Sociology Essay

[Last Child of Ungoliant]

I am here posting an essay i wrote for my A-Level Sociology,
when i have had a few replies, I will post the marks and grade i was awarded
(see if you can guess first )

Assess the view that the family is a dying institution.

A popular debate in sociology concerns the idea that the family is a dying institution. To demonstrate this viewpoint, it is useful to refer to the ideology of the New Right sociologists, who claim that a decline in morals, including a rise in young, single mothers and a rise in divorce and juvenile delinquency has in turn led to the decline in the family. David Marsland claims that this is the result of the Welfare State being too generous, and that it has created a “Culture of Dependency”, which in turn takes money away from where it is more needed, for instance the Education system and the Health System. He claims it has created an incentive to stay unemployed, and has such weakened the family that the family is now in crisis, and under threat. His solution would be to cut welfare benefits to all but the neediest, the sick, the elderly and the disabled; a solution which Charles Murray would no doubt agree with. He claims that single mothers, his “New Rabble” of society, should have all their benefits cut completely, which would “starve them into marriage”, as he claims.

Further support for this argument can be taken from the work of John Redwood, who also cites single mothers as the reason for the decline of the family as a social body. He suggests four solutions to this problem; first, he would advocate seeking out the father, to get him to support the mother and child, secondly, he suggests that if the father can, or will, not help, then the grandparents should assist. Next would be to place the child up for adoption, if the grandparents can not help, and finally, if all the prior options have been thoroughly explored, and found to be unviable, then the state would intervene, by placing the child, and mother, in a hostel, where the mother would be able to finish her education, and enable her to go on to become a productive member of society, and not become a burden to the Welfare State.

A contrasting view is that of the Functionalists, who would argue that the family is far from dying; in fact it is the cornerstone of society. Murdock would argue that the family is not in any decline, but still performs four basic functions; Sexual, Reproductive, Economic & Educational, however, he ignores the fact that other institutions can perform these functions: Sexual function can be performed by prostitution, Reproductive by IVF treatment and sperm donorship, Economic by the Welfare State, and Educational functions by schools and colleges. He also ignores the phenomena known as the “Dark Side” of the family, or dysfunctions, for instance domestic violence, and divorce.

Support for the Functionalist argument can be drawn from the studies conducted by Talcott Parsons. He claimed that the family provides two basic functions. Up to the age of about five years, the family conducts the primary socialisation process, which entails teaching Norms and Values to the child. The other function performed by the family is the Stabilisation of Adult Personalities, also coined his “Warm Bath” Theory. The result of this function is that the family is there to relax the adults, and prevent them from going insane. A criticism of Parsons is that he also ignored the “Dark Side” of the family, and also that he only viewed white, middle classed families in the United States of America.

[Last Child of Ungoliant]

Another issue relevant to this debate is that of the Marxists. They would argue that the family is not in decline, but is in fact in an ascent. They see the family as solely in place to benefit Capitalism, and as we still have a capitalist society, there is no possibility that the family is dying. Marxists claim that the family performs a number of vital functions, all aimed toward the benefit of capitalism. The family is in place to rear the next generation of workers, and also to teach them Bourgeoisie, or ruling class, norms and values, the family encourages consumerism, and also they believe that the family performs the “Warm Bath” aspect, but not to ensure that individuals remain sane, they believe that this relaxation process is in fact in order to allow Proletariat workers to recharge, and get ready for another day at work, producing goods for the capitalist market, all the time benefiting the capitalist state. Althusser claims that the family is in fact an Ideological State Apparatus, created by the Ruling Class, as a way of keeping the Working Classes down, through continuance of the teaching capitalist norms and values, so that children continue to respect and obey, and eventually grow into a new generation of hard-working, loyal workers, thereby benefiting capitalism once more, and also they will in turn rear a new generation of workers, thus perpetuating the system, and allowing the family to remain as an artificial institution, aimed at solely benefiting the bourgeoisie.

Feminists would also argue that the family is an Ideological State Apparatus, but not aimed at solely benefiting capitalism, but in fact aimed generally at benefiting men, and perpetuating the patriarchal system in society, and that the only way to abolish this patriarchy would in fact be to abolish the family unit.

In conclusion, it is evident that the debate is far from clear cut, in that whilst it is possible to see both sides, it is a possibility that one can see the family as a dying institution simply by being selective over which data you choose to interpret, and likewise, one could say that the family is thriving, simply by choosing which studies to examine. It is often apparent that this is quite commonly the case, and that when you get an objective, complete view, there is no way of determining between a ‘yes’ or a ‘no’ answer, although, to a certain extent, the family, as a social institution, has seen a slight decline over the past fifty years or so. This is not, necessarily, due to one thing, but an influencing factor must certainly be the modernisation and industrialisation that has taken place in this country since the two world wars, for instance the emancipation of women has led to more women leaving the home environment, in search of work, which would be seen as a negative point by the New Right.

[BeardofPants]

Not a big fan of short sentences, eh?

I would guess that you got a decent grade if you're hell bent on posting it up. ::shrug::

[Last Child of Ungoliant]

well, i will post it 'spoiler-style', and then it's your choice to see how well t'were!

Marks = 18/20, Grade = A

[ItalianLegolas]

Not to shabby LCoU, not shabby at all!

[Embladyne]

Good job, LCoU! Keep up the good grades!

[Last Child of Ungoliant]

ta IL and Emb,
i didnt think i actually did that well at the time, obviously t'was good enough!


ps. please feel free to call me chrys or spidey

[Embladyne]

Originally Posted by Last Child of Ungoliant

ta IL and Emb,
i didnt think i actually did that well at the time, obviously t'was good enough!

Well, I've gotten A+s (the + is meaningless, I don't know why they bother ) for projects started and completed the night before they were due. Not much motivation to actually put effort into really doing a good job. Actually, there was a class last semester I thought for sure I would be failing, and instead ended up with a grade of a B. I sure don't understand, but am very grateful. I deserved to fail that class, in my opinion....but, there's more to it than that.

[Last Child of Ungoliant]

well, this took me 5 mins planning and 20 mins writing the at about 1/2 past midnight the day before it had to be in!!

[Embladyne]

Originally Posted by Last Child of Ungoliant

well, this took me 5 mins planning and 20 mins writing the at about 1/2 past midnight the day before it had to be in!!

Ah, yes, I know that strategy well. I procrastinate so well.
Have you ever written a paper during lunch for your last class of the day?

[Last Child of Ungoliant]

Originally Posted by Embladyne

Ah, yes, I know that strategy well. I procrastinate so well.
Have you ever written a paper during lunch for your last class of the day?

no, but for my soc lecture last friday, i said i had left my work at home, when it was in my bag, no even started, and then my lecturer sent me, and those that actually hadn't done it and admitted to it, off to the library to do it, i did it in 15 minutes, and spent the rest of the lecture on the computes, on the entmoot

[Embladyne]

Oh, yet another of the well known tricks in the Procrastinator's Handbook of Survival.
Nice!

[Last Child of Ungoliant]

i would procrastinate, but i never get around to it

so, did you like my essay? is it easy to understand?

[Embladyne]

I did like your essay, but I think you could have improved the grade if you had done a little more interpretation of the veiws you contrasted. Right now I'm not sure how, but, if you're interested, I can spend time thinking of how.

I can never find time to procrastinate

[Last Child of Ungoliant]

ta muchly and yes please, i am always looking for ways to get those elusve two marks

[Embladyne]

Originally Posted by Last Child of Ungoliant

ta muchly and yes please, i am always looking for ways to get those elusve two marks

I understand, I always want the best grade possible, though I don't always make it that far.