Unit 4 - The Sociology of Families and Households

Read through the summary of Supporting families: a consultation document. note down: 1. one aspect of the policy which reflected new right views 2. one aspect that supported alternative models of the family

1. Aspects of the policy that reflected new right views included strengthening marriage, reducing the risks of family breakdown and tackling teenage parenthood. 2. Aspects of the policy that supported alternative models of the family included the New Deal for Lone Parents and tackling domestic violence. Many commentators (for example Millar and Ridge, 2002) argued that this contradiction ran right through the consultation document and the family policy that followed. Here is one Marxist commentary on the subject: New Labour's latest consultation document, Supporting Families, is a mass of contradictions. In one breath it seems to accept social reality, stating quite rightly that families have changed and that the government couldn't turn the clock back even if it wanted to do so. In the next, it argues the case for promoting and strengthening marriage as the 'surest' and 'most stable' way of raising children. Some key aspects of Labour family policy included: - Child tax credits and other polices were designed to tackle the problem of child poverty. - The New Deal (1998) supported single mothers back to work. - The Civil Partnership Act (1995) gave gay and lesbian relationships legal status for the first time. - In 2003 the first Minister for Children was appointed and in 2007 the Department for Children, Schools and Families created. - Support for parents came in the form of improved maternity pay, paternity leave, flexible working rights and an increase in free childcare and nursery education. - Broadening the criteria for who could adopt children.

Compare the two passages below (the first is from 1849 and the second from 1994). The breakdown of family life was also described as a consequence of the Industrial Revolution, and working mothers were another source of moral outrage. 'The withdrawal of woman's attention from the care of her offspring, and from domestic duties' was 'an unnatural arrangement' and a 'stigma upon the social state'. 'Young children are left at home under very inadequate conduct and almost without restraint', wrote Beggs, 'left to play at will, and to expand into every lawless form'. 'Ignorant of cooking and needlework ... unacquainted with all that is necessary to promote the comfort and welfare of a home ... slatternly and ignorant', Beggs feared that 'the unfortunate man who marries a woman of this class suffers also ... there is neither order nor comfort in the home ... his meals are irregular and ill prepared, and his own fireside presents so few attractions that he is tempted to the beer-house'. T Beggs, 'An inquiry into the extent and causes of juvenile depravity', 1849, quoted in G Pearson, Hooligan: A History of Respectable Fears, Macmillan, 1982, pp. 165-6 There exists a British underclass of criminals, unmarried mothers and idle young men which is responsible for the dramatic rise in crime since 1987. The core phenomenon responsible for the emergence of the underclass is the continuing increase in illegitimate births. Almost one in three children is now born outside marriage. For the great majority of children born to unmarried women, father will be a fleeting presence in their lives or missing altogether.Marriage in Britain is under attack both culturally and economically. Culturally marriage has been disdained in recent years and its core values of fidelity, permanence and duty have become unfashionable and scorned. Morality is regarded as boring. Economically, the tax and benefit laws have given preference to singlehood over marriage. State hand-outs encourage girls to have babies outside marriage and discourage fathers from setting up home. Parenting and family discipline are therefore in decline and this has led to an increase in a wide range of social problems. Charles Murray, The Sunday Times, 22 May 1994 1. What does each writer say is wrong with the family? 2. What is similar about the two accounts?

1. In 1849 Beggs was critical of working mothers because they were not focusing on their 'proper' roles, the care of children and domestic duties. Young people consequently were not controlled by parents and often turned to crime. Young women in particular were not taught domestic skills by their mothers and their failure to keep a 'decent' home often turned their husbands to drink. 150 years later, Murray is also critical of illegitimacy and single mothers. He suggests that children born outside marriage lack the role model of a father-figure. Parenting and discipline are in decline and children born into these circumstances may turn to crime. He suggests that marriage is on the decline as are the ideas of fidelity and duty. He blames the welfare state for encouraging men not to work and women to have babies outside marriage. 2. The pictures of family life in the two passages are quite similar. Both seem to suggest that family life in the past was somehow better than it is now: that there existed a 'golden age' of the family.

Spend five minutes thinking about what you see as being the key issues underlying divorce rates. Bear in mind: 1. social change 2. changes in the role of women 3. changing expectations of marriage 4. legal change 5. secularisation.

1. Social change: some sociologists point out that in the past the extended family - grandparents and other relatives - could provide help and support; however today nuclear families are more isolated. Feminists suggest that the nuclear family is emotionally overloaded and that these tensions can lead to break-up and divorce. Postmodernists note that marriage may be viewed as a consumer item and, if it does not come up to scratch, people may turn to divorce and seek more satisfactory partners in the marriage marketplace. 2. The increased number of working women raises the question of who carries out domestic duties (Gershuny et al, 2005). Women may have more economic independence to escape from traditionalist male attitudes about housework and childcare. In 2012 two-thirds of divorces were initiated by women. 3. The new right claims that another factor in the increase in divorce rates has been what they see as overly generous welfare packages which make it 'easier' for couples to separate. Some argue that divorce has risen because marriage is increasingly valued. Divorce is seen as preferable to an empty-shell marriage - a marriage in name only. Already in 1979 Thornes and Collard noted that women's expectations of marriage as measured by surveys seemed to be higher than those held by men - women were looking for more than just companionship and economic stability. Bernard (1982) also noted that marriage tended to be interpreted in different ways according to gender. In her surveys, she found that men expressed higher levels of satisfaction with their marriages compared with their wives. 4. The Divorce Act 1969 and the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973 brought changes to the law and this led to an increase in the divorce rate. However it is possible to argue that the law has relatively little impact on individual decisions to end a marriage. 5. Society is experiencing secularisation - a decline in the influence of religious institutions and beliefs. Consequently, marriage may no longer be seen as a sacred duty, and divorce no longer carries the shame and stigma of previous years. - Other social changes may also have an impact. For example, Valenzuela et al (2014) found a correlation between divorce and use of social networking sites such as Facebook.

1. Define the term 'Living apart together relationships'. (2 marks) 2. Using one example, briefly explain why people may choose a living apart together relationship. (2 marks)

1. The textbook defines a living apart together relationship as a 'long-term, committed, intimate relationship' where two people see themselves as a couple but live in separate households. 2. People may choose a living apart together relationship for practical or emotional reasons. For example, they may work, or have children from an earlier relationship, in different parts of the country - or even in different countries.

