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Topic/Objective: Introduction to Families & Households
Starter Activity: What do we mean by Family?
Define what is meant by Families and
Households?
Explain some ‘social facts’ about the Family
in the UK.
Evaluate whether family is a universal
concept and whether we need them?
Nuclear
Bean-Pole
Reconstituted
Lone Parent
Cohabitation
Singleton
Same-Sex Familes
1. Individual Task - Draw a family
In Groups 1. Define what is meant by ‘family’
2. What is the purpose of a family?
3. Are families a good thing or bad thing?
Sociological Imagination: Disclaimer
The problem with studying the
Family is that we are all experts!
We have been borne into and
socialised into our roles.
The key to studying the family is to
step back from these taken for
granted assumptions and look at
the family critically.
• The word ‘family’ comes from the Latin
‘familia’ – which means household or
servant.
• It is also linked to the word
‘familiar’...what might this mean?
Family and Households
Nuclear
Lone Parent
Bean-Pole
Extended
Reconstituted
Same-sex
families
Singletons
Households
Cohabitation
Key Questions:
• What is the difference between a family and a
household?
• Are families a universal concept?
• What family types are there in the UK?
• Very famous sociologist
• He defined the family as the following:
‘ The family is a social group characterised by
common residence, economic cooperation and
reproduction. It includes adults of both sexes, at
least two of whom maintain a socially-approved
sexual relationship, and one or more children,
own or adopted, of the sexually cohabiting
couples. ’
The Universality of ‘Family’
Do families exist in all
cultures?
Murdock
• Some form of family exists in every society.
• “social group characterised by common
residence, economic co-operation and
reproduction. It includes adults of both sexes,
at least two of whom maintain a socially
approved sexual relationship and one or more
children, own or adopted.”
Variations of this…
Britain and Ireland
•
•
•
•
Traditional nuclear
Extended
Reconstituted
Cohabiting
Banaro of New Guinea
• The families live in a
communal house, divided
into apartments for each
nuclear family
• Husband does not have
sexual relations with his
wife until she has borne a
child by a friend of his
father.
• The parent child
relationship therefore is not
biological.
Nayar of Kerala
• Two types of marriage:
• talikettu kalyanam (tali [necklet]-tying
ceremony);
• sambandham (the customary nuptials of a
man and woman).
• Matriarchal relationships
Nayar of Kerala
• The only duty of the wife is to attend his funeral and
mourn his death.
• Nayar girls can take on many ‘visiting’ husbands.
• The husbands spend much time away from the
villages so on return choose a wife to stay the night
with.
• These husbands have no duty towards their
offspring.
• Husbands may give their wives ‘tokens’ but it is
frowned upon if they do this regularly.
Is Murdock’s definition too narrow?
• Growth of same sex relationships to include
children.
• Growth of matriarchal families – high in
western societies.
• Do you think people have always lived in
families?
• Murdock seemed to think the family had a social,
economic and reproductive function.
• What other functions could there be?
• We will consider this more when we look at
Functionalism.
• Many sociologists try to avoid using a
definition, and want to refer to ‘families’
rather than ‘the family’.
• Why might this be?
• To think of ‘the family’ rather than ‘families’
seems to suggests that there is only one type.
• It is almost impossible to define the family
that fits with the range of domestic (home)
arrangements in our society,
Nuclear family
A pair of biological parents and their children.
Extended family
A family that includes three or more generations .
Usually includes Grandparents, their
sons/daughters and their children.
Also called ‘extended kinship networks’
Lone parent family
A family headed by one parent living with their
children.
Reconstituted family
A family that consists of two parents and their children
from previous marriages/relationships (and perhaps
the children from their relationship too)
‘Step families’
Polygamy
A type of marriage where there is more than one
spouse at a time.
Polyandry
A rare family structure where a woman has more than
one husband at one time.
Same-sex families
A family structure that is headed by two parents of the
same sex and their children (natural or adopted)
Family Life Cycle
In groups – Imagine how many different types of
family an individual might live in during their life
cycle.
Draw a diagram to represent this cycle.
Family or Families?
• How diverse are families in the UK?
• Is the Nuclear Family on the rise or decline?
Activity:
In groups use the social trends data to find out social facts about family
and households.
Robert Chester (1985)
Rise of the Neo-Conventional Family
For most people the nuclear Family remains the
most typical family type.
Single parent families come from nuclear families.
Singletons will eventually marry.
Chester believes the extent of family diversity has
been exaggerated.
Trends
In
the
family
Increase or decrease?
You tell me…
Stand up or sit down
whether you think the
trend has increased or
decreased over the past 50
years
1) The number of households…
2) Family size…
3) The number of young adults
living with their parents…
4) The number of marriages…
5) The number of remarriages…
6) The number of people
marrying later in life…
7) Divorce rate…
8) Single parenthood…
9) The number of people
having children later in life…
10) The number of one-person
households…
Intro to the Family – Exam Questions
1.
Explain what is meant by the term ‘Extended family’ (2 marks)
1.
Identify and explain 2 characteristics of Murdock’s (1949) definition of the
family (4 marks)
2.
Explain what is meant by the term ‘secondary socialisation.’ (2 marks)
3.
Think back to Murdock’s definition of the family. Identify and explain 2 types
of people he excludes (4 marks)
4.
What does Murdock mean by the ‘economic function of the family? (2 marks)
5.
Explain what is meant by the term ‘polygamy’ (2 marks)
6.
Explain what the term ‘reconstituted family’. (2 marks)
Plenary
• How can we best define Family?
• Is the Nuclear Family a thing of the past?
• Is the Nuclear Family a constant feature of
modern societies?
Point to discuss:
Is there such a
thing as an
‘ideal’ family
type?
Topic/Objective: Introduction to Families & Households
Starter Activity: What do we mean by Family?
Define what is meant by Families and
Households?
Explain some ‘social facts’ about the Family
in the UK.
Evaluate whether family is a universal
concept and whether we need them?
Nuclear
Bean-Pole
Reconstituted
Lone Parent
Cohabitation
Singleton
Same-Sex Familes