1. Introduction to the Family Lesson 1
Sociology of the family
Features = types (single, nuclear, reconstituted, adopted) / marriage and divorce /conjugal roles/ (changing role of women and men/ power relationships)
Changes = changing family patterns / changing structure and organisation of the family
Aspects = changes in family patterns / conjugal roles/ marital breakdown

2. Three perspectives Functionalism – Durkheim and Parsons
Marxism - Engels
Feminism – Liberal, Radical, Marxist

3. Three aspects Changing family patterns Marital breakdown
Conjugal roles

4. Today What is the family?
The relationship between the family and society
Changes in the UK family
The Functionalist perspective
We will look at outcome 1:

5. Families are important to us!
We all share common understanding of what we mean by the notion of ‘family’.
--just under three quarters say they feel happiest around their family// this compares to just 17% who say they are happiest around friends
Compared with historical polling, people are more optimistic about their family's future, more people describe their family as close and they are more likely to say their parents did their best for them.
Despite all the changes, we remain remarkable happy with family life - 93% of us describing it as fairly or very happy.
Another possible factor is technology. Most people have access to a car or good public transport making increased distance between family members less problematic than it would have been 50 years ago.
The ubiquitous nature of telephony - particularly mobile phones - has made family contact easier, although the internet has not yet become a major method of family communication.

6. Key features often associated with the notion of a ‘family’
Kinship
Marriage
Household
--both used to determine the relationships between members of the family in question
Kinship = refers to people who you are related to by blood or marriage (blood relatives = are people with whom you have a biological or genetic link/tie ; marital relationship include husband or wife plus in-laws) = often say that you can choose your friends but not your relations ...
= how close does a genetic relationship have to be before people are counted as kin e.g. First cousin, second ...
Household = common place of residence (e.g. House or flat); eat, sleep and contribute to housekeeping etc. , many people who share a household have kinship ties;
=however there have always been cases of people who are not kin being treated as family members
=it seems more that ties are socially defined (i.e. Length of relationship/ commitment etc)
=sociologists prefer the concept of families rather than one set of arrangements being privilaged

7. Task – what is a Family? How many people are needed to be a family?
What relationship must they have to each other?
Do people have to be married to be a family?
Do people have to live in the same household to be a family?
Can you remember what we said about the difficulty of defining a family ?
--considering these points sociologists try to ascertain the organisation and structure of family

8. One of many possible definitions...
‘a social group consisting of at least one adult and a child, usually cohabiting, related by blood, marriage or adoption.’

9. Types of family structure
Nuclear
Extended
Reconstituted
Single-parent
Same-sex families
There are many different types of family and therefore it is difficult develop an all encompassing definition
nuclear family comprising of a man and woman who are married caring for their own children
Extended = includes wider family (grandparents, uncles, cousins, in-laws)
Reconstituted = families with children from previous marriages
Single-parent families =
Same-sex families = recognising that heterosexual relationships are not the norm

10. Clip
Family diversity

11. Relationship between the family and society
What is perceived to be a family has important political implications for state policy
For a long time the nuclear family has been given precedence over other types
Social policy = in the past only married couples (men and woman) with children would receive support from the state
--policies to do with paid time out of work when a woman has a baby// or whether is a right to flexible working practices
--if a woman is given more time off work than a man, then in many cases the man will not have the same relationship with the baby or take on as much of the caring of that child
--policy than in turn affects the organisation of the family i.e. if not rewarded than affects the roles, who stays in employment and who doesn’t etc.
--sociologists suggest that this is ideology rather than the reality i.e. a particular type of family is presented as normal and the most acceptable way of family (the ideology of the ‘nuclear family’)
A nuclear family comprising of a man and woman who are married caring for their own children tends to be presented as the ideal family type. = ...

12. Relationship between family and society
Many political leaders, have made promoting marriage their key political aim
‘Families matter because almost every social problem that we face comes down to family stability’
Cornerstone // Source of socialisation relied heavily on by the rest of society ??
Tory leader David Cameron has made promoting marriage a key political aim=
Cameron said governments can't "feed the kids or iron your shirt", but a Tory administration would support couples with children who want to live together and would reward marriage in the tax system....
The government has taken an active interest in the age at which people become parents (i.e. Tony Blair identified a need for state intervention to prevent babies born into ‘high risk families’ becoming problem teenagers!!! =family valued highly by society
Prime Minister Gordon Brown has insisted he supports "all children and all families", rather than backing the institution of marriage itself.