Read the passage below, in which Bernardes is describing family ideology: Despite a common-sense belief that 'no two families are the same', there is a clear and popular belief that something called 'the family' or 'the nuclear family' does exist. When asked, people are often puzzled as to why anyone should ask the question because the answer is 'so obvious'. The majority will, if pressed, present an image surprisingly like sociological definitions of 'the nuclear family'. Despite enormous real world variation and diversity, a common and popular image of the 'nuclear family' portrays a young, similarly aged, white, married couple with a small number of healthy children living in an adequate home. There is a clear division of responsibilities in which the male is primarily the full-time breadwinner and the female primarily the care-giver and perhaps a part-time or occasional income earner. There is something very strange about this image: it is quite simply unrealistic. Most simply put, this image of 'the family' omits the rich detail of everyday living and certainly ignores any possible 'negative' side of family living. It is equally clear that this simple model of 'the family' has not reflected the realities of people's lives at any stage in recorded history. This model does not allow for divorce, single parenthood, family abuse, sickness or impairment, cultural and ethnic diversity, poverty, homelessness and very many other important variations. The model of 'the nuclear family' does not reflect my experiences as a son, a husband, a father. This model does not speak of the experiences of those I know and love: relatives, friends, wife, children. From: J. Bernardes, Family Studies: An Introduction, Routledge, 1997, pp. 2-3 1. Explain the traditional view of a 'proper' family. 2. What family forms does Bernardes say are common, but not found in the traditional view of a family? 3. To what extent does your family fit the traditional view of a 'proper' family?

1. The traditional view of the family suggests that it consists of a married, heterosexual couple with children. The male works to support the family financially and the female is mainly engaged in child rearing. 2. Aspects of the family like: divorce, single-parenthood, family abuse, sickness and disability, cultural and ethnic diversity, poverty and homelessness, among other situations. Bernardes therefore believes that the ideology is unrealistic. 3. Even if your family does resemble the norm described in the extract, you can probably think of several families you know that do not resemble it.

What are Murdock's four main functions of the family?

According to Murdock, the four universal functions of the family are: reproductive - to provide a stable environment for the birth and rearing of children; sexual - to provide a socially approved context for sexuality; socialisation - to help children to learn the culture and values of their society and to build shared values and beliefs; and economic - cooperation between family members and the sexual division of labour contributes to the wider society's economy.

Using one example, briefly explain how families help bring about value-consensus according to functionalists. (2 marks)

According to functionalists, families bring about value-consensus by socialising their children into the shared values and norms of the general culture. For example, they encourage children to respect discipline at school and to do their homework.

The new right perspective

Although the functionalist view of the family came in for considerable criticism in the 1960s and 70s, it was not long before similar ideas were back on the agenda. From the late 1970s new right thinkers like Charles Murray (1994) argued that: - the nuclear family is indeed the 'normal' family type - children need a stable home with a married mother and father - the welfare state has undermined the family with state handouts for single parents - a decline in 'family values' has led to major social problems. The new right suggests that increases in illegitimacy and single parenthood are symptoms of moral decline and promiscuity. They especially point to the fact that the UK has the highest rate of teenage pregnancy in Europe. Single parent families have been particularly demonised by the new right, who see them as unsuccessful parents and even a deviant underclass. For example, Norman Wells, Director of the Family Education Trust, writing to The Independent on 20 October 2012, said: In legal terms, marriage is heterosexual, monogamous and lifelong. These three elements stand together. If the heterosexual character of marriage is discarded, the experience of other countries shows that its monogamous character immediately comes under threat. Iain Duncan-Smith, Conservative work and pensions minister in the Cameron government and founder of the Centre for Social Justice, has sought to implement several new right policies in government. Examples of these policies included the married couples tax allowance as well as a series of cuts in benefits. The UK-based Family Education Trust argue that 'the traditional family based upon a married father and mother is still the best environment for raising children, and it forms the soundest basis for the wider society'. As we saw for education in Section 2, these ideas have had an important impact on government attitudes towards the family; for example, John Major's 'Back to basics' campaign in 1993. We shall look at the impact on policy in the next topic.

Define the term 'empty-shell marriage'. (2 marks)

An empty-shell marriage is one no longer based on love or intimacy - the couple remain together for practical reasons only.

Define the term 'ideology'. (2 marks)

An ideology is a set of ideas and ideals that have become very powerful but which may not be founded in reality. In some cases they may be used to justify some type of inequality.

Reconstituted families

Another key trend, following the increase in the divorce rate, has been the phenomenon of reconstituted, step or 'blended' families. It was not until the 2001 Census that stepfamilies were identified fully. At this time there were 631,000 reconstituted families with dependent children in England and Wales. By 2011 this figure had fallen by 14% to 544,000. This represents 11% of all couple families with dependent children (ONS, 2014). Of those, over half (346,000) were married relationships and the remainder (285,000) were cohabitating. The reasons for the fall in the number of reconstituted families are not clear. The ONS suggests that it may be at least partly due to two of the changes we have already discussed: - the increasing age of mothers - the growth of living apart together relationships. 85% of the families included children from the woman's previous relationship; 11% included children from the man's previous relationship; and 4% included children from both partners' previous relationships. Gorell-Barnes et al (1998) found that the routes to this situation are many and various: some parents will have been married and others not, some children may live full time in the newly formed family and others may only live in it part time. There are significant differences between the experience of remarriage after death, for instance, than remarriage when the former partner is still very much present in the child's life. Allen et al (2011) points out that life in stepfamilies can be complex. Where both partners bring children, a very strong commitment is required as there can be many tensions and rivalries between stepchildren. Family and household diversity: We have already seen how a number of changes have led to greater diversity in families than was the case 50 years ago.

Changing patterns of marriage

As we have seen, marriage has changed significantly in the last 50 years. There are many fewer marriages and 70% of marriages are civil ceremonies rather than religious ceremonies. In 2014 of the 26.7 million households in the UK, 18.6 million were families (ONS, 2015). Of these: - 12.5 million were married couple families (610,000 were civil partners) - of these just 4.8 million had dependent children - 3 million were lone parents - 3 million were cohabiting straight couple families - 840,000 were cohabiting gay couple families. In addition, there were 7.6 million one-person households. We can see from these figures that almost a third of families - and over a half of households - did not contain a married couple. Indeed only just over a quarter of families - and less than a fifth of households - in any way resembled the ideal nuclear family of Talcott Parsons or Charles Murray. Add to that the fastest growing type of family were cohabiting couples - up by almost a third compared to 2004 - and we can see that patterns of marriage do appear to be rather different from when Parsons was writing in the 1950s. At the same time, Chester (1985) and Bernardes (1985) argue that New Right fears about the decline of marriage are misplaced. The fact that a third of marriages in 2014 included at least one person who had been through a divorce suggests a continuing belief in the idea of marriage. The Office for National Statistics defines a family as 'a married, civil partnered or cohabiting couple with or without children, or a lone parent with at least one child who live at the same address'. The issue that sociologists have to address is: does the evidence suggest that marriage is not working, or that family life is changing to suit the changing needs of people - or of the prevailing economic system - in the twenty-first century?

