Unit 1 SCLY1 - Culture and Identity; Families and Households; Wealth, Poverty and Welfare
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Outline and explain 2 functions that the family may
perform for capitalism – 10 mark question
Hochschild’s theory of commodification (2011) says
that society has commodified every aspect of social life
– nothing is free. Hochschild supports this through over
100 in depth interviews, where he shows that
commodification has now even infiltrated areas that
were previously just parts of private family life – for
example, you can now pay someone to plan a birthday
party, buy love coaches and even pay boat captains to
scatter loved ones ashes. This links very well to
Hochschild’s theory of alienation (detachment).
Spreading a loved ones ashes is a very intimate
moment, which is typically expected to be a moment
shared between family, but now families are paying for
someone else, with no connection to the deceased
family member, to spread the ashes. One could
perhaps infer that not only are humans becoming
detached from each other because of capitalism, but
also, they are becoming detached from their emotions –
emotional work has become part of consumer
consumption.
Additionally, the theory of commodification also
explains how even the human body and motherhood,
has been commodified. It showed, women living in
poverty, were forced to become surrogates in order to
pay for their husband’s medical bills – they were in
effect “renting out their wombs”.
Zaretsky’s theory (1976) suggests that the unfulfilling
and alienating work of families in a capitalist society
causes people to seek refuge in the family (warm bath
theory). He believes that the family provides emotional
security, in order to function for capitalism – the family
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