AS Unit 1 Acquiring Culture;
Family and Culture Week 1:
Definitions and Universality
Objectives of this powerpoint
After viewing this slide show you should be
aware of:

Why the family is important in acquiring culture.

How the family may be defined.

Is the family universal?
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Basic Ideas About The Family
Sociologists study the family
because it is the primary
socialization agency of society.
It forms one of the central
experiences of an individual’s life as a child and most adults through
parenthood.
The family is the place where we
are most likely to be ourselves.
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Our Task in Studying the Family
To recognize positive and negative
features of family life
To the ways in which the family is
changing.
To explore the
meanings of family
life to its members.
To understand the
role of the family in
acquiring culture.
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To ask is the
family in
decline and
dying?
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Defining the Family
Anthony Giddens defines the family as:
‘A group of persons directly linked by kin
connections, the adult members of which
assume responsibility for caring for
children’.
Kinship refers to relationships based
on biological or marital ties.
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Household refers to
the place of
domesticity.
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What Proportion of Households
Contain Families Like This?
Just 21% of
households in
2005!
Married couples
with children form
just 18% of all
households.
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Murdock and Goode on the
Nuclear Family
George Murdock (1949, pictured left)
argued that the basic family unit across
the world is the nuclear comprised of a
mother, a father and their offspring.
William Goode (1963) argued that the
worldwide trend is to move towards the
Western model of the nuclear family.
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Alternatives to the Traditional
Family - Polygamy
In Britain we practice monogamy (marriage involving only
two people of the opposite sex).
Polygamy is marriage that involves at least three people.
Polygyny is where a man
can have more than one
wife.
Polyandry is where a
woman can have more than
one husband
A common practice in Britain today is serial monogamy
(married to several people over a lifetime, but one at a time)
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The Nayar Tribe
Kathleen Gough (1972) describes how
women bore children to up to 12
‘Sandbanham’ husbands.
Instead the mother’s brothers were
economically responsible for her children.
Biological fathers took no
responsibility for their
upbringing.
This can reflect some
families in contemporary
society.
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Oneida Community (Boston USA)
1848
The Oneida Community
was founded by a Christian
preacher, John Humphrey
Noyes.
Sexual activity was allowed
among any agreeable
members.
There was group marriage with
children raised communally.
Only those considered
suitable were allowed to
reproduce.
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Russian Experiment
Following the Russian Revolution of 1917, a
deliberate attempt was made to destroy the
traditional family.
Marriage and divorce were abolished.
Nurseries, launderettes and eating canteens
were introduced, thus freeing women from
domestic work.
However, children became psychologically
disturbed by the instability as parents went
through many partners.
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Kibbutz System (Israel)
Today about 4-5% of Israel’s
population live in a kibbutz.
Children were generally raised apart
from their parents in ‘age-groups’,
Children spent ‘family time’ each
evening and weekend with their
biological parents.
Today most kibbutz children eat and
sleep with their parents
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Black Matrifocal Families
Within African-Caribbean communities
families with absent fathers is common.
However, these are just as much a family as
any other lone-parent family.
As such they are different from the
traditional family, but are they just a
variation of the family?
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Communes
Since the mid-1970s, the number
of communes in Britain has
halved from 100 to around 50.
Communes vary in structure and
liberality.
Whilst there is an element of
sharing, usually the family unit is
embodied within the wider
community.
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Is the Nuclear Family Universal?
Diane Gittins (1993)
suggests it is only possible
to talk of relationships as
universal.
Barrett and McIntosh
(1991) stress that it is the
idea of the nuclear family
as universal that is the
significant fact.
Robert Chester argues taking ‘snapshots’ of household
types is misleading. Over the life-cycle the most people live
in families.
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Conclusions





The family is defined as people tied by relationships based
on blood, marriage, cohabitation and adoption.
George Murdock sees the nuclear family at heart of all
families.
William Goode sees the worldwide trend is to move towards
the western model of the nuclear family.
There are many examples that challenge universality.
These include anthropological examples like the historical
Nayar tribe.
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Conclusions (continued)

There have been deliberate attempts to produce collectivebased families like the Oneida Community.

The Russian ‘experiment’ is important as it shows how
significant the family is to stability in society.

The Kibbutz system of Israel is not a real alternative to the
family.

Diane Gittins argues that because there is such variability
within societies, it is difficult to define the family as universal
only relationships.

Chester argues ‘snapshots’ of households conceals the
importance of family over people’s life-cycle.
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End of Presentation
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