Defining the family continued

Bernardes goes on to argue that family ideology is a problem because it has resulted in too much attention being paid to white, middle-class, two-parent families. Other kinds of kinship and domestic arrangements are undervalued, considered abnormal or even labelled as deviant. Within sociology, there are similar debates and different ideologies. Functionalist sociologists like Murdock and the new right tend to view families as good for individuals and for society, while Marxists point out that families benefit the wealthy and feminists suggest that males benefit from family life more than women do. Marxists and feminists share the view that ordinary family life hides inequalities of power and control, where children and women are vulnerable to exploitation. They argue that structural inequalities exist: - within families (e.g. in terms of equal opportunities and expectations for men and women) - between families (e.g. in terms of differences in social class and ethnicity). Postmodernists in contrast argue that families today are just too diverse to make generalisations like these.

Social policy and the family

Britain, unlike other European nations, had neither a government ministry for family affairs nor a unified set of policies specifically aimed at the family, at least until the 1997 Labour government which in 1998 produced the green paper Supporting families: a consultation document and in 2003 appointed the first Minister for Children. In 2010 the Conservative and Liberal Democrat coalition appointed a Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Children and Families within the Department for Education. Their responsibilities include: - adoption, fostering and residential care home reform - child protection - special educational needs and disability - family law and justice - children's and young people's services - school sport. Nevertheless, a state policy on the family has long existed, as demonstrated through a series of laws. Marriage is a legal form of contract. And it can indeed be argued that British law is very supportive of marriage. For example: - Unmarried couples do not have the same legal rights as married or civil partners do. - Married couples have automatic property rights (so they may inherit property), automatic parent status (so they have rights to see a child) and automatic pension rights (so they have a right to part of their partner's pension), even if the marriage subsequently breaks up. - Widows and widowers do not pay inheritance tax, although unmarried partners do. - Unmarried fathers have no legal rights in relation to their children unless they are named on the child's birth certificate and even then, their legal situation is not as clear as it is for married fathers. These legal rights are known as parent status and include the right to make medical decisions for a child or to have access to a child. The Conservative government 1979-97 As the textbook suggests, the Conservative government 1979-97 was influenced by the new right. To some extent this was a reaction against the liberal legislation that had been brought in during the late 1960s and early 1970s.

Define the term 'creative singlehood'. (2 marks)

Creative singlehood is the decision not to have children, which is taken by some people who focus instead on their lifestyle.

Divorce

Divorce is the legal ending of a marriage and in the UK is covered by several laws including The Family Law Act 1996. To seek a divorce a couple has to prove that the marriage has broken down irretrievably. This is done by giving evidence of any one of five facts: - the adultery of the other spouse - the unreasonable behaviour of the other spouse - two years' desertion - the couple has lived apart for two years and the other spouse consents to divorce - the couple has lived apart for five years (no consent needed). The law does not permit divorce in the first 18 months of marriage but, providing that neither of the parties objects to the divorce and there are few complicating factors such as property problems or disagreements over child custody, the whole procedure can be completed within four to six months on average. Reasons for changing divorce rates: As Figure 5.3 in the textbook shows, from the 1960s to the 1990s divorce rates rose rapidly, though since then they have fallen slightly and there are short-term fluctuations. Currently two in five marriages ultimately end in divorce.

Define the term 'family ideology' in your own words. (2 marks)

Family ideology is a set of ideas that say what a correct family is, i.e. a nuclear family with a sexual division of labour.

Using one example, briefly outline why feminists are critical of family ideology. (2 marks)

Feminists claim that family ideology is a set of ideas designed to ensure that men retain control of the home and workplace. For example, Barrett and McIntosh (1991) went as far as to claim that family ideology is antisocial because it dismisses other family types as being inferior, deviant and irrelevant.

Using one example, outline the general trends in divorce statistics since 1969. (2 marks)

Following the 1969 Divorce Act and the 1973 Matrimonial Causes Act the trend was upwards until divorce statistics peaked at 163,000 in 1993. Since then there have been annual fluctuations but the overall rate had fallen to 130,000 by 2012.

Thinking back to the introduction of gay marriage in the UK, note down forces in society that: - drove the change - resisted the change.

Forces driving the change included: - The belief that it was fair for gay couples to have equal rights. - The impact of the gay rights movement. - The fact that more people - including prominent personalities - are openly gay. - Legal protection: there are tax concessions, property rights and inheritance rules which protect married couples. Forces resisting the change included: - Continuing prejudice and homophobia. - Aspects of the familial ideology we met in Topic 1 - for example, a fear that the change would further endanger the traditional nuclear family. - The belief that children should be brought up by a man and a woman. - Religious sensitivities. We can draw two key points out of this. Firstly, there are important divisions within public opinion about the family. Some of the forces resisting change form part of the family ideology we met in Topic 1 - a set of ideas and beliefs about what families should be like. Many of these ideas are supported by the new right (e.g. Wells 2012) and opposed by Marxists and feminists (e.g. Michele Barrett and Mary McIntosh 1991). This ideology is often supported by parts of the media. Politicians are painfully aware of this, and the fact that they could lose votes by advocating changes to family policy. Secondly, this is another example of where the Sociology parts company with common sense views of the world. For example, many people share the belief that children should be brought up by a man and a woman. However for a sociologist it remains a belief. The role of the sociologist is to find out whether there is any evidence that supports such ideas and to test them through an accepted set of research procedures, as we saw in Section 3.

Outline three features of the functionalist view of the role of the nuclear family. (6 marks)

Functionalism is a 'consensus' view of society; it argues that if everyone plays their role then the whole society benefits. A 'typical' nuclear family includes a married, heterosexual couple, with children. It also has the traditional sexual division of labour - that is, the male is the breadwinner and the female is the carer.

Lone parent families

In 2014 there were 2 million lone parents with dependent children in the UK. Women accounted for 91% of lone parents (ONS, 2015). Look at Figure 5.6 which shows that less than one fifth of lone parents have never married or cohabited; and that almost half of lone parents were previously married.

Topic 2 - Politics, social policy and the family

In Britain, leaders of public opinion have been speaking and writing about the 'decline of the family' almost continuously for the past 200 years. Nowadays social problems such as juvenile crime, teenage pregnancies and welfare dependency are often identified as being symptoms of a decline in family values. Government policy and legislation that affects families has tended to reflect a specific family ideology which at times has been at odds with the changing social reality. In this topic we look at factors that inform family policy and at key examples of policy and legislation affecting families over the last fifty years.

