...Assess the view that the nuclear family is no longer the norm (24 Marks) In today’s society, the family is not as big as it used to be earlier though the decades, the nuclear family at least. Many sociologists have criticised the family e.g. feminists and the way in which it is run. The Nuclear Family is known as the traditional family. The nuclear family was mainly dominant in the 1960s when most of the UK was working in factories and looking for jobs, this family type allowed families to move around the country easily enough, this aspect is called geographical mobility. Another aspect of the family in terms of Functionalist ideals, is the gender-role socialization in which the children are brought up in a way that gender stereotypes are made, for example boys are brought up to be tough and play with cars and play sports, while girls are brought up to be sensitive and play with dolls and gossip with each other. The final function of the nuclear family is the socialization of children which teaches them the norms and values of society. Functionalists have many studies of this, like Murdock who studied 250 societies and therefore decided that the nuclear family was Universal and that the nuclear family had 4 main functions: sexual, reproductive, educational and economic. However Parsons view along with this were both proven wrong as it was said their studies were too simplistic. However many perspectives disagree by saying that the nuclear family is used for different reasons...
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...Nuclear Family and Extended Family Family is the most basic social unit in any society. A family is a unit that consists of biologically related people that live together in a house. There are two types of family: Nuclear family and Extended family. It is necessary to understand difference between nuclear family and extended family to explain advantages or disadvantages of them. Nuclear family is a family unit consisting of a mother and father and their children. Extended family is a family group that consists of parents, children, and other close relatives, often living in close proximity. Because of this population difference, there are some advantages or disadvantages of extended family and nuclear family. Extended family is a natural concept that is still very popular in many cultures such as Turkey. This type of family includes men and his wife, their children, spouses of children and grandchildren. Each person in these families has different positions and responsibilities. For instance, women look after children, clean their house and cook food as housewives. On the other hand, men work to earn money to provide their life conditions. In addition, in this type of family, there is a hierarchy between the each family member. Therefore, each member has to respect the eldest person of those families and this person makes every critical decision. This hierarchy prepares each member of family to real life. Members of these families can adapt to business life easily. Moreover...
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...Assess the view that the Nuclear family is no longer the norm. The definition of a nuclear family is a family unit that consists of a mother, father and their children, who all live together. It can be argued that the nuclear family is no longer the norm but some sociologists, like Murdock and Talcott Parsons, would argue that the nuclear family is the norm. The three different types of sociologists; functionalists, feminists and new right all have different views on the family and its importance. Functionalists believe the function of the family is to socialist children, which in turn benefits both society and children. Feminists believe the purpose of the family is to reinforce the dominant position of men without a patriarchal society. New Right believe the role of the family is to teach children the difference between right and wrong, and to provide a sense of morality more widely known as “family values.” Functionalists such as Murdock and Parsons would say that the nuclear family is the norm. Murdock felt that all families fulfil four functions. The first function being sexual which is where married adults enjoy a healthy sex life which prevents them having affairs and ensures children are raised by their natural parents. The second function is reproductive which involves making the next generation. The third function is economic, by this Murdoch means providing food and shelter. Ideally the man will go out to work and the woman will look after the house...
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...The Nuclear Family is a household consisting of two generations. It is the traditional ‘cereal packet family’ with a Husband and a Wife and children either adopted or biological. The New Right also believe that the Nuclear Family should also have traditional segregated roles within the family. This traditionally means that the women would be in charge of the household chores and looking after the children whilst the husband would be the main breadwinner and would go out to work. The New Right are a perspective who believes that government policies do not support the traditional Nuclear Family and the roles that should be upheld within that family. One of the main policies that are thought to undermine these traditional roles and values is that of the Divorce reform Law of 1969. This law made divorce, especially women, easier, less costly and less shameful for the women who were involved. It also introduced the concept of family courts which helped to protect the children who were almost, inevitably involved in the rare divorce of their parents. The reform of the law is something that the New Right doesn’t agree with. They feel that the law encourages divorce and in this way it does not support the Nuclear Family. They feel that because divorce is no easier for the majority of people then more people are going to get a divorce and become lone parents and because they believe that the Nuclear Family has to consist of two married parents and their children then this is a policy...
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...policies reflect and support the traditional nuclear family (24 marks) A social policy refers to the plans and actions of government agencies, such as health, welfare benefits, schools etc. These can often be used by politicians to promote certain family structures, which they believe to be ‘ideal’. There are many examples of policies which the government use to try and promote the traditional nuclear family which is commonly seen as the family ideology. One example is the 1930’s Nazi government who wanted to create an Aryan race and put policies in place to sterilize certain groups to prevent them from having children. Another more recent example is China’s two child policy which was out in place to reduce the population of China. This involves women having to ask before getting pregnant and fines for couples who exceed the two child limit. Government policies commonly support the traditional values of the nuclear family through many government institutions, which can happen directly or indirectly. One example of this is the way in which schools structure their hours and holidays. The school’s hours assume that a parent (usually the mother) is at home and is able to pick the children up, which reinforces the roles within the nuclear family of the mother being the housewife and child carer. The New Right governments in the 1980’s and 1990’s particularly stressed the importance of the nuclear family, as they saw all other family types as deviant. They introduced many policies...
