SOC 101 Lecture Notes - Lecture 31: Nuclear Family
Document Summary
The functionalist view perceives the tnf as great, but conflict sociologists have a different view. Conflict and domination happen in the tnf. Trapped in conflict: individuals weren"t able to leave unhappy marriages in the past. Greater social support in quebec one reason for greater divorce/single parent households. Kids: strong evidence that it"s psychologically worse for kids to live in families in which parents are always fighting than to live in single-parent household. The functionalist view generally suggests that there is only one good/natural form of the family: the tnf. Most sociologists and anthropologists think this is pure bs. Historically speaking, the tnf is very rare. Even today, when many people still have ideas of the tnf as normal, empirical evidence clearly shows that it isn"t. Evidence that a number of different familial structures can successfully raise children and allow people to lead quality lives. Functionalist and conflict/feminist perspectives offer very different policy prescriptions.
