Sociology Revision notes

Key definitions and types of families:

Horizontally extended family - a family consisting of parents and children along with other relatives and children along with other relatives such as cousins or aunts

Cohabiting couple - a couple who live together but are not married

Household - a group of people living together, none of whom are married or related

Same sex family - a family or couple who are the same sex

Nuclear family - a married couple living with their dependent children

Reconstituted family - a family where one or both parents have a child from a previous relationship

Matrifocal family - mothers head families and fathers play a less important role in the home and in bringing up their children

Vertically extended family - a family with parents and children along with a third generation that may be grandparents

Lone parent family - a family with one parent and their child whihc is usually headed by the woman

Family - monogamous marriage between a man and a woman plus their children sharing the same residence

Kin - blood relation or close relative

Marriage - legal union of two people

Monogamy - having only one partner

Polygamy - having more than one partner

Polyandry - wife having multiple husbands

Functionalist perspective on family

Murdock studied 250 societies of different cultures and all had the nuclear family. The nuclear family is functional and provides four important functions that are:

• emotional gratification
• reproduction of next generation
• economic stability/provision
• primary socialisation

Parsons sees the modern family as 'stripped' to just two 'basic and irreducible' functions which are:

• Socialisation of children
• Stabilisation of adult personalities

Changing Family Patterns

Explaining the Increase in Divorce:

• Life expectancy increasing
• Role of women in society
• Changes in law
• Changes in attitude
• Changes in religious beliefs (secularisation)
• High expectations
• Unemployment
• Privatisation of the family

1670 - Introduction of divorce

1839 - Custody of Infants Act

1857 - Matrimonial Causes Act

1870 - Married Women's Property Act

1873 - Infant Custody Act

1923 - Matrimonial Causes Act

1937 - Matrimonial Causes Act

1949 - Legal Aid and Advice Act

1969 - Divorce Reform Act

1996 - Family Law Act

2004 - Civil Partnership Act

2014 - Same sex Marriages Act

There are some groups in which divorce rates are higher than others:

• Highest divorce rate among men and women in their late 20s
• Teenage marriages twice as likely to end in divorce
• High incidence of divorce in the first five to seven years
• Childless couples, partners from different social classes or religious backgrounds face higher risks as do couples whose work separates them for long periods of time

Post modernist perspective:

• Approach that says society has become unstable and diverse
• Impossible to produce accurate explanation of social issue/social change
• Sociology should celebrate diversity of society rather than explaining from one point of view

New right perspective:

• Conservative political perspective whose supporters believe in self reliance and individual choice
• Value nuclear family and argue generous welfare benefits encourage the growth…