What's covered
Key facts
Willmott and Young predicted a fourth, asymmetrical stage (men's leisure moving outside the home), but conceded it had not really happened.
Elizabeth Bott (1957) distinguished two types of conjugal role relationship: segregated and joint.
Delphy and Leonard (Familiar Exploitation, 1992) argued the family is an economic system in which men benefit most from women's unpaid labour.
A beanpole family is a multi-generational extended family that is long and thin: several generations but few members in each (few aunts, uncles or siblings), linked to lower fertility.
Critics argue the functionalist view is too idealised, ignoring conflict, abuse and the "dark side" of family life.
Cohabitation (an unmarried couple living together) has risen sharply and carries little stigma, where it was once condemned as "living in sin".
Willmott and Young identified four stages of the family: pre-industrial, early industrial, symmetrical, and a predicted asymmetrical stage.
Conjugal roles are the roles and tasks performed by each partner within a marriage or couple, especially regarding housework, childcare and paid work.
Feminists argue the family serves the interests of men and reproduces patriarchy rather than benefiting women equally.
Social-class (class) diversity refers to how a family's resources, income, housing and leisure opportunities shape its family life; e.g. wealthier families may pay for childcare.
Sample questions
A taste of the 93 questions in this topic, answers marked. Sign up to practise the full set with spaced repetition.
What is meant by the symmetrical family?
- •A family run jointly by grandparents and parents
- ✓A family where husband and wife have similar, shared roles
- •A family where the wife does all the housework and childcare
- •A family with no children living in the household
Which best describes segregated conjugal roles?
- •Roles decided entirely by the extended family network
- •Roles where both partners do equal amounts of paid work
- ✓Separate, traditional roles: male breadwinner, female homemaker
- •Shared roles where partners do housework and leisure together
What did Zaretsky argue the family does for capitalism?
- ✓Cushions workers from the effects of capitalism so they do not rebel
- •Encourages workers to organise and overthrow the ruling class
- •Replaces the welfare state and provides healthcare for workers
- •Trains workers in the skills capitalists need for new jobs
What overall view did the Rapoports take towards family diversity?
- •They argued one family type was ideal
- •They believed it harmed children
- •They thought it was a temporary trend
- ✓They welcomed and celebrated it
Which of these is one of Murdock's four functions of the family?
- ✓The economic function
- •The political function
- •The recreational function
- •The religious function
Which factor best explains why women are now more able to leave unhappy marriages?
- •A legal duty to remain married for life
- ✓Greater financial independence through paid work
- •Stronger religious pressure to divorce
- •The rising cost of holding a wedding
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