Reasons The Nuclear Family Is Seen As Ideal Arguments Against The Nuclear Family

It is enriched in the Christian doctrine of R.D Laing argues that the nuclear family is not
marriage taught during colonialism that man beneficial to either its members or the society.
should leave his mother and cling to his wife.
Talcott Parson argues that the nuclear family . He argues that the tight knit nature of
best fits modern industrial societies such as the the nuclear family leads to conflict
Caribbean island for the following reasons: among members as each yearns for love
and attention and in such a small group
→ Geographic mobility- In industrial there is just not enough attention to go
societies, it is necessary to be around.
geographically mobile so that one can
easily move to find employment. . The family members internalize the
conflicts that happen in the family and
→ Extended families Are Obsolete- In pre- walk around with it every day.
industrial times extended family
members were needed to provide . Additionally, family members are so
important functions for the family such preoccupied with family conflicts that
as education, security etc. they become angry citizens which lead
to crime and violence in society.
However, with the evolution of specialized
institutions such as schools, police stations and Edmund Leach argues that nuclear families are
hospitals, the extended family members are no too small and private to handle the pressures of
longer needed to perform these functions. The an industrial society. He believes that family
family can therefore exist without them and can members look to each other for love and
live in a nuclear form. support but in a small nuclear unit, there are
not enough members to bear the problems of
each family member. Thus “the family is like an
overloaded socket where parents fight and
children rebel”

If the family was extended and a child's parents

were too busy to deal with his issue, then he
could simply go to an uncle or a grandparent for
the support needed.

Reasons For The Prevalence Of Extended Conflict of Status In Extended Families

Families
. Economic Reasons- In poor, Caribbean With industrialization cane the evolution of
countries like Jamaica, citizens find that “achieved status”. However, extended families
it’s cheaper to live together in extended are largely still based on ascribed status. Thus,
form where bills, rent, etc. can be in an extended family where the adult child has
shared. This point is shared by achieved a higher status than his parent, there
international theorist Michael Anderson. would be conflict of status as no one is sure
which status is superior.
. Extended families also have the luxury of
shared services; thus, a grandmother Murdock argues that in modern societies like
can babysit a child while the parents go the Caribbean, the nuclear family is the only
to work. This diminishes the burden of unit that provides the functions necessary for
everyday life. the family's survival. All other units are broken
or watered-down versions of the nuclear family
. Elizabeth Roberts argues that persons and are not equipped to produce well socialized,
live in extended families out of moral economically looked after children and stable
duty and obligations. For example, sexually satisfied parents.
persons will often “take in” a poor or
orphaned relation or an elderly relative
because they feel they “ought to”

. The culture of particular racial groups

 facilitates extended families. For
example, the Indians and the Chinese
have a long heritage of extended
families and hold them in high regard.

Perspectives Of The Family

1.Functionalist Perspective
(a) George Peter Murdock (b) Talcott Parsons

The family has four (4) major functions – The family has two (2) basic functions: Primary
economic, sexual and reproductive and socialization and the Stabilization of adult
educational/ socialization. personality.

These functions are beneficial to the individual During primary socialization, the child develops
and the society as well. For example, the his personality, and a major part of his identity.
educational /socialization functions for society The child learns who he is and who he ought to
by providing consensus therefore ensuring there be from his parents. Consequently, many
is stability and no chaos, and it functions for the children grow up to be similar to their parents.
individual by teaching
him how to behave so he or she won’t be an The family acts as a stabilizer for its adults'
outcast. The sexual function is functional for the members by providing love, stress relief and
individuals in the family by strengthening the sex. The industrial society is harsh, and the
conjugal bond between husband and wife, family acts as a source of refuge so they can
therefore making the home a happier place. It mentally recharge.
functions for society by reducing promiscuity as
adults who are getting sex at home They are also given the chance to live their
will not seek sexual gratification outside the dreams through their children. Many adults get
home. a chance to re live /their lives vicariously
through their children. This
The economic function is functional for the reduces their anxiety and frustration from not
individuals as it ensures that their needs are being all they wanted to be.
satisfied. Additionally, both spouses enjoy a
safety net as they can depend on the other for
economic support. It is beneficial for society as
it relieves the state of the burden of financing
all its citizens.

2.Social Pathology

This perspective developed in the Caribbean has similar views to that of the functionalist. The
approach was followed by the West Indian Royal Commission of 1937. They concluded in their
findings that man in West Indian Society was not viewed as the head of the household. It also
identified the woman as the supporter of the home and claimed that promiscuity and illegitimacy
were prevalent.

Characteristics of A Caribbean Family According To Social Pathologists:

. Family life was seen as loose and unstable, and relationships appeared to be casual.
Conjugal ties were occasionally faithful and enduring but were more often promiscuous and
transitory.

. The fathers contact with children was irregular and because of poverty he was usually
unable to provide economic support. Children were illegitimate, effectively fatherless,
unschooled and subject to severe parental discipline.