Outline three reasons why the role of fathers has become more central to family policy. (6 marks).

In the last 20 years fathers have increasingly become the subject of family policy and legislation. In 1993 the Child Support Agency was set up to pursue absent fathers and make them take financial responsibility for their children. In 2003 paternity leave was introduced, giving fathers a minimum of two weeks off work and a minimum salary of £120 a week. In 2014 parents were given more choice over which parent could take parental leave, giving fathers the legal right to take longer off work to care for new children.

Summary of Politics, Social Policy and the Family

In this topic we have looked at the idea of family ideology and its influence on commonsense assumptions about family life. We have seen how family policy and legislation is influenced by the often conflicting views about the role of the family within public opinion. We have examined some of the main laws that have changed UK family policy from the 1960s to the present day, and the extent to which they have reflected, on the one hand, traditional family ideology, and, on the other hand, trends such as equal opportunities, changes in the family, multiculturalism and greater acceptance of gay rights.

The family, social structure and change

In this topic we have seen how the family is at the centre of some important sociological debates. For example: - In the 1970s feminists took issue with the functionalist notion that the family is 'good for society'. - More recently the new right focus on 'traditional family values' has been contested by postmodernists like Judith Stacey. Functionalists, feminists and Marxists all share the view that families exist to socialise children and that women are associated with domestic labour. What differs between the perspectives is that functionalism sees this arrangement as being very positive. From their point of view, society needs families to ensure that society itself survives. Marxists and feminists view this arrangement more negatively because not everyone benefits from family life equally.

Topic 3 - Changing families

In this topic we will look at some of the changes to the family that have taken place in recent years. We will examine trends in divorce and changing patterns of marriage. We will then go on to look at the changes in childbearing, and at what happens after an initial marriage fails: remarriage, stepfamilies and reconstituted families. We will finish by looking at the diversity in families in the UK today.

Summary of Changing families

In this topic you have learned about the patterns in, and also the causes for, the decline in marriage, the increase in cohabitation and births outside marriage, the increase in marital breakdown and the increase in single-parent families. You have seen how the new right view these trends as potential symptoms of family decline, and how other sociologists conclude that they are a sign that family life is evolving rather than declining. As Bernardes argues, the family experiences examined in this topic are all just as relevant and illustrate the richness and diversity of family life in Britain today. Within Britain, it is as well to be aware that a family can often be a very fluid structure. Some relationships are life-long and very significant, for example parent and child relationships. Even so, the nature of that relationship may change over a very short length of time as children grow up and leave home. Other relationships may be relatively short-lived; whilst some marriages last many years, others end swiftly and each partner will move on to form another family.

Meet the researcher Judith Stacey

Judith Stacey (1996, 2011) is professor of social and cultural analysis at New York University. She studied working-class extended families in California and found that, in adapting and responding to social change they 'had moved further away from the (no longer) modern family'. Within the families she studied the conventional nuclear family model was no longer the norm. She used the term postmodern families to describe 'the contested, ambivalent and undecided character of our contemporary family cultures'. In her study she found that modern family arrangements are 'diverse, fluid and unresolved'. She takes issue with the new right's view of family values and calls for more respect for 'creative and heroic' postmodern families.

Using one example, briefly explain why the nuclear family is generally dysfunctional according to feminists. (2 marks)

Marxist feminists and radical feminists in particular argue that the nuclear family is dysfunctional, because it has negative consequences both for women and for children. For example, they argue that the nuclear family reinforces patriarchy - at best this reduces the role of women to home workers and at worst it can lead to abuse.

Using one example, briefly explain how families conceal the degree of exploitation in society, according to Marxists. (2 marks)

Marxists argue that families help to promote the ideology which conceals exploitation in society. For Althusser they are part of the ideological state apparatus aimed at maintaining exploitation and class inequality. The family helps to transmit capitalist values to children to prepare them for a working life of exploitation.

The feminist perspective

One of the most important challenges to the functionalist view of the family came with the growth of feminism and the women's movement. Feminists took issue with Parsons' ideas of the 'expressive role' and the 'warm bath' theory. Writers like Ann Oakley (2005) argue that the exploitation of women is the key characteristic of family life. Nuclear families have evolved so that men could dominate women, who are often unpaid carers. - Marxist feminists like Margaret Benston (1972) have focused on the economic function of the nuclear family - that is, the small family group of parent(s) and children - for the benefit of capitalism, noting how the family produces the future labour power required by the capitalist system free of charge and how it maintains the present workforce so that it works effectively. Men benefit from family life because in the home they take on the dominant role, acting in the family as capitalism does for society. - Radical feminists see the nuclear family as primarily functioning to reproduce and maintain patriarchy. It allows men both to control how families are organised and to have responsibility for family assets. Radical feminists Delphy and Leonard (1992) go so far as to suggest it is not the breakdown of the nuclear family that is a problem, but rather its continuing existence, associated as it is with exploitation of women and children, unequal access to resources and power, and also providing women and children with little alternative but to tolerate the situation they find themselves in. - Liberal feminists focus more on the struggle for female emancipation through measures such as maternity leave, maternity pay and equality legislation. Feminists also argue that, because the nuclear family is seen as a 'special' institution, child abuse and domestic violence may go undetected, overlooked or even trivialised. Women may be reluctant to leave abusive partners because either they believe breaking up the family unit is a greater evil or they blame themselves for being 'poor' mothers and wives. You will need to consider how true it is that women still carry the burden of domestic work and care. Gershuny et al (2005) point out that views on this topic are the subject of some dispute. They argue that 'lagged adaptation' is taking place - that roles are changing but that this is quite a slow process.

Some conclusions about divorce

Over recent years, the statistics suggest that marriages are less stable than in the past and people are now less likely than before to live as man and wife and may have children without getting married. The ease with which a divorce can be obtained and the legal terms for a divorce changed significantly throughout the twentieth century However, divorce statistics only give one insight into the breakdown of family relationships, and comparisons between past and present-day marital breakdown are difficult to make. Without divorce, some marriages can still break down or become empty-shell marriages. And, paradoxically, it can be argued that high rates of divorce and remarriage reflect higher expectations of marriage. One of the effects of increasing divorce has been to produce other family arrangements, such as single parents and reconstituted families, and we will look at these later in the topic.

What does Parsons mean by the 'primary socialisation of children'?

Parsons believed that children only become social adults by taking in the values and norms of the society they are born into. The nuclear family's function includes this primary socialisation of children and this means producing young members of society who are committed to rules and patterns of behaviour that make social life possible.

