear families have modernised by being less traditional and more symmetrical
New Right View on Family Diversity
family diversity is a result of the break down of traditional norms and is blamed for anti social behaviours
sociology of personal life
focuses on what families see as important, not sociologists
How might ethnicity affect family types?
white & african caribbeans most likely to be divorced
south asian families are traditionally extended
african caribbeans most likely to be divorced
how might class and sexuality affect family types?
middle class families are more likely to be extended
new family structures due to fertility treatments for couples
how might people choose their family type?
negotiated families are a way of choosing your own family type which is suited for the needs of the individuals
The beginning of "childhood" can be explained by the theory of its social ____________ or the theory of the ____ of childhood
construction
cult
cult of childhood
the idea that childhood appeared after industrialisation, which shifted peoples views of children.
the importance of kids reinforced the importance of housewives
the evidence behind this theory was in medieval paintings, the kids looked like mini-adults
give evidence of a child-centric society
the infant mortality rate had dropped and smaller families mean more money and time is spent with children
different theories of child development have argued that kids needed to be protected more
functionalist view on the position of children in society
march of progress view
a child-centric society is good as they are better educated and looked after
Laws for Children
restrictions on access to alcohol, tobacco, sexual behaviour and paid work
Thatcher's Children Act
Thatcher's Children Act
Gave children additional protection by allowing kids to be taken away if the parent(s) where seen as unsuitable and incapable by the state
Why do the NSPCC believe children aren't protected enough my laws?
national society for the protection of cruelty to children
16% of children under the age of 16 have experienced sexual abuse
Child Liberationists
Believe society oppresses children through "age patriarchy"
children are controlled by being dependant on parents through money etc
evidence behind this is that children often resist and want to escape childhood
Class variations of Childhood in the UK
children from low income families are more likely to live in poorer conditions and have poorer education
sociologists link this to a higher chance of abuse and neglect
gender variations on childhood in the UK
a study has found parents are more likely to give boys freedom out of the house and girls are more likely to do household chores
ethnicity variation on childhood in the UK
study has found that black and dual heritage children are more likely to be put into care
asian parents have been found to be much stricter towards children
higher chance of white people living in rural areas
culture variations on childhood
bolivia: at the age of 5, kids are given responsibilities and work to perform
sudan: children are given way more freedom than western societies
Evidence that the British Society is Child Centric
children have unique human rights, which were agreed by the UN
Child Support Act & Thatcher's Children Act
even advertisers recognise this power and call it "pester power" when advertising towards kids
Child Support Act
gave children legal rights to be financially supported by parents, even if the parent is not living with them
Impact of Postmodern Society on Childhood
20th Century: kids symbolised the future and parents sacrificed their needs to protect and nurture them
21st Century: adults prioritise relationships with kids due to other adult relationships being less dependable, e.g rise in divorce
adults also see kid
Criticisms on the impact of postmodern society on childhood
doesn't look at the negatives of a now "toxic childhood"
believes children's lives are more stressful, violent and sexually active: leading to teenage pregnancies, obesity, self harm and addiction
Postman's view on the future of childhood
disagrees with Lee's view
childhood is disappearing due to children growing up much quicker
children also have less barriers with education as there has been a shift between print and literacy culture to a visual culture. e.g kids can access education thr
Lee's view on the future of childhood
disagrees with Postman's view
believes there is a paradox of dependance and independance in childhood as parents still have financial control