. The crisis in Caribbean family life brought with it a range of social problems. The deviances
 of society are attributable to the inadequacies and weakness of the family. There was
therefore a need to persuade people to adopt the superior co-residential, nuclear family
sanctioned by marriages and producing legitimate offspring.

. Policies had to be implemented to try to alter the structure of Caribbean families. It was
felt that this would result in the moral and social well-being of Caribbean societies; for
example, an island wide campaign to encourage marriages in Jamaica.

3.International Feminist Perspectives

(a) Margaret Benson (Marxist Feminist) (b)Margaret Benston (1972)

Women are exploited by the capitalist system The amount of unpaid labour performed by
as they perform domestic labour for which they woman is very large and very profitable to those
are not paid. The domestic labour performed by who own the means of production. At present,
females ensure that males who toil in the the support of the family is a hidden tax on the
capitalist economy have a comfortable home to wage earner- his wage buys the labour power of
return to. This is important as work in a two people.
capitalist society is alienating and frustrating
and the man leaves each day angry and willing The family also promotes and protects the
to initiate the much needed proletariat capitalist system by ensuring the males cannot
revolution. withdraw their labour. As breadwinners in the
family, he cannot leave his job as his family may
However, once they get home, the woman starve, thus he is forced to stay in his job
ensures that he is comfortable, by providing a though he may wish to withdraw his labour.
clean home, a good meal and all the sex he
needs. The domestic and When husbands go to their exploitive jobs, they
sexual services the woman provides de stresses often come home stressed and angry, this
him, thwarts his anger and postpones his frustration is directed at their wives through
desires to revolt. domestic and sexual abuse.

Hence, the domestic and sexual labour of

females provide society with de stressed, male
labourers whose productivity increase the profit
of the capitalist. Yet the woman is not paid,
hence she is being exploited.
(c)Fran Ansley (d)Dianne Feely and Cooper

When wives play their traditional role as Wives also indoctrinate their children in sub
“takers of shit” they often absorb their ordinance which produce the docile attitude
husband’s legitimate anger and frustration at necessary for working in the exploitive capitalist
their own powerlessness and oppression. system.
With every worker provided with a sponge to
soak up his possibly revolutionary ire, the
bosses rest more secure.

4.Radical Feminist
(a)Leonard and Delphey

The family is an economic unit in which all members work for the head of the household –the
male. The male is seen as the head of the household even if the wife earns more than he does.

Labour and payment in the household is determined by gender, with the domestic burden borne
mostly by the female. Females are however, paid very little ( if any at all) by their husbands for the
work they do.

The sons are seen as superior to the daughters in the homes and many times daughters have to
perform domestic labour for sons.
 (b) Laura M. Purdy

Women are exploited daily by men in the family as they are often times dependent on them
financially. This dependence is further facilitated by motherhood which ties the woman to the
home and makes her more dependent on the father.

Women can only escape the exploitation of family life if they go on “baby strike.” Without
motherhood, they will no longer be tied to be home or so dependent on their male counterparts.
(c) Germaine Greer

Women are exploited by the males in the family- not only as wives, but also as sisters and
daughters. They are sexually, physically and emotionally abused. The only means of escaping this
oppression is for women to do away with families and live in all-female communes.
(d) Jennifer Summerville

For the most part, women are disappointed with men and how females are treated in the family.
Still, they desire men, marriage and family life, and so the family will always exist. However,
family life is threatened and made more uncomfortable for women by a capitalist economy still
based on employees (usually males) spending long hours at work.

For family life to become more stable and equitable, government policies need to make work more
family friendly.
(e) Ann Oakley

The modern woman does not live in a symmetrical family as purported by Yong and Wilmott
(1973). Instead, the modern woman must bear “triple burden” (2008). Women still bear the
majority of the domestic burden as a man's view of helping out in the house is playing with the
children. All the real work is done by the woman.

The woman also has or shares the economic burden as most women now work or worked for a
period in their lives. Finally, women have the emotional burden of keeping the family together. All
events the family hosts or takes part in are organized by the woman. She is responsible for
keeping the relationship between herself and her spouse going. She also has the burden of
keeping the peace in her house. The man simply has to exist.

Ann Oakley adds that when a man gets married, his life gets better, but when a woman gets
married her life gets worse.

Gender and The Family( The Caribbean Reality)

The role of the female in the Caribbean family is somewhat different from their international
counterparts.

. The prevalence of matrifocal families means that oftentimes women are the head of the
household with no male breadwinner to whom they must be subordinate.

. Nancy Gonzales postulates that for lower class Caribbean women this is deliberate choice
as it makes more financial sense. She argues that single mothers opt not to have a husband
as financially he would not be able to look after her family. Instead, she chooses to have
several visiting spouses; each of whom will make financial contributions to her family and
her. Other Caribbean feminist argue that the women’s role have changed since they have
greater opportunities to choose whether to be a housewife and mother or to have a career
or both.