The functionalist perspective on families and households continued

Parsons recognised that the roles of the family may change to reflect the changing needs of society. He described this as functional fit. He argued that in modern societies some of Murdock's functions have been taken over by other institutions such as the NHS and education system - he called this process structural differentiation. Parsons' ideas were not fashionable for long. Sociologists challenged his historical understanding of family structure - already in 1957 Young and Willmott found that extended working-class families still existed in the 1950s. Others argued that the weight of research evidence does not support Parsons' main argument. Parsons' case for the nuclear family ran counter to many of the ideas that emerged in the counterculture of the 1960s and people began experimenting with alternatives such as communal living. Feminists were quick to criticise the 'expressive role' as patriarchal stereotyping of women. Social changes - which we will look at in detail in Topic 3 - have left the perspective looking somewhat dated. Factors such as the increase in divorce mean the 'traditional' nuclear family is less the norm than it was in the 1950s. Furthermore, the impact of globalisation and immigration from very different cultures has brought contrasting views about how families should be organised.

What does Parsons mean by the 'stabilisation of human personality'?

Parsons sees the sexual division of labour as helping to stabilise human personality. He argues that the man's instrumental role as breadwinner brings stress and anxiety; the woman's expressive role can counter this stress by providing emotional support. Indeed, he proposed a 'warm bath' theory where the family provides a warm and stable environment in which people can 'wash' away their cares and stresses.

Postmodernism and the family

Postmodernist sociologists reject the view that there exists an ideal family, responsible for reproducing culture and society. The postmodern outlook suggests that family life is characterised by diversity, choice and creativity, and that this is increasingly challenging existing norms about families. In particular: - Postmodernists argue that modern families are often unstable and can have many variant forms. - They take issue with the structuralist views of functionalists and Marxists and argue that they do not help to explain modern society. Writers like Anthony Giddens (1993) and Ulrich Beck (2014) have argued that there is much more diversity in family structures, gender roles and child-parent relationships. - They argue that because families are so diverse it is not possible to make easy generalisations. For this reason they criticise both those (functionalists and the new right) who argue that families are good for society and those (Marxists and feminists) who argue that they are exploitative. - Postmodernists claim that the old social norms and values are much less strong and that people now create their own families. Women, in particular, have choices they can make in their lives, so they expect more from long-term partnerships.

Outline three reasons why postmodernists challenge the new right's view of family values. (6 marks)

Postmodernists challenge the new right's view of family values in several ways. They argue that families are too diverse to make it possible to generalise about whether any type of family is 'good for society'. Postmodernists claim that the old social norms and values are much less strong and that people now create their own families. Judith Stacey takes issue with the pressure that the family values agenda puts on families and calls for more respect for 'creative and heroic' postmodern families.

Define the term 'secularisation'. (2 marks)

Secularisation is the decline in influence of religious institutions and beliefs.

From your knowledge and your reading, note down three trends that make the picture today rather more complex than the one described above.

Some of the key trends include: - There are fewer marriages than the peak of 450,000 in the early 1970s - just over 300,000 in 2012 though this did represent a small increase on previous years. - In 2012 70% of marriages were civil ceremonies. - The number of divorces has increased - just over 130,000 in 2012. - Remarriages have increased - in a third of all marriages in 2012 at least one partner had been married before. - There has been a continued increase in cohabiting. - There are more lone-person households reflecting changing patterns of marriage and longer lives. - More young people aged 20-34 live with their parents - just over a quarter in 2013. - There are more single-parent families. - There are more multi-person households when people share living accommodation. - People's experiences will be affected by their gender, social class and ethnicity. The figures quoted above come from the website of the Office for National Statistics

Using one example, briefly explain what is meant by the term 'functional' in relation to the family. (2 marks)

Stating that it is 'functional' means that the family is beneficial and has a positive outcome for society and the individuals who comprise it. For example, families provide a refuge from the stresses and strains of industrial life.

The Conservative and Liberal Democrat coalition 2010-2015

The Conservative and Liberal Democrat coalition of David Cameron came to power in the 2010 general election. Its policy towards the family reflected the uneasy alliance between the two parties. In 2006, a former leader of the Conservative party, Iain Duncan Smith, had linked family breakdown to drug and alcohol abuse, debt and failure to achieve academically. So when he became Secretary of State for Work and Pensions it was no surprise that he introduced major changes to welfare law designed to reduce benefits and force people back into work. Coalition policies included: - The Domestic Violence Disclosure Scheme (sometimes called 'Clare's Law') gave people the right to ask the police for information about whether their partner had a history of domestic violence. - The Welfare Reform Act 2012 introduced the 'universal credit' to replace most existing benefits and limit the amount of benefit an individual could claim. It also cut housing benefit for those in social housing deemed to have a spare room - what became known as the 'bedroom tax'. - The Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act 2013 extended marriage to gay, lesbian and transsexual couples. - The Children and Families Act 2014 aimed to give greater protection to vulnerable children. It also gave families more choice over which parent could take parental leave, and called on all divorcing couples to consider mediation. - The married couples tax allowance, which came into force in 2015, allowed spouses and civil partners to transfer up to £1000 of their personal tax allowance to their partner. The debates around family policy between new right, Marxist, feminist and postmodern thinkers will continue. Jacques Donzelot (1997), a student and colleague of Foucault, has argued that family policy has become a means of surveillance of families through agencies such as social workers and psychotherapists, and a form of state control aimed at the working class.

Outline three reasons why the new right was concerned about the family in the 1980s. (6 marks)

The New Right are an influential group of conservative (traditional) thinkers and politicians who have been vocal in their concerns over family life. They feared that during the 1960s and 1970s the family had been threatened by changes in social attitudes towards marriage and child rearing. They were also concerned about the impact of legislation such as the Equal Pay Act 1970 and the Abortion Act 1967. Writers like Charles Murray believe that an underclass of criminal, immoral and welfare-dependent people has developed.

The rise of cohabitation

The Office for National Statistics (2015) states that: There were nearly 3.0 million opposite sex cohabiting couple families and 84,000 same sex cohabiting couple families in the UK in 2014. Together cohabiting couple families account for 16.4% of all families in the UK ... For opposite sex cohabiting couple families there has been a statistically significant increase from 13% of all families in 2004 to 16% in 2014. Another study by Éva Beaujouan and Máire Ní Bhrolcháin (2011) found that over 50% of women - and somewhat fewer men - had lived with a partner by the time they were 25. Just 23% of women (and 10% of men) had been married by the same age. They comment that: More cohabiting couples separate without marrying, and fewer marry, than two decades ago. Cohabitation remains a relatively short-term type of relationship. At the tenth anniversary of moving in together, half of cohabiting couples have married each other, just under four in ten have separated, and slightly over one in ten are still living together as a couple, on the most recent figures. Murphy (2000) found that cohabitation is often regarded as being more unstable than marriage, the latter supposedly involving more commitment - if problems develop in a relationship married people are more likely to work at it, whereas cohabiting couples may, it is said, be less committed to do so. However Chandler et al (2004) have suggested that many couples do see cohabitation as a viable and long-term alternative to marriage.