13. but that family and kinship relationships are socially constructed
Many sociologists have argued that there is nothing normal and natural about the nuclear family
but that family and kinship relationships are socially constructed
--Research has shown that all societies have some form of family, although the structures of families can vary substantially over time and across different cultures.
--based on culture rather than biology
--the relationships between husband, wife, parent and child are constructed very differently in different societies =relatives are not born but made
Examples as these show that the family is socially constructed
Rather than seeing the family as a natural unit created through a biological necessity
It makes more sense to see the family as a social unit shaped by cultural norms (and as culture varies from society to society so do families) =diversity =therefore no universal nuclear family

14. Kinship – ‘blood’ ties Felicity Edholm (1982)
The Lakker of Burma see no blood relationship between mother and child i.e. the mother is simply a container in which the child grows
--parent-child relations (and genes) = ideas about the biological relationship between parents and children vary from society to society
--as a result sexual relationships between children of the same mother are permitted (because they are non-kin, not seen as incest)

15. Kinship and residence
In some societies, many children do not live with their biological parents
In Tahiti, in the Pacific Ocean, young women often have one or two children before they are considered ready to settle down in a stable relationship with a man.
--usually we see the tie between mother and child as basic and inevitable
=parent-child relations (adoption)
--they usually give these children for adoption to their parents or other close relatives
--children see their adoptive mother and father as real parents and their relationship with them as far closer than with their natural parents

16. Marriage and residence
Kathleen Gough’s (1959) analysis of the Nayer society of India, before the British rule in 1792 showed that
Nayar girls marry a man before puberty and later take as many lovers as they like
Children are raised in their mothers’ social group
Husbands and fathers do not share the same residence
--sociologists argue that ‘marriage’ varies so much from society to society that it makes little sense to use the same word to describe different relationships
--Nayar girls marry a man before puberty and later takes as many lovers as they like (the husband may or may not be one of these lovers
The lineage, is made up of men and women descended through the female line
Husbands not the same residence = as their wives and have little to do with their children
Shows that women had several ‘husbands’ who took no responsibility for the caring of their offspring
Matrifocal
= a large number of black families in the West Indies, Central America and the USA are matrifocal i.e. Female headed and do not include males ???

17. Matrifocal families
A large number of black families in the West Indies, Central America and the USA are female headed
The Ashanti
Father has no legal authority over his children
Responsibility rests with the mother’s brother
Only about a third of married women live with their husband
=female headed and do not include males
=father important,--feed, cloth and educate the children (many men cannot afford to set up a household of their own when they first marry)
--children inherit from the brother =because the society is matrilineal (descent is traced through the mothers line)
--couples often live apart, children are the property of the wife’s family

18. Types of marriage structure
Monogamy – one husband and one wife
Polygamy – multiple partners
Polygyny – one man and more than one wife
Polyandry – one woman and more than one husband
Nepal / Tibet
In Africa =slavery led to a shortage of men therefore they took on more than one wife !!

19. Clip
Polygyny - Maasai tribe – BBC documentary
Polyandry – fraternal polyandry in the Himalayas (National Geographic)
Compare that with…..Friends

20. What is a ‘typical’ family in the UK?
There were 17.1 million families in the UK in up from 16.5 million in 1996.
Most were still headed by a married couple (71%), although the proportion of cohabiting couple families had increased to 14%, from 9% 10 years earlier.
Although two children remains the most common family size, the average number of children per family in the UK has dropped - from 2.0 in 1971 to 1.8.
National statistics = Families are started when people form partnerships or marry, and when they have children.

21. Changes in family Decline in marriage Rise in divorce
Decrease in family size
Marital breakdown – rise in cohabiting /divorce rates
Increase in lone-parenting
Changes in the role of men and women

22. Task
Why do you think there’s been a decline in marriage?

23. Reasons for the decline in marriage
Part of the fall in marriage is because people are marrying at a later age
However, the main reason is due to people choosing NOT to marry, instead they remain single or cohabit.
the age at marriage has changes as well = in 1970s average age for first marriages was 22 and 24
By 2000 – it was 28 and 30 (women/men)
Cohabit =live together as a couple in a relationship /not legally married
Over the past 50 years, attitudes have changed towards alternatives to marriage =and therefore remaining single or cohabiting have become increasingly more attractive

