SOCI 250 Lecture Notes - Lecture 11: Physical Abuse, Visible Minority, Menopause
8 Jun 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
Lecture 11 (October 17th, 2017)
Family
! Family problems
•!What are family problems and why are we talking about them?
•!The family is not a social problem. The dysfunctions that happen within a family is a social
problem
•!Example:
o!Child abuse
o!Divorce
"!Can be very destabilizing
"!Tends to produce single-parent families in the case where there are children
•!This leads to poverty
o!Spousal abuse
•!Individual problems?
•!Social problems?
! Families
•!Some questions:
o!What purpose do families serve in societies?
o!Do families create problems for society or solve them?
•!Answers to these questions depend on one’s theoretical perspective.
! Theoretical perspective on the family: Functionalism
•!Family maintain the stability of society
•!Durkheim would say there are only a handful of institutions that affect social stability
o!Family being key
o!Religion being another
o!Punishment – social control – being a third key to create social stability
"!What happens when you violate social norms
•!Division of labor in society
o!We all need each other
o!Sense of inter-dependence because we have different skills and expertise
•!Just like that notion of broader society, so too is the family – like a mini society
o!We divide labor
o!Dad does this, mom does that…
•!Family makes it possible to do a number of functions efficiently
•!Notions of monogamy
o!Family regulates sexual behaviors
o!It contains it
•!Now, according to them, this is a very positive outcome because it reduces the probability of
single-parent outcomes which have negative consequences
•!If you have a process where you’re not regulating sexual behavior, which marriage in part
does, you’re having kids everywhere and you can’t really provide that stability if that’s the
case
•!Socializing children
•!Economic and psychological support
o!Only place where there are not really prescribed boundaries
o!There’s a prescribed boundary for your interactions with friends, colleagues… the
family is much more open and in some ways, this is the blessing and the curse of it:
it’s the breadth of what’s it engaged in family can often lead to the conflicts you see
in families, such as spousal and children abuse
o!In large parts, due to media representation of crime, we are afraid to engage in the
outside world – people who are afraid, stay home. And the prof says that looking at
the actual data, the most dangerous place we could ever be is our home
•!Families maintain the stability of a society.
•!Both Durkheim and Parsons see the family as a replica of the larger society and important in
its ability to establish a division of labor in the household.
•!Durkheim and Parsons believe that the division of labor in the household make it possible for
families to fulfill a number of functions efficiently and effectively.
o!It regulates sexual behavior
o!Socializing children (reinforce societal norms)
o!Economic and psychological support.
•!Provide social status (ascribed).
•!Functionalist believe that a healthy family can be the solution to many social problems but
that dysfunctional families can threaten the well-being of individuals, groups and nations.
•!POLICY???
! Theoretical perspective on the family: Conflict theorists
•!Agree with functionalist saying hat family is a replica of larger society
•!But functionalists see the positive elements about social stability, whereas conflict theorists
say that society is about power
•!Society is the source of social inequality in values, and that’s what translates in the family
•!Getting close to a feminist approach where this is patriarchal
•!Takeaway: these inequalities that you see in society are transferred into the home
•!It’s about power
•!Believe functionalist views are idealized and inadequate.
•!Source of social inequality and conflict over values, goals, and access to resources and
power.
•!Compared to workers at a factory where women are dominated by men at home just as
workers are dominated by managers.
•!Stay at home moms reinforce women’s subordination because the work is unpaid and
devalued.
! Theoretical perspective on the family: Feminist perspective
•!Women’s work at home is undervalued
•!Expectations about what I need in a partner are not changing very rapidly, but the facts on the
ground are
o!What is my role in a family?
o!The attitudes about how the divisions of labor/power in the household should be are
not changing rapidly, but the dynamics of the norm are changing rapidly
o!More and more women are making more than their partners
o!But so many men still contrast their identity as the principle earner
•!The second shifts
•!Family problems are due to inequality
o!Inequality is the driving force between a lot of problem that we see in the home
o!i.e.: spousal abuse
o!Solutions: increase education and occupational opportunities for women
"!Try to have more situations encouraging same status unions, but that’s not
really attached to feminist thought.
"!Driver of inequality from a feminist perspective = patriarchy
•!The problem is not capitalism
•!If you want equality, avoid marriage
•!Think the subordination of women began long before capitalism.
•!Female subordination rooted in patriarchy (supremacy of father in the family).
•!Women’s work at home is undervalued and men’s work as breadwinner is more valued.
•!Research has shown that most men are reluctant to relinquish their status as breadwinner.
While only 15% of families in Canada are supported solely by male breadwinners, most men
still construct their identity based on this role.
•!Even when women work they should not challenge roles in the home. Second shift.
•!Family problems are due to inequality (like Conflict theorists). Most notably, spousal abuse.
•!Solution – increase education and occupational opportunities for women?????
! Evolving trends on the family
•!One of the biggest trends is people who will never marry – doesn’t mean they’ll never have
kids, just never marry
•!How do we form families? We learn most of these stuff
o!What we’re learning is changing
o!Having babies and getting married isn’t a biological response to reproduction
o!How we get that done, aside from the biological part of it, we tend to form several
monogamy types of relationship, and this is what we learned to do – and it’s changing
– this is cultural more than biological
o!There’s a lot behind that. Some people say this is choice, sure, but there are
constraints on that choice, there is a lot of culture behind this decision! What do I
expect out of my life? what makes me happy?
o!This is based on what we learn and we change our behavior pattern once we learn
o!How many kids should we have? We learn how many kids are acceptable and
appropriate, and this is culture. Whereas biologically puts few boundaries on us:
according to biology, you should have kids until you start menopause so starting at
your period, every 9 months until age 50 you should have kids
•!Singlehood
o!10% of the population will never marry – this is an evolving trend – this is shifting
societal values
Document Summary
Family problems: what are family problems and why are we talking about them, the family is not a social problem. The dysfunctions that happen within a family is a social problem: example: o child abuse o divorce. Tends to produce single-parent families in the case where there are children: this leads to poverty o spousal abuse. Families: some questions: o what purpose do families serve in societies? o do families create problems for society or solve them, answers to these questions depend on one"s theoretical perspective. Try to have more situations encouraging same status unions, but that"s not really attached to feminist thought. Driver of inequality from a feminist perspective = patriarchy: the problem is not capitalism. While only 15% of families in canada are supported solely by male breadwinners, most men still construct their identity based on this role: even when women work they should not challenge roles in the home.
