All the relevant ao1, ao2, ao3 have all been applied in my model answers and have been checked and given back to me by my teacher he had given me all A* so i can assure you these notes are in a really good standard. They include contemporary examples which in the exam day will score you higher poi...
Topics:
Section 1: Theories of
the family x3
Section 3: Gender
roles, domestic labour
and power
relationships in the
contemporary family
X4
Section 5: Changing
patterns of family life
X6
Applying material from Item A and your own knowledge, evaluate the usefulness of structural
approaches to our understanding of families and households. [20 marks]
Functionalist takes a macro, structural approach to the family, believing that society shapes
individuals. They believe that the family institutions interrelate with others such as schools, religious
institutions and others and they are dependent on each other. For example if a family socialises
children right teaching them the proper norms and values they will be properly well behaved
children for teachers to handle at school who can them further socialise them into productive
working adults the family performs positive functions according to functionalist for example
Murdock believes that the family carries out four functions ;economic, reproduction, socialisation
, and sexual .For instance Sexual; as couples can satisfy their sexual needs without being shamed by
society ,economic the family provides money for children to have access to educational tools that
they need to better their studies and they provide shelter ,food and clothing; reproduction is when
couples reproduce to produce the next generation and lastly the family socialises it members to
develop positive norms and values of society. However, all though Murdock opinion might be clear-
cut he is outdated and irrelevant to an understanding of families and households claiming the
nuclear family is the only effective family ignore other family structures such as single parent and
same sex parent families can perform the same functions Personal Life perspective would say that
the family life is diverse and complex we have to go beyond the traditional definition of family.
Marxist is another macro structural approach believes that we are being controlled by a Capitalist
Society. They believe that the family members are socialised to accept and value capitalism they buy
consumer good for Christmas, birthdays, and holidays for their children. Consumer goods are made
by the ruling class and when families buy goods from them it is giving back to the ruling class keeping
them in profit. The family reproduces and maintains class inequality by reproducing family member
and teaching them ruling classing ideology. Sociologist Zarestky says that people are led to believe
that the family is a haven a place to relax and unwind and where people can be themselves and have
fun and be filled with laughter and joy however this is not exactly as families are not a safe zone men
come home from work all stressed out from a day’s work of being exploited and they tend to take
this stress out on wives because they can’t take it out on their bosses . Women have to deal with this
burden because they are considered seen as people who perform a labour of love with no cost to
the ruling class by providing a place for their husbands to do destress ,cleaning around the house
and making everything easier for him meaning that the man can return to work refreshed, this may
seem valid to them however Giddens says that we are in search for pure relationships not sticking to
traditions couples are now only sticking together if they are in love if they are not they will go and
find happiness somewhere else to find a pure relationship so if a woman in a marriage is unhappy
and being exploited she has the freedom to do as she pleases to make her happy.
The usefulness of the structural approaches can be useful to the understanding to the applications of
families and household. Another example would be feminist they believe that there is gender
inequality. They believe that families are patriarchal the role of the family is to reinforce male
dominance and it is beneficial to men. For example, in many families today women are expected to
do most of the housework while men do very little to nothing. Feminist Benston claim that women
are slave of the wage slaves they are the slaves of their husbands who are the wage slaves. A women
role in the capitalist society is to look after the wage slaves and care for the children cooking. The
man is free to go out to work and because all the work is done by the wife. Benston claims that
women unpaid work keeps the capitalist system going by providing refreshed male workers.
However, Benston fails to recognise the changing position of women in society most families are
now dual earner families both men and women are in paid work therefore not all women are at
home doing domestic work according to postmodernist people act as individuals and society is
constantly changing meaning that women are no longer staying in relationships which bring harm to
them Stacey argues that women are able to now free themselves from patriarchal oppression.
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