Family Ideology
- Created by: bex77
- Created on: 24-02-21 14:30
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- Family Ideology
- The dominant set of beliefs, values and images about how families are and how they ought to be
- Feminist and Marxist writers suggest that many state policies are formed around a dominant family ideology
- This ideology reflects the functionalist view of the family and the policy ideas of the New Right
- Patriarchal cereal packet family
- Stereotype of the ideal family found in the media and advertising
- 2 married, heterosexual parents and their biological children
- Father plays the instrumental role, mother plays the expressive role
- Based on romantic and maternal love
- Nurturing, caring, loving institution
- Represents a view of how people should live their lives and is a desirable form of family to the New Right because it is natural, wholesome and traditional
- Criticisms of the cereal packet family from Feminists, e.g. Barrett and McIntosh
- Patriarchal- involves the triple shift, benefits men but disadvantages women, increases women's dependency on men
- Harmful- suggests that living in other relationships or living alone is deviant, a threat to normal family life and lack meaningful relationships in their lives
- Those who live outside of the cereal packet family (e.g. lone parents, gay couples) are condemned by politicians, the New Right and the media
- Pretends there is no darker side of the family (domestic violence, child abuse), overlooks the way women become isolated in the home with children
- Antisocial- devalues life outside the family and discourages alternative forms of relationships
- Much of social life today centres around family activities and it is often difficult for those outside such conventional arrangements to participate
- Fox Harding- housing policy favours married couples, with single parents receiving worse social housing and houses themselves are often designed for nuclear families
- Separates people from one another and sets up barriers between them
- Much of social life today centres around family activities and it is often difficult for those outside such conventional arrangements to participate
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