The Sociology of personal life

The changing life course The textbook discusses how, until the 1960s, there was a 'typical' life course that was strongly influenced by cultural norms and values. It looked something like this: Birth - Life circumstances depend on parents Childhood 1-12 years - Dependence on parents Adolescence 13-18 years - Tension between child's dependency needs and demand for more responsibility and independence may result in conflict with parents Young adult - May still be living at home or living away as a student in higher education. This period involves movement towards almost full independence as choices are made in regard to education, work and courtship Adult-courtship phase - May lead to decisions about long-term commitment leading to cohabitation/marriage Cohabitation/ marriage - This marks an important shift in relations between children and parents, i.e. the final breaking away from parental controls Parenthood - Becoming parents may put the couple on a more equal footing with their parents - who now become grandparents, which may result in strengthening of extended kin networks as they offer support. Adult responsibilities become more focused with the hard work of childrearing. This may affect men and women in different ways. Marital breakdown is common in this period. Relations between couples and friendship networks may change Middle age - Children leave home, so the couple are alone again Retirement - This may create the opportunity to develop family roles, e.g. as grandparents Death of partner - This is statistically more likely to be the loss of the male partner. The family may respond in a variety of ways to an older relative being left alone The textbook also describes what Edmund Leach, a well-known social anthropologist, calls the 'cereal-packet norm' (referring to the type of pictures that often used to appear on cornflakes packets of happy families having breakfast together).

Types of extended family

The extended family includes not just a couple and children but also grandparents and other relatives such as aunts, uncles and cousins. The functionalist Parsons argued that in the modern era the extended family has been replaced by the isolated nuclear family and that links between relatives beyond the nuclear family have become a less important part of the structure of society. Young and Willmott's study of Bethnal Green in the 1950s found that extended kinship networks were the norm in this working class part of London: 68% of married men and 75% of married women lived within three miles of their parents. Many lived in the same street. Contact, especially between mothers and daughters, was as frequent as once a day. More recent research has suggested that links between relatives beyond the nuclear family remain an important part of the structure of society. Janet Foster's (1999) work in the East End of London showed that contact between grandparents, parents and children is still extremely important. Clarke and Roberts' (2004) research suggests that grandparents are now a significant emotional, financial and emergency support group for families and for many of them this is the most important relationship in their lives. McGlone et al (1999) note that the increasing number of elderly people has led to governments encouraging families to take more responsibility for their elderly relatives. Nonetheless, Charles's study of Swansea (2005) found that women now have less time to devote to maintaining kinship networks. Cultural diversity: The multicultural nature of modern British society also has an impact on the diversity of families. Beishon et al (1998) looked at family life among different ethnic groups. All the groups they studied were positive about marriage, though attitudes to divorce varied. The Pakistani and Bangladeshi families they studied favoured inter-generational households, while Indian families preferred adult children to live separately, but nearby. Barn et al (2006) also found that family networks were important but found concerns about the fragmentation that can arise from migration, and about problems associated with low income and poor housing. Single-person households: Figures from the Census show that there is a growing trend towards single-person households. - In 1961, these totalled about 14% of all households in Great Britain. - By 1991, they were 26.1% of households. - By 2011 they had risen to 28% of all households. There are several reasons for this: - Summerfield and Gill (2005) show that some of this rise is accounted for by rising life expectancy, which means that one spouse (more often the woman) is likely to outlive the other. - Jamieson et al (2003) point to the impact of factors such as relationship breakdown. - Chandler et al (2004) argue that there have been increases in the number of younger people who live in single-person households, whether because of a preference for solo living, relationship breakdown and a rejection of further cohabitations, or an increase in singlehood and non-family living. Another recent trend has been for more young people to stay at home or to move back home, whether in response to problems finding work or the difficulty in affording to buy their own houses.

Is lone parenthood a problem for society?

The increase in lone parenthood is seen as a problem by politicians and commentators, especially those on the new right, for several reasons: - Lone parenthood is often associated with poverty and deprivation. - Children may suffer from the absence of one parent. - Conservative politicians like John Redwood suggest that teenagers may deliberately get pregnant in order to be more likely to get a council house and claim state benefits - The estimated cost to the state in terms of welfare benefits is high. Benson (2006) argues that: Family breakdown exacts emotional and financial costs on families and society. A report produced for the Lords and Commons Family and Child Protection Group (Lindsay et al., 2000) calculated that the direct annual cost of family breakdown to the taxpayer exceeds £15 billion. The majority of this huge bill represents the excess of income support for single parent families that might reasonably be attributed to family breakdown. Benson, H, Bristol Community Family Trust (2006) By contrast: - It is important to be cautious when interpreting figures like those used by Benson because few children actually spend all their childhood in a single-parent household. Parents may cohabit or remarry and form reconstituted families. - McLanahan and Booth (1989) note that, while the children of single-parent families may achieve less well at school, this may result less from their lack of a second parent, and more from the fact that nearly half of all single-parent families live in poverty. - Lone parenthood may be the only way for some women to escape abusive relationships. - Some Marxists and feminists argue that problems can result from single parents being labelled negatively by society and its agencies such as the police, social workers and teachers. Jacques Donzelot (1997), while critical of both Marxists and feminists, has talked about the 'policing of the family' through these agencies. - Ford and Millar (1997) suggest that single parents may be just as skilled and successful at parenting as two-parent families. They point out that only 20% of lone parents have never lived with a partner, that few people choose lone parenthood and that many lone parents struggle with poverty, debt and hardship. Despite this, some see benefits in terms of independence and lone parents, as other parents, take pride in and love their children very much. Bernardes (1997) argues: Popular ideology presents parenting alone as 'less desirable' than dual parenthood. Yet often dual parenthood is subject to experiences similar to that of lone parenthood especially when one parent is working away from home, in the armed services or in prison. While Queen Victoria and Diana, Princess of Wales were single parents for many years, they were not thought of as 'problem parents'. Most concerns about the 'problem' of single parenthood are really concerns about poor single parents, usually single mothers, who are seen as both 'burdens' on the state and as producing children more prone to low educational attainment, unemployment and crime. However it is important to see single parenthood as a particular family pathway. Rather than blaming those involved, it may be more productive to consider that single parenthood may be a valid and constructive means of escaping relationships that are abusive or destructive for parents or children. We should positively support these single parents rather than blaming them, we should ensure that people are less likely to find themselves having to adopt this solution to their problems. Adapted from Bernardes, J, Family Studies: An Introduction, Routledge, 1997

Outline three reasons why the marriage rate has fallen in recent decades. (6 marks)

The marriage rate has indeed fallen in recent decades, although official statistics show that a majority of people still get married. There are several possible reasons for this. Chandler (2004) has suggested that many couples do see cohabitation as a viable and long-term alternative to marriage though Chester (1985) concludes that people are merely delaying marriage and cohabiting couples often marry when children are born. Secondly, some couples choose to live apart, whether for practical reasons or because of complications arising from earlier relationships. Thirdly, it is now more acceptable for gay couples to live together openly.

