Family Mixed Exam Questions
Feminism and Family Essay
Radical feminists argue that the main role of the family is to maintain patriarchal power that men
have over women. This can be seen from the item where is says “continuing oppression of women”.
Sociologist, Greer argues that many relationships between men and women in all spheres of life in
contemporary society remain patriarchal and exploitive. Men benefit from the domestic labour and
the sexual services that are performed by women as men are seen as superior physically and
through patriarchal norms and values. Women are kept in their place and discouraged from acting
out against the norm with domestic violence or the threat of it. This is the darker side of the family,
whereby the cumulative effects of inequalities manifest themselves in this part of the family. Official
statistics show that 89% of violent accidents are from men against their female partner and 80% of
the 150 people killed each year due to domestic violence are women. This suggests that women are
seen as inferior due to the patriarchal nature of family and so they are manipulated easily to
conform to their gender role otherwise they are domestically abused. However, Sommerville
criticises the radical feminist’s perspective on the role of family maintaining patriarchal power as
they fail to see the improvements that are made to tackle this. There is better access to divorce so
women no longer feel trapped in their marriage, and they can break free from the oppression they
experience and the violence that comes from it. This is seen from the statistics that show 2/3 of
women initiate the divorce. Therefore, the radical feminist’s explanation of the role of the family
may have been significant 60 years ago, but in contemporary society there is an emphasis on getting
out of families which are toxic, including being oppressed.
Marxist feminists argue that the main role of the family is the social reproduction of labour power.
This can be seen from the item “paid employment and power”. This means that as well as women
suffering in a patriarchal society, they are often exploited in a capitalist society too. The home is a
place of eating, drinking, and relaxing which helps ensure that the members of the workforce (men)
are able to work each day in a capitalist society with their labour power renewed. Fran Ansley
described this as the women being “takers of shit” from men who feel exploited and alienated by
capitalism as they relax in the home their wife takes care of and take all their stress out on her to
make sure they can go to work the next day and work efficiently. In addition, Marxist’s feminists
argue women are a free labour force for capitalist, who are not paid for their dual burden of looking
after the house and the emotional needs of the family, especially the exploited workforce. This tells
us that women are used like a reserve army who are employed when needed, so maintaining a
capitalist society where the dominant stay on top and the weak stay at the bottom being used which
drives the family to being exploited. However, in contemporary society, women are no longer a
reserve labour force as they have equal rights at work and at home. Women go to paid employment
and they earn for the work they do, unlike in the family. This leads to women being able to become
the breadwinners, so they have more importance and are treated with more respect at home.
Therefore,
In contrast liberal feminists argue that it is identifiable that the women’s position in the family with
the patriarchal power and unpaid work has adverse effects on their independence, health, and
careers. Yet, these feminists argue that the role of family being a place for women to be controlled
by patriarchy and capitalism is being tackled by focusing on equality between men and women.
Liberal feminists are concerned with campaigning against sex discrimination and for equal rights and
opportunities for women like paid work. This view is called the march of progress. Liberal feminists’
, sociologists argue that women’s oppression within the family is being gradually overcome through
changing people’s attitudes and through changes in the law such as the sex discrimination act in
1975. This law made it illegal to be treated unfairly due to their sex, sexual orientation, marital or
relationship status, pregnancy, and breastfeeding. This protects workers with family responsibilities.
This suggests there is a greater move towards equality as women are now able to get paid work and
be there for their children without the worry of being fired. The extent of this change will depend on
modifications in gender attitudes and socialisation patterns. For example, it is believed men are
doing more domestic work to help at home which leads to more joint conjugal roles. However, there
are disagreements among feminists. Other feminists criticise the liberal feminists for failing to
challenge the underlying causes of women’s oppression and for believing that changes in the law
and people’s attitudes will be enough to bring equality. Therefore, the role of the family in the
feminist point of view as it is no longer clear if they produce a workforce free of change when
women can now be in paid employment.
On the other hand, functionalists argue that the family has a more positive role of supporting the
workplace to keep everything in society harmonious through the warm bath theory. This is there to
relax the male worker after a hard day of work. This therefore demonstrates how functionalists look
at the positive functions of the family and how the different institutions depend on one another, in
this case the family supports the workplace. However, liberal feminists would criticise the warm bath
theory for being outdated. These feminists would highlight dual earner households in contemporary
society and how the female would no longer be expected to comfort the male worker if she is
working herself. Therefore,
Murdock believed there are four essential functions that make up the building blocks of society. one
of these functions is the socialisation of children into value consensus which is the learning of
societies culture. This highlights the importance of socialisation to shape our identities and to have
an ordered society, leading to harmony. However, Murdock ignores the idea that families aren’t
always the ones socialising children. Parsons used structural differentiation to argue that functions
of the family are mostly taken over by the state. Children are often socialised by schools and
nurseries. Therefore,
Marxists believe that the family performs certain ideological functions that reinforce the capitalist
ideology. The capitalist ideology refers too the set of beliefs that justify inequality and maintain the
capitalist society by encouraging the majority of the working class to accept inequality and pass it on.
The sociologist Zaretsky believes that the family performs an ideological function of offering a
comfort from the stresses and strains of working in a capitalist society. this implies that the family
provides an escape route from the harsh and exploitative nature of the workplace whilst allowing
workers to be themselves. the family allows a man to be powerful and in control which they don’t
feel in the workplace due to the ruling class oppression. This also maintains capitalism as it prevents
the proletariat from recognising the oppression and starting a revolution. Additionally, the family
reproduce this capitalist ideology by socialising the young. This is demonstrated through certain
patterns of socialisation where they embed the idea that hierarchy and inequality are inevitable. This
suggests that the family has a hand in reproducing the next obedient, passive workforce which are
exploited without knowing it as they are under false class consciousness. However, Marxists are too
deterministic. This is because they overemphasise the role of the family in maintaining capitalism
and ignores other inequalities such as the role of the family in maintaining patriarchy.
Marxists also state that the family continues to contribute to maintaining the capitalist system by
acting as a unit of consumption. The capitalists exploit the labour of a propertyless working class in
