Session 1What Is a Family?

ConceptAn idea

Lets talk about our idea of FAMILY

Social constructionA perspective that begins with exploring

assumptions associated with the labelling of things & emphasizes the importance of social expectations in the analysis of taken for granted & apparently natural social circumstances. (Clarke & Cochrane 1998)

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Berger & Luckmann 1967

What Is a Family?Simple definition is Issue of residence Blood ties Marriage Linked to other social institutions An object that can be studied

What Is a Family?According to Benokraitis (2011), a family can

be an intimate group of two or more people whoLive together in a committed relationship.Care for one another and any children.Share activities and close emotional ties

Five Functions of the Family1. Regulation of sexual activity2. Procreation and socialisation3. Economic security4. Emotional support5. Social class placement

Benokraitis (2011),

Academic or Emotions McCarthy (2010) suggest the above and

political rhetoricMackinnon (2008) when we add attachment

it evokes desires and longings and says it is a fantasy

Walkover (1992) a object of desireBourdieu (1996) Well founded Illusion

institutionalised by the state

What Is a Family?Think of it as not an noun but:Plural families diversity in lifestylesAs an adjective as Morgan (2003) suggest we

do families (it is an experience)In other social settings not just domestic sites

according to McCarthy (2008)Smart (2007) too limiting but is just a notion

of personal life

FamilyFamilies are more fluid than they were in the

past.Many changes in the family reflect

adaptations to larger societal transformations.

As a country, we continue to cling to a number of myths about the families of past generations.

Myths AboundThere are several types of myths about

families in our society:Myths about what is natural—for instance is it

“natural” to grow up and get married and have a family?

Myths about the self sufficient family—most families need some support at one time or another during their lifetime.

Benokraitis (2011),

Industrial RevolutionRise in population in the cityRise in child labourPoor working conditionsPour housing conditionsPoor atmosphere/environmentPoor Mortality and Morbidity

Feminisation of the home - especially middle classMore focus on children but also very different life

chances for boys & girls

Very marked social class effects on life chances:25% upper/middle class; relatively secure & prosperous75% working class; insecure & vulnerable to

‘catastrophes’ & thus povertyWealthy children had full-time education opportunitiesPoor children had work & then later primary education

Diseases; high mortality rates for children & adults; ‘broken’ families/ re-constituted families

Victorian Families & Children

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Historically from about 7yrs children had always worked: in agriculture; but seasonal, insecure & poorly

rewardeddomestic service

Now industrialisation/factoriesscope for more secure paid work for children in mines &

factories; especially Northern textile factoriesParish apprentices & ‘free’ labourChimney sweeps

Child Labour – for the children of the poor

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Feminisation of the home - especially middle classMore focus on children but also very different life

chances for boys & girls

Very marked social class effects on life chances:25% upper/middle class; relatively secure & prosperous75% working class; insecure & vulnerable to

‘catastrophes’ & thus povertyWealthy children had full-time education opportunitiesPoor children had work & then later primary education

Diseases; high mortality rates for children & adults; ‘broken’ families/ re-constituted families

Victorian Families & Children

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Rigid gender division

Boys - from 7ys to ‘prep’ & then ‘public’ schools – fee paying & residential Emphasis on ‘muscular Christianity’ ; sports; developing

attitudes & skills to become a “global ruling class”

Girls – home based & more limited opportunitiesHome governess to about 10 then Maybe local day school; ‘domestic’ artsLater some residential girls schools on ‘public’ school

model

Educating middle class children

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Early 19th C. most children received some schooling from variety of sources e.g. Sunday schools

1851 “1 million healthy unemployed children”

1870s-1880s compulsory primary education introducedNot free initiallyWide spread absenteeismFew opportunities for secondary education

Educating working class children

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The Victorian Welfare Reformers “Victorian Philanthropy.” – Altruistic concern

for human welfare and advancement, usually manifested by donations of money, property, or work to needy persons, by endowment of institutions of learning and hospitals, and by generosity to other socially useful purposes.

Features of Victorian PhilanthropyThey are mostly – but not exclusively – motivated by

personal faith. Stephenson was a Methodist minister; Barnardo was training to be a missionary in China; Mary Carpenter was the daughter of a Unitarian minister.

These highly motivated individuals, driven by a religious fervour and activism, gathered people around them to support individual projects.

Very often they themselves had no personal funding to give to the work and spent much time gathering wealthy donors and benefactors for the project. Again this was often motivated by religious belief.

All of these programmes and projects were entirely free of state funding. The welfare state was still 100 years away!

Changing attitudes to childhoodChildren are innocents who need rescueChildren have a different status from adultsChildren deserve intervention “Feckless” parents breed “feckless” children

– the cycle needs breakingEducation as a way out of povertyChild rescue – moral and physical -

“deodorising the moral cess pool”The separation of childhood from adulthood

Social class differencesThe upper class (privileged / wealthy/ worthy) have

the right to impose values on the general populationThis includes judgement about morality, lifestyle etcMarriage was “right” and illegitimacy was therefore

“wrong”lear distinction between classesUpper and to a degree middle classes consumed

their own “smoke”Lower classes could not and needed helpThis perpetuated the class difference!

Families Are TransformingWhether we want to believe it or not, families

are transforming, not destroying themselves.In the end, people create families that

met their needs for love and security.Now more than ever there are expanded

choices about family and family forms!