AQA A LEVEL SOCIOLOGY
revision flashcards
FAMiLIES &
HOUSEHOLDS
Families & Households
Social structure and social change 3
Talcott Parsons
In 1951, Parsons updated Murdock’s theory arguing that, in Western societies,
families really have two functions:
Primary In a similar way to Murdock’s educational role, Parsons agreed that
socialisation families teach children social norms and values. However, he argued that
they specifically teach children the norms and values associated with
their family and/or community, while other institutions, such as schools,
the media, religion, etc. teach children the universal norms and values of
wider society. Parsons called this first process primary socialisation and
the latter secondary socialisation.
Stabilisation Parsons also argued that families help to prevent adults from behaving
of adult in disruptive or dysfunctional ways, instead encouraging them to conform
personalities to social norms, especially at times of stress. The family provides
emotional support to its members.
Parsons famously described this in his warm bath theory. This is the
idea that when a man comes home from a hard day at work, he can
relax into his family life like a warm bath, taking away the stress and
refreshing him for the next day’s work.
Families & Households
Social structure and social change 18
Evaluating the March
of Progress
• The part of this theory that got the most attention was the concept of the
symmetrical family which received a lot of criticism from a range of feminists
(especially Ann Oakley).
• There is also criticism that the idea of a “march of progress” proposes that
some family structures are superior to others.
• It also suggests that all families change over time, whereas in fact there was
some family diversity before and after industrialisation, just as rural
economies and ways of life continued to exist during and after the industrial
revolution too.
• Both of these are considered to be outdated theories; there have been
significant economic and social changes since they were written that have
had profound effects on family life.
Families & Households
Social structure and social change 21
Conservative governments,
1979-97
The conservative governments of Margaret Thatcher and John Major were greatly influenced
by New Right thinkers. In relation to families, this means they:
• Had a preference for nuclear families.
• Encouraged individual and parental responsibility.
• Encouraged mothers to stay at home.
• Were concerned that the welfare system might encourage non-traditional family forms and
irresponsible behaviour.
Thatcher described the family as “the building block of society”. Policies included:
• The Children Act 1989 – Outlined the rights of children.
• The Child Support Agency, 1993 – Ensured absent fathers paid maintenance for their children.
• Married Men’s Tax Allowance – Lowered taxes for men whose wives do not work (to
encourage stay-at-home mothers).
• Divorce reform – Planned to introduce a one-year “cooling off” period before people could
divorce (never actually introduced).
• Section 28 – Law restricting education about gay relationships.
• “Back to Basics” – John Major began a back to basics campaign to encourage “Victorian
family values” (there wasn’t much in terms of concrete policies, and it caused problems for
the government after a string of high-profile “sex scandals”).
Families & Households
Changing patterns of marriage, divorce, etc 34
Family diversity (1)
Sociologists identify a wide range of family types that exist in contemporary
society, such as:
Traditional nuclear A married couple with their own children (2 or 3 of them) where the husband
family goes out to work and the wife looks after most of the domestic duties, with clear
segregated roles.
Symmetrical family Women and men both going out to work and sharing the housework.
Nuclear family with The female adult in the family is the “breadwinner” and the husband does most
house husband or of the domestic work.
“new man”
Extended family Can be either:
• Vertical: Multiple generations living together.
• Horizontal: Aunts, uncles and cousins.
Beanpole family This is a multi-generational, extended family where each generation has few siblings.
Matrifocal Lone-parent family, headed by the mother.
lone-parent family
Patrifocal A family headed by a single father.
lone-parent family
Families & Households
Changing patterns of marriage, divorce, etc 36
Rappoport & Rappoport
In 1983, Rappoport & Rappoport suggested 5 ways in which the modern family
was now (then?) diverse:
Organisational Families are organised in a range of ways in terms of the roles people perform
diversity and the structures they take.
Cultural diversity A more cultural diverse society does lead to a diversity of family types, for
example:
• African-Caribbean families are more likely to be matrifocal
• Some Asian households are more likely to include extended family members.
Social class Family structure and child-rearing practices are influenced by social class. For
diversity example, statistics show that divorce is more common among those on lower
incomes (for a variety of reasons).
Life stage diversity People living in a range of different family forms throughout their lives. They
might be born into a nuclear family, live on their own, share with housemates,
become a cohabiting couple, become a nuclear family, get divorced, form a
reconstituted family, etc.
Generational Different generations have different attitudes to family life. For example, older
diversity generations might be more traditional, preferring the nuclear family.
