Exam code: 8192
What term is commonly used by sociologists to describe the way that parents channel their children’s interests into toys, games and other activities that are seen as appropriate for their gender?
Canalisation
Discrimination
Idealisation
Intergenerational
Choose your answer
Was this exam question helpful?
Describe one example of patriarchy within families.
How did you do?
Was this exam question helpful?
Item B
Writing in 1976, Eli Zaretsky argued that the nuclear family had an economic function that served the interests of capitalism. He believed the family to be a key unit of consumption; in other words families bought and consumed the products of the capitalist economy.
He also believed that it was through the family that each social class reproduced itself over time. Through inheritance, the bourgeois family transmitted its private property from one generation to the next, whilst the proletarian family reproduced the labour force by producing future generations of workers.
Source: Zaretsky, E, Capitalism, the Family and Personal Life
From Item B, identify and describe one way in which Zaretsky saw the family as benefiting capitalist society, including what you know of his perspective on the family.
How did you do?
Was this exam question helpful?
Identify one function of the family and explain how you would investigate this function using a case study.
How did you do?
Was this exam question helpful?
Item B
Talcott Parsons (1959) studied the family in American society. However, his ideas can be applied to families in other societies. He identified two basic and essential functions that all families perform in all societies: primary socialisation and the stabilisation of adult personalities.
According to Parsons, in American middle-class families women provided emotional support to their children and their partner. The role of the male was family breadwinner.
Source: T Parsons, ‘The social structure of the family
From Item B, identify and describe one way in which the family can be seen as important for society, including what you know of Parsons’ perspective on the family.
How did you do?
Was this exam question helpful?
Item B
From their research on family life, Christine Delphy and Diana Leonard found that family life was not as symmetrical as Peter Willmott and Michael Young previously suggested. They view the family as a patriarchal institution that serves the interests of men.
Delphy and Leonard used data collected from previous studies. The studies suggested that women were exploited in the family. Women did the bulk of the domestic labour regardless of whether they did paid work outside the home too. Time at home for men was leisure time, whereas time at home for women was also work time. They argue that men benefit most from the family.
Source: Delphy, C, and Leonard, D, Familiar Exploitation, 1992.
From Item B, identify and describe one way in which Delphy and Leonard believed that women were exploited within the family, including what you know of their perspective on family life.
How did you do?
Was this exam question helpful?
Item B
Writing in 1976, Eli Zaretsky argued that the nuclear family had an economic function that served the interests of capitalism. He believed the family to be a key unit of consumption; in other words families bought and consumed the products of the capitalist economy.
He also believed that it was through the family that each social class reproduced itself over time. Through inheritance, the bourgeois family transmitted its private property from one generation to the next, whilst the proletarian family reproduced the labour force by producing future generations of workers.
Source: Zaretsky, E, Capitalism, the Family and Personal Life
From Item B, identify and describe one way in which Zaretsky saw the family as benefiting capitalist society, including what you know of his perspective on the family.
How did you do?
Was this exam question helpful?
Identify one function of the family and explain how you would investigate this function using questionnaires.
How did you do?
Was this exam question helpful?
Item B
From his research on family life, Eli Zaretsky argued that modern capitalist society creates the idea that the family is separate from the economy. However, he suggested that the family actually plays an important role in supporting capitalism. Zaretsky said that families act as units of consumption, buying goods and services that help keep the capitalist system going. He also argued that although the family seems to offer emotional support, this is only a temporary break from the stress and alienation people feel at work. Overall, Zaretsky believed that the family benefits capitalism more than it benefits its members. Source: Adapted from Zaretsky, E., Capitalism, the Family and Personal Life, 1976. |
From Item B, identify and describe one way in which Zaretsky believed that the family served the interests of capitalism, including what you know of his perspective on the family.
How did you do?
Was this exam question helpful?
Discuss how far sociologists would agree that the main function of the family is to serve the needs of capitalism.
How did you do?
Was this exam question helpful?
Discuss how far sociologists would agree that the nuclear family is still considered the norm in Britain today.
How did you do?
Was this exam question helpful?
Discuss how far sociologists would agree that the traditional nuclear family is the most appropriate family type in which to raise children in Britain today.
How did you do?
Was this exam question helpful?
Discuss how far sociologists would agree that gender inequalities continue to exist within the family in Britain today.
How did you do?
Was this exam question helpful?
Discuss how far sociologists would agree that the nuclear family performs important functions for society.
How did you do?
Was this exam question helpful?
Discuss how far sociologists would agree that the key role of the family is to reproduce gender inequalities over time.
How did you do?
Was this exam question helpful?
Discuss how far sociologists agree that the family has lost its importance in Britain today.
How did you do?
Was this exam question helpful?