Dark Side of the Family

The Dark Side of Family Life
Whilst many of the functionalist theorists point out the positive aspects of the family, some theorists believe that the family is destructive.
The Marxist Perspective
Marxists argue that it is the specific requirements of the capitalist mode of production that have shaped the development of the family in Western industrial societies. Marxists see the family as a means for:
Reproducing ‘labour power’ – reproducing future generations of workers.
Consuming – consuming the products of capitalism
Providing emotional support – Providing emotional support to workers, so helping them cope with the harsh realities of capitalism.
Socialising – Socialising children into accepting the inequalities of the capitalist society. Feminist writers link the idea that the family operates to maintain the capitalist system, with the idea that the family is the major obstacle to women’s freedom, and have therefore developed on the Marxists approach. Feminists start from the view that most societies are based on patriarchy or male domination. Marxists Feminists see patriarchy as resulting from class inequalities in capitalist societies. Radical Feminists see it as built into the structure of society. Both see the family as one of the main sites in which men oppress women.
Marxists Feminists
Marxists feminists focus on the oppression of women, rooted in the family and linked to capitalism. For Marxists-feminists writers the family meets the needs of capitalism by socialising children into ruling class norms and values (the ruling class ideology), leading to a submissive and obedient workforce, with false consciousness and stability for capitalism.
Women in the family serve these interests in a number of ways: * As mothers within families, women bear children who if male will become the next generation of capitalist ‘wage slaves’. * As wives, women serve and service their husbands by doing the housework, cooking meals and satisfying their sexual needs. Their husbands ate thereby refreshed and restored, ready to return to the world of exploitative work under capitalism * The family has an ideological role in teaching children to accept an authoritarian and exploitative society. For example by learning to accept authority from parents children also learn to accept authority from schools, employers and the capitalist state.
According to this perspective, the family is an oppressive institution that stunts the development of human personalities and individuality. There is a ‘dark side’ to family life that functionalists play down.
The Radical Feminists Perspective
Some radical feminists argue that it is the family itself, and it’s associated patriarchal structures benefiting men, that are the root cause of women’s oppression. The sexual division of labour in the family exploits women, since their responsibilities for domestic labour and childcare are unpaid, undermines their position in paid employment and increases their dependency on men. Men often control key areas of decision-making. Men sometimes use force to maintain control. Domestic violence is widespread and the majority of those on the receiving end are women. Around 570 000 cases are reported each year in the UK and probably a far larger number go unreported. True liberation for women can only result from the abolition of the family and patriarchy, some wish to create a society without families and men.
Liberal Feminist Perspective
Liberal Feminists believe that change is slowly occurring and through persuasion women are slowly getting men to become more involved in sharing household and childrearing tasks. This view is echoed in the concept of the symmetrical family.
Postmodern Feminists
All the feminists’ approaches above can be criticised for failing to acknowledge the variety of domestic arrangements produced by different groups. Postmodern Feminists highlight the differences between groups of women in different family situations. They avoid making sweeping generalisations about the effects of family life on women. They tend to be sensitive to the different experiences of family life experienced by women of different sexual orientations, ethnic groups, and classes and so on.