24. Cohabitation and single-parent families
Cohabitation has risen by 64% in the last decade, with almost half of children now born outside ‘wedlock’.
The proportion of children living in lone-parent families in the UK more than tripled (24% in 2006)
DECADE –LAST 10 YEARS
--first rose in the 1970s =it has since then become the norm to cohabit before getting married
--in % of non-married people aged under 60 were cohabiting in Great Britain (twice the proportion in 1986)
--most cohabiting couples –still end up in marrying (60%) //70% of people in general still value marriage
We also have by far the highest proportion of lone parents in Europe - a quarter of children now live with a single mum.
Already the proportion of children in non-married families has trebled in the last 50 years to around 40% while the average number of children has fallen to 1.8 in a family - both continuing trends.
A third of those un-married families are single parents; the other two-thirds are co-habiting, but are more likely to separate than in the pas
Academic studies consistently find that such children do less well at school and at work than the offspring of cohabiting or married couples.
So how does one explain this apparent contradiction?
It may be that our expectations of family life have changed, that we are content with arrangements that would have dissatisfied our forebears.
Perhaps our optimism reflects contemporary affluence and stability rather than a confidence in the strength of family structures.
Duncan 2006 = criticised the way in which teenage parenthood is presented as a social problem (it is assumed that it is caused by ignorance and low expectations= he suggests that becoming a mother does not cause poor outcomes in terms of education, employment and income =rather the problem is the pre-pregnancy social disadvantage
--his research suggests that many young mothers are positive about their parenting experience (feel stronger, more responsible, and competent as a result of it) =others supports this –increase self-esteem/sense of security and stability/ turning point for young men when become fathers.
Rising cohabitation rates in the 20th C. (along with increasing premarital sexual activity and rising divorce rates) show that sexuality and reproduction became increasingly “decoupled” from marriage.
Why?=
Costs of divorce are high; cohabitation allows partners to “test the waters.”
New, effective and low-cost contraceptive technologies (e.g., The Pill) lowered risk of unwanted pregnancy as a potential hazard of premarital sex.
Shifting norms: Greater emphasis on personal freedom and fulfillment in the context of intimate relationships.
Cohabiting partners are more similar in their employment, earnings, and division of household labor than are husbands and wives.
Cohabiting couples are much more likely to split up the more they depart from a “rule” of equal contribution.
Married couples are more likely to divorce the more they depart from a “rule” of specialization (although married couples survive deviations from their “rule” much better than do cohabitors).

25. Reasons for rejecting marriage
Marriage limits personal freedom and independence
There is no advantage to marriage
Fear of divorce
--cohabiting used to be seen as a stepping stone to marriage , but increasingly seen as an alternative to marriage
--a study with cohabiting mothers gave the following reasons:
I do not feel tied, but I am here by choice in this relationship
I’ve been married before and it’s no different from living together
The experience of a previous divorce or seeing other going through it –has led some to reject it all together

26. Rise in Divorce
Steady rise of divorce rates throughout the th century
For every three weddings there are now two divorces - the highest rate in Europe.
--in the UK, and other Western societies, there has been a dramatic rise in divorce during the 20th cent
--this can be seen from the actual number of divorces, each year and from the increase in the divorce rate =the number of divorces per thousand married people
--reached a peak in 1993 at divorces //fell in by 7 %
However, the rate appeared to stabilise in the 1990s // In 1999 – 170,000 divorces, 13 per 1000 married population and for every divorce 2 marriages took place //So 40% of marriages will end in divorce

27. Rise in Divorce

28. Marital breakdown Separation Empty-shell marriages
Couple remains legally married but live in separate residences
Empty-shell marriages
The couple live together, remain legally married, but their marriage exists in name only
--divorce statistics provide an accurate measure of one type of marital breakdown –i.e. The legal termination of marriages =however marriages can end in other ways
Separation = end their marriage by separating (separation orders by magistrates courts)
Empty-shell marriages = love, sex and companionship are things of the past = grew apart
However with divorce becoming easier and cheaper –it is likely that separation and empty-shell marriages will decrease
--less stigma no need to ‘keep up appearances’

