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Led by Talcott Parsons Simulacrum
The family as institution, relationship, and contested theory — family diversity and forms, the social changes that reshaped family life, and the functionalist, Marxist, and feminist theories within the conflict-versus-consensus debate.
Led by Talcott Parsons Simulacrum
The question
What forms does the family take? You will study what a family is and the range of UK family forms — nuclear, extended, reconstituted, lone-parent, single-sex, cohabiting, beanpole — alongside ethnic-minority forms and global forms including polygamy, arranged marriage, and the China one-child policy.
Outcome
You can describe family diversity and classify any household by its family form.
Sub-units
Led by Willmott & Young Simulacrum
The question
How and why has family life changed? You will study the social forces — secularisation, feminism, law, economy, technology — behind changes in divorce, cohabitation, marriage, and family size (including the Rapoports), and the changing relationships within the home: conjugal roles, the symmetrical family and stratified diffusion (Willmott and Young), the New Man, and child-centred families.
Outcome
You can connect a change in family life to the social forces that produced it.
Sub-units
Led by Talcott Parsons Simulacrum
The question
What is the family for? You will study the conflict-versus-consensus debate through the functionalist theory (primary socialisation, stabilisation of adult personalities), the Marxist theory of the family serving capitalism (Zaretsky), and the feminist critique — then evaluate the family through its criticisms, including its dark side.
Outcome
You can argue the functionalist, Marxist, and feminist views of the family against one another and evaluate it critically.
Sub-units