Using one example, briefly explain why the percentage of children born outside marriage has increased. (2 marks)

The proportion of children born outside marriage in the UK has risen steadily from 11% in 1979 to 47.5% in 2012. This is largely due to the growth in the number of cohabiting couples and reflects changing social attitudes which have reduced the stigma of a child being born out of marriage.

Define the term 'pure relationship'. (2 marks)

The pure relationship is one where people stay together because they want to, and because they find the relationship satisfying and rewarding. This contrasts with couples who stayed together 'for the children' or because divorce was a social taboo. Nonetheless the textbook points out that writers like Deborah Chambers (2012) argue that, while families have certainly undergone major changes, traditional values and norms continue to exert an influence. For example, many women still carry out the bulk of domestic work.

Using one example, briefly explain what is meant by the term 'individualisation' in relation to the family. (2 marks)

The term individualisation in the context of the family describes how traditional social bonds have been losing their influence. For example, the average age of people getting married is now in the mid 30s and while this is partly due to the increase in remarriages, it also reflects the reduced social pressure to get married, 'settle down' and have children.

Defining the family

The textbook defines the terms family (as a group of people who are related by kinship ties) and household (as a person or people living at the same address with shared living arrangements) and introduces the wide variety of forms of the family and household. As you will gather from your reading, trying to define the word 'family' can be difficult because throughout history and across cultures there are many different forms of social organisation which can be called 'families'. For example, read the extract below: In our society, we have come to expect that sexual activity, childbearing, maintenance and support of children and socialisation will all be focused upon the institution known as the nuclear family - a domestic unit composed of a man and woman in a stable marital relationship, with their dependent children. A distinguishing feature of the nuclear family is that only two adults are involved in all the activities concerned with the reproduction of children, that is, one woman and one man are simultaneously sexual partners, biological parents and social parents, and they are linked together by the marital tie. Adapted from T Bilton, Introductory Sociology, Macmillan, 1981, p. 255 You probably spotted straight away that this model of the nuclear family is already somewhat dated. Many couples today have stable, long-term relationships that involve living together (or even apart) outside marriage. As a result, many children are born nowadays to parents who are not married. Moreover, divorce statistics tell us that marriages are increasingly unstable and that the biological parents of children do not always live in the same home. Consequently, some biological parents may not share the day-to-day rearing of children. One-parent families, step-parents, gay couples may all bring up children. Moreover, some parents are exclusively social parents, such as people who adopt or foster children. Globalisation has made us increasingly aware of how other cultures organise family life, and within the UK different ethnic groups may place importance on different facets of family life. Despite this, a set of powerful ideas about what a family should be like have become regarded as 'common-sense' and ingrained in the public consciousness, even though these may have little basis in reality. As we saw in Section 1, a set of powerful ideas like this is referred to as an ideology - a set of beliefs about how something should be. In Britain, many people may share a family ideology - a set of ideas and beliefs about what families should be like - without necessarily being aware of it - for example, that only a single partner is acceptable. For this reason, they may view families that do not fit with their ideology - for example, people who have more than one partner - as being wrong or even immoral. However, many cultures accept multiple partners in marriage as being normal.

What are the main criticisms of the Marxist perspective on the family, according to the textbook?

The textbook suggests that social change - in particular changing attitudes towards marriage and the changing roles of women - leaves the Marxist perspective on the family looking a little dated.

The functionalist perspective on families and households

The traditional view of the family is in some ways similar to the ideas of the sociological perspective of functionalism. Functionalists assume the centrality of the nuclear family and focus on the 'functions' of the nuclear family for society and the individual - the useful or beneficial part that the family plays in maintaining society as a whole, and especially in maintaining social order. Functionalists argue that family structures have evolved and developed to suit the needs of capitalist society. Before industrialisation, extended families were the norm. During industrialisation, nuclear families developed. Men took on the family role of breadwinner, or 'instrumental leader', while women took on a domestic role caring for family emotions - the 'expressive role'. - George Murdock - an anthropologist who wrote in the middle of the twentieth century - Talcott Parsons - one of the leading functionalist thinkers from the 1950s.

Outline three reasons why there has been a growth in the number of lone parent families. (6 marks)

There are several reasons that may help to explain the growth in the number of lone parent families. Firstly, changing attitudes have meant that there may be less pressure on couples to marry if the woman becomes pregnant. Coupled with increased contraception this may mean that men feel less obliged to take responsibility for a child. Secondly, a number of women may choose lone parenthood as a positive choice. Thirdly, the greater financial independence of working women, coupled with the existence of state benefits, means that women are less dependent on a man to support a child than in the past.

Outline three reasons why people may choose to cohabit rather than to marry.

There are several reasons why people may choose to cohabit rather than to marry. Firstly, changing attitudes and the growth of secularisation mean that the social stigma once attached to 'living in sin' has almost disappeared. Secondly, other changes in marriage and particularly the rise in the divorce rate mean that more people prefer to experience living with a partner before committing to marriage. Beaujouan and Bhrolcháin (2011) found that half of cohabiting couples do go on to marry. Thirdly, the changing role of women has had an important impact; working women are more financially independent and may therefore regard the security of marriage as less essential than in the past. You could have also mentioned other factors, even the cost of weddings: in 2013 the average cost was in the region of £22,000.