29. Changing society
A shift in social attitudes and values led to acceptance of diverse family structures
Expectations of love and marriage became higher and intensified
Values = A decline of the ‘living in sin’ stigma (cohabiting or divorce)
=couples are less likely to stay together in order ‘ to keep up appearances and to avoid the stigma and/or shame formerly associated with divorce or cohabiting
=argued that people’s expectations of love and marriage have resulted in increasingly unstable relationships =people expect more from marriage (next to financial security) and therefore are less likely to put up with an unhappy marriage and more likely to end it
=claims that higher divorce rates reflect higher value placed on marriage
--the fact that a large proportion of divorcees remarry suggests that marriage is not rejected by we simply expect more from the relationship
=intensified =stronger (focus on intimacy, closeness, and emotion instead of duty and obligation reflected in the traditional marriage =for better or worse// til death do us part (last as long as there is fulfilment and satisfaction
-=as a result marriage is more fragile institutions (hence the rise in divorce)

30. Changes in the law
In the past the grounds for divorce included adultery, cruelty and desertion.
The Divorce Reform Act came to force in 1971, which allowed separation on simple basis of the ‘irretrievable breakdown of the marriage’
--removal of legal barriers (with regard to divorce) = desertion =abandonment
--at least one partner had to be proven guilty of one of these matrimonial offences
However, many people who wanted a divorce had not committed adultery, etc.
1971= meant that a guilty party did not have to be identified anymore //not longer necessary to prove guilt but simply to show that the marriage was beyond repair
1985=matrimonial family proceedings act =reduced the time a couple had to be married before they could petition for a divorce (3 to 1)
--In 2002 new legislation required spouses to pay a fixed proportion of their income towards childcare costs if they didn’t have legal custody
Changes in the law made divorce easier, the grounds for divorce were widened, the procedure was simplified and the expense reduced
--together with the changing attitudes it explains why more people are taking advantage of this opportunity
--each change in divorce law resulted in a large increase in the numbers applying to legally end their marriage

31. The economic position of women
Increasing number of women have entered the labour market, which contributed significantly to their independence
Also divorce settlements, welfare benefits have taken more account of the financial needs of women with dependant children
--in the past women were greatly dependant on men/marriage =trapped in unhappy marriages because they could not support themselves and their children without their husbands income
--economic independence =also led to the increase in divorce etc
as women gain economic sucess through work their option to leave an unsatisfactory marriage strengthens

32. Changing society Better contraception Demographic changes
Demographic (longer life expectancy and younger marriage) = peple live longer so a lifelong marriage is longer than it used to be
--this means that people have higher expectations in terms of fulfilling partnership = which means that there is potentially more risk of the relationship breaking down
Contraception = available on the NHS in 1967 to both married and unmarried =possible to control the number of birth they wanted
--couples can live togehter and have a sexual relationships without worrying about pregnancy
--international trend / however, it is slower to increase in southern Europe where there are more Roman Catholics

33. Decrease in family size
The average family size in the UK has decreased during the last 30 years, declining from 3.1 people in 1961 to 2.4 people in 2006
Related factors are: women’s employment, the cost of childcare, and lifestyle choice
--more women are prioritising career over having a number of children
--study found that childcare costs were nearly a quarter of average household income
--materialistic based society could mean that people make different lifestyle choices to those in the past= spending their money on things other than children

34. Households spend £471 a week (2009)

35. Conjugal roles
This refers to the roles and responsibilities between men and women
These can be shared or segregated, the same or different
(conjugal rights =legal rights stemming from marriage)
Changes in the role of men and women (=as a result of marital breakdown, and cohabitation?? = Cohabiting partners are more similar in their employment, earnings, and division of household labor than are husbands and wives.
Cohabiting couples are much more likely to split up the more they depart from a “rule” of equal contribution.
Married couples are more likely to divorce the more they depart from a “rule” of specialization (although married couples survive deviations from their “rule” much better than do cohabitors).
Oakley (1974) research showed class to be a relevant factor in the division of labour in the home
--her research showed class to be a factor, with middle class domestic roles being more shared, but in neither class could they be described as equal

36. The role of men and women
1900 traditional middle /working class families =men and women occupied segregated conjugal (marital) roles
--major change the modern family=identified as having symmetrical or joint conjugal roles
--symmetry =refers to an arrangement in which the opposite parts are similar in shape and size= so with respect to the family, conjugal roles although not the same (wives still main responsibility for raising the children, but husbands help), are similar in terms of the contribution made by each spouse to the running of the household
--they share many of the chores, decisions, work together ....
(use the research studies given to me by Joe for higher teaching methods –about the different interpretations on how the roles changed) !!!

