Getting to know each other Getting to know

Getting to know each other. Getting to know the Sociology of Families & Households.

1. Go round the room with your Bingo sheet and find people who can answer ‘yes’ to the statements in the boxes. Write their name in the box they correspond to. For example:

2. Central to our sociological study of Families and Households is social theory: different ideas and opinions about what the family is and what it should be. We’ll look at five different ‘flavours’ of social theory. It’s a bit like looking at the same thing through different types of lenses.

THE FAMILY

Marxism argues that: THE FAMILY And the responsibilities of it, distract everyone from their exploitation by the powerful and rich elite.

THE FAMILY

The New Right argues that: THE FAMILY must continue to uphold the values of marriage, traditional gender roles and be the site of our moral education. Families with worklessness and unmarried parents are dysfunctional and to be discouraged.

THE FAMILY

3. Using what you now know about sociological theory, get 6 felt tipped pens and make yourself a visual organiser that makes reference to all five sociological theories plus a ‘general’ category. Sort each question onto your bingo sheet into a category according to whether you think it relates to Functionalism, Marxism, Feminism, New Right, Postmodernism or is ‘general’. Then we’ll review.

4 Now you’ve done that can you identify whose views broadly fit into which sociological category in this room?

5. Some of the most important skills you’ll learn and apply in Sociology, are the arts of evaluation and criticism. Evaluation is where you can assess the usefulness of something, in this case, a sociological theory. Criticism is where you can identify problems with something, again, in this case, a theory.

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Homework: Due Wednesday p 5 • As you can see from the topic breakdown, your first topic is couples. • To be prepared for next lesson you need to do the reading on the domestic division of labour and answer the following questions: • 1) What roles does the functionalist scholar Parson’s say exist in the family? Describe an explain both roles, ensuring that you are clear about which gender does what. • 2) Are these roles joint or segregated? Explain why & ensure you link your answer to Bott’s definitions • 3) Wilmot and Young are critical of Parsons, arguing that there have been significant changes in family life, give examples of these changes and explain how Wilmot and Young use these to explain a shift in how the household roles are shared. Ensure that you include (and explain) the phrase march of progress in your answer. • 4) Ann Oakley however hugely disagrees with Wilmot and Young, why? What evidence does she have to support her criticisms and what research method did she use to find this out?