Changes in childbearing

There have been two key trends in childbearing over recent years: 1. births outside marriage 2. delayed pregnancy. 1. Births outside marriage: According to the Office for National Statistics (2013), the proportion of children born outside marriage in the UK has risen steadily from 11% in 1979 to 47.5% in 2012, and indeed the ONS predicts that by 2016 more than half of babies will be born outside marriage. In practice, while some of these births are unplanned pregnancies for women without the support of a partner, many births outside marriage are to stable cohabiting couples, some of whom eventually marry. The ONS report comments: This continues the long-term rise in the percentage of births outside marriage/civil partnership, which is consistent with increases in the number of couples cohabiting rather than married or in a civil partnership. The new right tends to be concerned about this trend. However, many births outside marriage are registered to two parents living at the same address. And other sociologists point out that in any case, given the other changes in the family we have discussed, many children finish up living with at least one person who is not their biological parent. 2. Delayed childbearing Another important trend has been the increasing age of mothers. The same ONS report showed that in 2012: - the average age of mothers was almost 30 - the number of live births to women over 40 had quadrupled since 1982. In addition, ONS figures suggest that one woman in five will remain childless - twice as many as in earlier generations. Reasons for this decision include the following: - Many women may not want to interrupt career paths or to undermine promotion possibilities, which probably bring benefits in terms of independence and high living standards. - McAllister and Clarke (1998) found that childless couples often made a positive decision to remain childfree, either because they preferred to concentrate on their relationships with each other, or because they felt they could not measure up to their own high standards of parenting. - Many women choose to remain without children rather than accept a relationship they feel will not be sufficiently rewarding. Some sociologists have also referred to this group of women as indulging in 'creative singlehood'.

Outline three reasons why women are more likely to initiate divorce proceedings than men. (6 marks)

There is a wide range of reasons why women are more likely to initiate divorce proceedings than men. These can include frustration over traditional male attitudes towards housework, childcare and decision-making. Secondly, there is the fact that many women today have more economic independence. Thirdly, some sociological studies tell us that women may have higher expectations of marriage than men, and are more likely to be dissatisfied with marriage. In more extreme cases male domestic violence may lead to divorce.

Explain briefly why you think the New Right may have seen the following as negatively affecting the family: - the Equal Pay Act (1970) - the Divorce Reform Act (1970) - the Abortion Act (1967) - the decriminalisation of homosexuality (1967).

These laws were viewed negatively by the New Right because: - the Equal Pay Act strengthened women's rights in the workplace; the New Right has expressed anxiety about the effect of working mothers on the development of their children - they saw the easier availability of divorce as making marriage more 'disposable' and undermining the traditional family - some people argue that abortion - alongside the widespread availability of the contraceptive pill - undermines commitment to family life, especially among women - there was also an argument that decriminalising homosexuality could undermine the reproductive function of families. Margaret Thatcher established a Family Policy Group to look at changes to the tax and benefits system that might 'favour' the family. This led to some changes that reflected new right concerns - in the 1988 budget the government withdrew benefits from 16-18 year olds who refused to go on a training scheme, and ensured that cohabiting couples could not claim more in tax allowances than a married couple. At the same time, however, benefits to lone parents were increased and Child Benefit was frozen - both policies that would have dismayed the new right. Other specific laws and policies under the Conservative government included: - The Children Act (1989) enhanced the rights of children in the family. In 1984 divorce was made easier while in 1991 marital rape was made illegal. - In 1993 the Child Support Agency was established to pursue absent fathers and make them take financial responsibility for their children.

Topic 1 - Sociological perspectives on the family

This topic starts by looking at definitions of 'families' and 'households'. We then go on to review and evaluate the ways in which sociologists from a range of theoretical perspectives see the family functioning in modern-day society. We will in particular look at the family from the point of view of functionalists, the new right, Marxists, feminism and postmodernism. In the process we will consider the relationship of the family to the social structure and social change.

Summary of Sociological perspectives on the family

We have seen how the relationship between the family and the social structure has been an issue of debate with those who believe that the family is beneficial for society and individuals (functionalists) and at odds with those who believe that the family is an exploitative institution that only benefits a powerful minority (Marxists and feminists).More recently the impact of social change has shifted the debate somewhat. The new right has stressed the importance of the traditional nuclear family and what they call 'family values' while postmodernists argue that family life is much more complex than the structuralists and the new right would have us believe.

The context for family poilcy

When politicians venture into family policy, they are influenced both by the ideas we met in Topic 1, and by the opinions and beliefs of their electors. Public opinion about the family is of course highly nuanced. When both the French and British parliaments were debating laws about same sex marriage in 2013, this revealed important divisions within public opinion. Interestingly the laws were introduced by a Conservative government in Britain and a Socialist government in France, in the belief that attitudes towards homosexuality had changed and that it was time gay couples had the same rights and protection as straight couples. In France there were major demonstrations both against and in favour of the change, while in Britain, Prime Minister David Cameron found himself opposed by some of his own MPs but supported by much of the Labour party. Opposition came partly from those who - echoing the ideas of the new right - feared that the traditional family might be under threat; and also from those who objected on religious grounds - many of the French demonstrators were young Catholics. This example helps to illustrate the complexity of public opinion when it comes to family policy.

The Marxist perspective

While functionalists and the new right paint a very positive picture of the family, Marxists are altogether more critical about its role in society. Marx himself wrote relatively little about the family, and for many Marxists it is far less central an issue than the issues of class conflict and the organisation of work. Nonetheless Marx's collaborator Engels, in The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State (1884), argued that the family evolved to meet economic demands - as a means of passing private property from one generation to the next via inheritance. He also pointed towards the oppression of women within the family. The Marxists who have written on the subject have tended to focus on the family as a tool of ideology. For example Louis Althusser, whose work on education we met in Section 1, sees the nuclear family as an ideological state apparatus aimed at maintaining exploitation and class inequality. The family helps to transmit capitalist values to children to prepare them for a working life of exploitation. Writers like Simone de Beauvoir (1949) have also highlighted the family as a place of conflict, where the inequalities of the wider society are acted out within the confines of the home.

Suggest two ways in which functionalism may have an over-optimistic view of how real families operate.

While some families are indeed warm and nurturing places, this is not by any means true of all families. Many families break down. And some families are places of extreme danger for women and children, where men are able to vent their frustrations through violence and abuse.

The Labour government 1997-2010

he Labour government 1997-2010 continued some of the new right-influenced policy changes - for example, an emphasis on tackling antisocial behaviour. At the same time it introduced other laws that supported alternative models of the family - for instance the introduction of civil partnerships for gay couples. One of the first things the Labour government did was to publish the 1998 green paper Supporting families: a consultation document. Here is a summary of the document's key points: Outlined government proposals for practical family support based on clear principles that the interests of children are paramount; they need stability and security; government should offer support to families so they can better support children, rather than trying to substitute for parents. The approach concentrated on five areas: - access to advice and support for parents, the wider family and local communities, including the proposal for a National Family and Parenting Institute; - financial support including Child Benefit, Working Families Tax Credit, Child Care Tax credit, New Deal for Lone Parents, Education Maintenance Allowance; - helping families balance work and home life with various family-friendly employee arrangements and employment practice; - strengthening marriage and reducing the risks of family breakdown; - tackling serious family problems such as truancy and exclusions, youth offending, teenage parenthood, domestic violence.