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...Using material from Item A and elsewhere assess the extent to which social policies reflect and support the traditional nuclear family. (24 Marks) Social policies are the measures taken by the state bodies and based on laws introduced by the government that aim to deal with a problem or achieve a goal. They can have both direct (aimed specifically at family life) and indirect effects (aimed on other social or economic issues but also affects the family). The traditional nuclear family is the ‘cereal packet’ family comprised of two adults of opposing sex with segregated roles of male breadwinner and female nurturer, and two children. There are many examples of government policies which support the traditional family norm and therefore social policy may be seen as an aspect of family ideology. Ideology is a set of beliefs that serve the interests of a dominant social group, and so we are encouraged to view the traditional family as normal and desirable. Functionalists believe that the state acts in the interests of the whole society and that its policies help the family to perform its functions. There is a March of Progress view as they believe policies are gradually improving family life. Functionalists believe that the welfare state enables families to look after their members better through access to the NHS, child benefit etc. However Feminists argue that social policies only benefit men whereas New Right believes that the interference of the state creates a “perverse...
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...scenario of social structure is changing as a result, joint family structure demolishes by nuclear family structure. Most of the people adopted false and wrong notions regarding social prestige which put impact on students in negative direction experiencing a lack of right leadership and appropriate guidance, all these above changes become the cause of collapse of children's moral and mental basis. Children, nowadays, are deprived of the love and affection with their grandparents and teacher’s both. We can generally see in metropolitan areas parents do not have time to spend with their children mostly when they go to the office or on their works their wards are in bed and when they come back from their work at night their wards are in deep sleep. So the most of the parents feel that they are not able to...
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...Ava Moradi Sociology Is a nuclear family an ideal family form? ADVANTAGES Financial Stability A nuclear family is a term used to define a pair of adults and their children. In today's traditional nuclear families, it is common to have income coming from both parents, Both parents work to provide financial stability for the household, creating a larger cash flow to supply the basic family needs of housing, food and healthcare. Financial stability also allows the parents to provide additional extracurricular opportunities for their children, such as music or athletic lessons. These opportunities allow children to flourish socially and develop a higher level of confidence. Increased Consistency in Child Caring A family that consists of two parents living together are more likely to have a higher consistency with raising their children; certain agreements, discipline and arrangements are put in place, for example modeling appropriate behavior; parents act as a team to strengthen and reinforce appropriate behavior, and children are given consistent messages about what behavior is right and wrong, and certain expectations. Nuclear families are also said to have more daily routines, like eating dinner together (adding to consistency. Stronger Emotional Bonds and Support Systems Nuclear families tend to establish stronger bonds as they work together and rely on one another to overcome challenges. Children witness their parents' supportive and loving relationships...
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...Sociology Essay… A family is a group of people that live together and are related to each other through kinship ties or marriage. Kinship means being related through blood or birth. On the other hand, a household is a group of people who live together but are not related to each other through kinship ties or marriage. It is believed that families make up the majority of households but there are others for example, students or friends sharing a flat/house. There are five main different types of families: * Nuclear Family: Two generations living together (mother, father and dependent children) * Traditional Extended Family: Three or more generations of the same family living together or close by, with frequent contact between grandparents, grandchildren, aunts, cousins etc. * Attenuated Extended Family: Nuclear families that live apart from their extended family, but keep in regular contact e.g. via email or phone. * Single Parent Family: A single parent and their dependent children. * Reconstituted Family: New stepfamilies created when parts of two previous families are brought together. George Murdock (1949) was a famous sociologist that argued that some form of the nuclear family existed in all of the 250 different societies he looked at. He argued the family performed four basic functions – sexual, reproductive, economic and educational (social). Murdock’s definition of a family is: A social group characterised by common residence, economic cooperation and reproduction...
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...size of their family. Parents have to consider whether it is better for their children to grow up in a large family or to grow up in a small family. Still, I believe there is no best family size. A large family and a small family both have their own advantages and disadvantages in the aspects of family’s finance and child companionship. A family financial condition is tightly related to the size of the family. The living cost for a large is surely much higher than the living cost for a small family. As the result, children in a large family would have less financial supports from their parents. In contrast, in a small family, parents can give more resources to their children. For instance, their children can receive better education, or have more opportunities to develop some costly interests, such as piano. My friend, Dave, is the only child in their family. Their parents always support him to do whatever the things he wishes to do, such as traveling aboard and developing his interest in music. On the other hand, I, growing up in a large family, do not have as many chances to do things I want as Dave do. From this example, I believe children in a small family can receive more supports from their parents than children in a large family can receive. Although children in the large family might not receive much supports from their parents, they have more companies to talk to and to play with. That is definitely a great advantage for children in a large family. They will not...
