It can be said that these roles are not natural but have evolved to become gender specific and are having changed in the last 50 years and will also change in the near future. Conjugal roles are those within the marital life; between husband and wife. Elizabeth Bott (1957) identified two types; segregated and joint. Segregated are those where the couple have separate roles e.g. male is the breadwinner and the female a homemaker/carer.
Through a variety of experiences we develop a set of ideas about the world and how it operates. This point of view influences how we look at the world and guides our attempts to understand the actions and reactions of others. A sociologist would note that this personalized approach does not give enough accurate information to develop an understanding of the broader social picture.
What Makes a Family a Unit Introduction The most important social institution that a person can belong to is the family unit. Society’s view of the family unit differ from culture to culture, however, it remains the forefront base of preparing an individual to function in a society. To gain a better understanding of the family unit, scientist study it’s place according to the social structure of society. Sociology is the study of group behavior through scientific research (Vissing, 2011). There are three views that this paper will look at regarding the family unit, Functionalism, Conflict, and Interactionism.
What is a Family? A family is generally defined as a structured social group consisting of one or two parents, and their children, where the members are usually related through marriage, blood or adoption. There are several types of family structures recognised by sociologists. The most common types of families are nuclear, extended, reconstituted and single parent. Nuclear families consist of both adult male and female with mutually conceived dependants and is always made up of two generations.
Use sociological theory to explore a specific aspect of family diversity in 21st Century Britain: The first part of the essay will consist of identifying the term family diversity, reasons for family diversity and whether family diversity is good or bad from a sociological perspective. Second part will consist of family diversity in relation to one specific aspect which will be lone parenting. Family diversity refers to different types of family structure. Families found in Britain today consist of the following: the nuclear family which consists of both parents with children. Extended consisting grandparents who are living with the family, lone parents consisting of one single parent with children, re constituted and same sex parenting.
ON PHENOMENOLOGICAL SOCIOLOGY [1] james L. heap and phillip A. roth University of British Columbia American Sociological Review 1973, Vol. 38 (June): 354-367 The works of Tiryakian, Bruyn and Douglas are examined as representative of "phenomenological sociology." Radical problems are discovered in their use of key concepts in phenomenology: intention, reduction, phenomenon and essence. These problems are shown to arise out of a failure to grasp the nature of the phenomenological enterprise and its relationship to sociology. Turning back to the original formulation of this relationship by Husserl, we discover problems of transcendental intersubjectivity, of type and essence, and of objectivism.
Sociologists carry out their research from a number of theoretical perspectives, and depending on the views they adopt they will have different ideas about the nature of social problems and know how to solve them. Early positivist and functionalist sociologists, such as Comte and Durkheim, would argue that sociology was a science and would discover both the cause of social problems and scientifically based solutions to them. Both positivist and functionalists see social policies beneficial to society as a whole, and contribute to it running smoothly. For example, educational policies help to promote equal opportunity and reduce class boundaries. However Marxists would argue that social problems such as underachievement are simply aspects of a wider structure of class inequality, and unlike functionalists, they do not see the state and its policies beneficial to all members of society.
Particularly striking in this conception is the notion of inventory, which suggests multiple ontologies and the need to collate. The assumptions about the nature of the world in sociology can be classified into two broad orientations, realism and social constructivism. Realism posits the existence of an objective reality independent of human thoughts and beliefs. Contrary to this position, social constructionism is of the view that reality is not independent of human thoughts and beliefs; rather, it is socially constructed (Oxford dictionary of sociology, 552-553, 609). Berger and Luckmann (1967:15-22) argue that social relativity is inherent in reality and knowledge, hence, its collection is defined by social contexts imperative for sociological analysis.
4. Discuss the similarities and differences between conflict/Marxist theories and functionalist theories in sociology. Marxism was founded by Karl Marx. Marx saw society as divided into two major parts, the economic base otherwise known as the infrastructure and the super-structure. Functionalists see society as a set of parts which work together to form a whole.
Or we can say that conflict theory deals with the incompatible aspects of human society. Conflict theory emerged out of the sociology of conflict, crisis and social change. Consensus theory, on the other hand, is a sociological perspective or collection of theories, in which social order and stability/social regulation forms the base of emphasis. In other words consensus theory is concerned with the maintenance or continuation of social order in society; in relation to accepted norms, values, rules and regulations as widely accepted or collectively by the society-or within a particular society- itself. It Emerged out of the sociology of social order and social stability/social regulation.