Chapter 11, Section 2

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Chapter 11, Section 2

• Theoretical Perspectives and the Family

2
Functionalism

• The family plays many roles including socializing
  the young, providing social and emotional
  support, managing reproduction, transmitting
  social status, and serving as an economic center
• Socialization
• Teach a child what he or she must learn to
  participate in society
• By being role models and through training and
  education, the family continues the process of
  socialization in each stage of development

3
Functionalism

• Socioemotional Function of the family
• Socioemotional maintenance provision of
  acceptance and support
• Family members accept one another as they are
• Provide support when adjusting to changing norms
  and in developing and continuing healthy
  relationships

4
Functionalism

• Reproduction
• Society cannot survive without new members
• Transmit social status
• Provide economic resources that open and close
  occupational doors
• Pass on values that affect social status
• Affects the placement of children in the
  stratification structure

5
Functionalism

• Economic function
• The modern American family is a unit of
  consumption rather than production
• Adult members are employed outside the home and
  pool their resources to buy what they need
• The family provides what is needed to survive

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Conflict Theory

• Focus on the way family members compete and
  cooperate
• Many family systems have had built-in gender
  inequality
• Males are dominant and in control females have
  generally been expected to be submissive helpers
• Traditionally, males work outside the home for
  finances to support the family while women remain
  at home to prepare meals, keep house, and care
  for the children

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Conflict Theory

• Women are unpaid laborers who make it possible
  for men to earn wages
• Since men are in control of the money, wives and
  mothers are kept in a dependent and powerless
  role
• Writers and activists who organize on behalf of
  womens rights and interests are called feminists
• Todays feminists view the family from the
  conflict perspective

8
Conflict Theory

• Believe that family structure is the source of
  the inequality between men and women in society
• Attempts by women to gain more power within the
  family structure can result in conflict

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Symbolic Interactionism

• A key to understanding behavior within the family
  lies in the interactions among family members and
  the meanings that members assign to these
  interactions
• During socialization, children develop
  self-concepts and learn to put themselves
  mentally in the place of others

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Symbolic Interactionism

• Interactions with adults help children acquire
  human personality and social characteristics
• Relationships within the family are constantly
  changing
• Changes occur as newly married couples struggle
  with problem issues such as chores and
  responsibilities, personality clashes, and
  in-laws
• The arrival of children leads to a new set of
  adjustments
• Parental views may differ

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Assignment

• Section 2 Assessment (p.361) 1
• Vocabulary crossword puzzle