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...Assess the view that in today's society the family is loosing its functions (24 marks) there are many different sociologists who look in the families place in today's society and assess the level of function to family that family has today. The nuclear family provides functions for society, Murdock supports the theory that the family allows its members to express their sexuality in a socially approved way. This also allows for the reproduction of children needed for society. The family defines what is socially acceptable according to sex with controls, over dating, pre-marital sex and marital sex. Chaos would be resulted without these controls. However, some theorists argue that the nuclear family is loosing functions. This is because in Britain since the 1970s there has been an increase in the reproduction of children before, alongside and outside marriage with lone parent families and increased divorce as part of a greater choice in society. Post-modernism argue that changes in society with choice and greater individualism mean that traditional ideas on sexual relation are not carried out by nuclear families with many new family types and the rise of single parents. Another reason the nuclear family provides functions for society is through socialisation. The theorist Parsons argues that primary socialisation is still provided by the family who teach society's culture such as the language history and values,. Without this, society would cease to exist. On the other...
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...Advantages Of The Nuclear Family While discussing about the advantages and disadvantages of nuclear family, the first and foremost point pops up in the mind of a person is privacy of life. 1) Privacy – The couple can get their privacy in their own house in nuclear families whereas you cannot get your privacy in a joint family. People can live their own way and can do whatever they want to. There are no such boundaries set by the elders to follow. ) Financial stability – When we talk about the advantages and disadvantages of the nuclear family, then financial stability is one of the strongest points in the nuclear family. One can be financially strong because of limited expenses. There is less number of people in the nuclear family and hence less expenses. You cannot have a strong financial stability if you are the only person who is earning in a joint family. 3) Freedom – The elders restricts youngsters not to do certain tasks because they think this is not good for them. But today’s generation is very smart. They know what is good and bad for them and have enough analytical power so they don’t like to restrict themselves. Instead, they want their freedom so that they can do and achieve whatever they want in their life. 4) Ease in moving – When you have a nuclear family, you face fewer problems while shifting from a house. You can manage your things according to you without disturbing the lives of other people. This is one of the major advantages of the nuclear family. 5) Avoidance...
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...KAMPLA INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY Colleague of higher degree and research Name: Amaal Yousuf Ali Reg no: 1153-06236-03133 Lecturer: Dr Rosinda Lubanga Subject: Human Behavior And Environment Question (A) How does socialization affect behavior of the nuclear family? (B) Which tools are by parents to rise up children in nuclear family? (C) What are the challenges of socialization in the nuclear family? Introduction Socialization, is a term used by sociologists, social psychologists, anthropologists, political scientists, and educationalists to refer to the lifelong process of inheriting and disseminating norms, customs, and ideologies, providing an individual with the skills and habits necessary for participating within their own society. Socialization is thus "the means by which social and cultural continuity are attained". Socialization describes a process which may lead to desirable outcomes sometimes labeled "moral" as regards the society where it occurs. Individual views on certain issues, for instance race or economics, are influenced by the society's consensus and usually tend toward what that society finds acceptable or "normal". Scientific research provides evidence that people are shaped by both social influences and genes. Genetic studies have shown that a person's environment interacts with his or her genotype to influence behavioral outcomes. Socialization is the process by which human beings as material organisms living with other material...
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...sub systems – family, education system, economy (all depend on one another). Functionalists see family as very important – a building block in society. Murdock (1949) four functions of the family are that stable statisfaction of sex drive (no social disruption of sexual free for all) as well as reproduction of next generation, socialisation of the young and meeting economic needs (food, shelter etc). The criticisms of this is that other institutions could perform these functions. However practicality of nuclear families meets needs – why is it found in many societies . The bottom line of Item A leads onto Marxists and Feminists reject his rose tinted approach – functionalism neglects conflict and exploitation. Feminists see the family as serving the needs of men and oppressing women. Marxists see the family meets the needs of capitalism, not those of family members of society as a whole. Parson’s Functional Fit theory is that family can meet the needs of others too like welfare, military, political and religious functions. Parsons (1955) found the functions family performs depends on the society in which it is found. Functions affect shape and structure as nuclear is just parents and dependent children, extended being three generations living under one roof. Two other functions are industrial in which nuclear family fits this and pre industrial with extended fitting it. When Britian began to industrialise from 18th century extended family gave way to nuclear. This is because...
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...understanding of families and households. Functionalism is a macro approach to society. It is based on a consensus that society as whole is run by and for the benefit of all its members. Early Functionalists such as Durkheim believed that society is made up of many institutions which work together to function. Regarding families, Functionalists believe that the nuclear family is best for society. Functionalists look at what the functions the family performs and they therefore say that the nuclear family is best for society. For example functionalists believe that traditional domestic roles (for the male to play an instrumental role as the breadwinner and the female to do the dual-burden) are necessary to ensure that children are socialised correctly with both male and female role models. Functionalists believe that the nuclear family is perfect for bringing up a geographically mobile workforce which allows families to move about for work easily, for example Functionalists believe during the industrial revolution nuclear families became more common as it was easier for families to move to an urban area in search of work than if it was for example an extended family. Conflict theories such as Marxism and Feminism challenge the Functionalism and the consensus of society by taking a more critical view. Social historians such as Laslett and Anderson also criticize the functionalist view of a ‘Functional Fit’ in the family. The main supporters of Functionalism in the family are Murdock...
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