37. Changing role of men and women

38. Summary Key features of the family
The family is seen by many sociologists as the cornerstone of society.
Some form of family can be found in all societies.
Socio-biology saw the family as an inevitable outcome of biological evolutionary process (Murdock, 1949).

39. Definitions Organisation
Mindmap outcome 1
Definitions Organisation
What is the family?
Changes Changing society
Definition = kin, marriage, household
Organisation = types /cultural aspects –construction rather than natural /biological
Changes = increase in divorce, decline in marriage, cohabitations , single-parent
Societal context = values/expectations, law, contraception, economic independence, roles

40. The Functionalist perspective

41. The Functionalist theory
Functionalists believe every institution in society contributes to the smooth running of society.
To functionalists the family is at the heart of society.

42. Functionalism and the Family
Functionalists ask three main questions:
What are the functions of the family?
What are the functional relationships between the family and other parts of the social system?
What are the functions of the family for its individual members?

43. Functions of the Family
It has been suggested that the family (nuclear) must be universal and, as such, must be necessary. Murdock(1949) argued that the family is to be found in every society and has four main functions:
Sexual
Reproductive
Economic
Educational

44. Talcott Parsons (1959)
Industrialisation means a shift from extended to “isolated nuclear family”.
The family serves two “basic and irreducible” functions
Primary socialisation of children
Stabilisation of adult personalities

45. Talcott Parsons NUCLEAR FAMILY
2. Stabilisation
of adult
personalities
Primary
socialisation
of children:
1a.
Internalisation
Of Society’s
Culture
1b.
Structuring
Personality
Warm Bath Theory

46. 1. Primary socialisation…
early years
family
Primary Socialisation
Internalisation
of society’s culture
- which means…
2 basic
processes:
Structuring Personality…

47. 2. Stabilisation of adult personalities
Once produced, the personality must be kept stable
Emphasis is on marriage relationships and the emotional security the couple provide for each other
This acts as a counterweight to the stresses and strains of everyday life, which tends to make the personality unstable.

48. Parsons
For the family to operate efficiently as a social system, there has to be a clear-cut sexual division of labour

49. Can’t have competition!
Differentiated sex roles prevent
competition within the family
Husband/Father Wife/Mother
Market work Domestic work
Instrumental Expressive
leadership leadership

50. For Parsons The family provides a context in which husband/wife can:
express their childish whims,
give and receive emotional support
recharge their batteries ,
and so stabilise their personalities

51. Expressive Leader
The provider of warmth, security and emotional support.
She should apply these expressive qualities not only to her children but to her husband also – that is to stabilise (his) adult personalities.

52. Instrumental Leader
Spends his day working leading to stress and anxiety.
The expressive female relieves this tension by providing the weary breadwinner with love, consideration and understanding.

53. Clips I got you fired honey…
Harry Enfield - Old fashioned family values

54. The isolated ‘private’ nuclear family
The functionalist view suggests that the nuclear family has become
Socially isolated from extended kin
More reliant on the Welfare State
Geographically separated from wider kin
The family is self-contained, inward looking with little contact with neighbours and community.
Home leisure via TV, Video, Internet etc. have made the family more home-centred.

55. Task Get into groups of around 4. Discuss:
Are families today more private?
Add examples to illustrate the private nature of the home.
What are (a) the positives and (b) the negative aspects of the “privatized” family?

56. Clip
Functions of the Family

57. Strengths
Functionalism is good in highlighting the positive aspects of the family,
and stresses the importance of the family, as some form of family structure is to be found in almost every human society.

58. Weaknesses
They are preoccupied with the positive aspects of the family, in an idealised way – are families always harmonious and integrated?
It fails to give any consideration to things like domestic violence, child abuse etc

59. Weaknesses (cont)
3. They justify the domestic division of labour between men and women as something natural and unproblematic.
4. They neglect the role that other social institutions, other than the family, such as government, media and schools, play in socialising children.

60. Summary
Functionalists see the family as a central institution in society.
It performs essential social functions such as raising children.
The family is seen as an important source of security and satisfaction for its members.

61. Functionalist theory on the Family
Task
Put this information on a mind map so you remember it
Functionalist theory on the Family

62. Next week We will look at the Marxist and
Feminist perspectives on the family.
Homework for next week
Describe the key features and changes in the family = 6 marks
Describe and evaluate the functionalist theory of the family = 5 marks (10 marks).

63. Clip if there’s time… Journey of pregnant man – Thomas Beatie