. This is because women now have access to higher education and have surpassed their
male counterparts in the education system. The increase in technology has also resulted in
the availability of more female friendly(less physical jobs) so more women have joined the
workforce and are no longer totally dependent on men financially.
 These changes have resulted in the following alterations in Caribbean family life and the
role of women:

. Higher divorce rates/ more matrifocal families- women are independent so they no longer
have to stay in emotionally un-satisfactory marriages because of economic need.
Additionally, many are opting to have children without permanent fathers as they can
afford to look after their children on their own.

. Caribbean families are also smaller as women are having fewer children and start
childbearing at a later age due to years of study. Increase in domestic abuse- Men feel
threatened and marginalized by their more successful spouses and seek to use physical
prowess to show their dominance. Spoilt/inadequately socialized kids- some theorists argue
that with two parent working, there is little or no time to properly grow and socialize kids-
which is the possible source of crime and deviance in the majority of Caribbean societies.

. Decision making in the home may become more egalitarian as both spouses are making
financial contribution. Men are forced to do more in the house though the domestic burden
is still largely borne by women. Men get more involved with looking after the children. The
standard of living of the family improves as both parents work.

Characteristics Of Caribbean Family Life And The Kinship Patterns

Caribbean families are influenced by the diverse cultural background and traditions of
their societies.
. Marriage is not necessary for pro-creation and occurs infrequently except in the middle and
upper classes. When it happens in the lower classes, it is usually after the child is born.
Children are often grown by relatives who can offer them better opportunities.
. The father's role is marginal and traditionally they do not fulfil their economic obligations,
even if they reside in the household. Mother-children relationships and sibling relationships
are most important.

. Herskovits(1964)- claimed that lower class negro families were matriarchal and frequently
extended. This he claims, is possibly due to the remanence of polygamy. Cohabitation is
prevalent. Extramarital/ relationship relationships and sexual liaisons (by males) are
widespread and accepted as normative. Franklyn Frazer (1932) blames the ills of the black
community on female headed household, illegitimacy, and family disorganization.

Historical Development of Education In The Caribbean

Education had always been valued in the Caribbean.

In the pre-emancipation era, education was limited to whites and blacks were excluded. Planters
feared educating slaves as this will normally spark rebellions. Until the 1820s, most slaves when
without formal education and it was with the help of the missionaries that some were taught to
read and write.

In the post-emancipation era, educational facilities were poor. The colonial leaders felt that it was
useless to develop schools and favoured an uneducated workforce. The Baptist missionaries who
created free villages helped to develop schools and as the ex-slaves became wealthy through
 peasantry, they had a strong desire to educate
their children.

Most of the Indians who came to the region during Indentureship were excluded from educational
opportunities.
Until the 1900s, most of the colonies, save and except, for Jamaica went without formal
educational institutions.
Those that were developed in the early 1900s, were developed by black leaders and adhered to a
great extent to the educational principles and curriculum of Britain.

By the 1930s, more blacks became involved in politics and felt that education was essential to
national progress and productivity. More formal schools, with the aid of the Church, were
developed. By 1940s, regional unity led to the development of the University of the West Indies,
founded in 1948, which changed the face of education in the region.

For most parts, the post-emancipation period saw increase in secondary schools and with further
reforms more Caribbean people were able to seek educational opportunities

The Hidden Curriculum(Zoomed In On)

The hidden curriculum consists of those things that students indirectly learn through the
experience of attending school, rather than the stated educational objectives of such institutions.
Bowles & Gintis (1976) argue that the hidden curriculum manifest itself in the following ways:

It produces a submissive workforce of uncritical, passive and docile workers – the school prepares
students for the workforce.
. It encourages an acceptance of the social hierarchy/ inequality.
. At school, students learn to be motivated by external rewards just as the workforce in a
capitalist society is motivated by external rewards

. Students have little control over their school involvement and get little satisfaction from
studying as learning is based on the ‘jug and mug principle’. By this, the school feels you
with too much information. It’s as if students are empty mugs and teachers are jugs filling
them with useless knowledge.

. The fragmentation of school subjects corresponds to the fragmentation of the workforce

Criticisms of Bowles and Gintis:

Bowles and Gintis have been criticized because they made assumptions about the hidden
curriculum but had little empirical evidence to support their claims.

. They have been criticized for underestimating the influence of formal curriculum, this
curriculum focuses on academic subjects rather than subject matter relate to work.

. The hidden curriculum was supposed to result in subservient students. How there are
numerous schools where students show little regard for school-teachers and authority.
Bowles and Gintis also indicated that education legitimates inequality by an that
educational success and failure are based on merit. However, studies reveal that most
people believe that success is dependent on family background and economic factors.
Thus, education did not succeed in legitimating inequality.

. There is evidence that education can bring about solidarity and order in society through
the transmission of rules, norms and values. Bowles and Gintis downplay the benefits of a
formal curriculum. Functionalists argue that even if there is a hidden curriculum, this would
strengthen their argument that the school indirectly transmit learn universal traits such as
competition, achievement and equality

The Marxists fail to explain how the economy shapes the educational system. Education can
produce diversity rather than inequality. Critical subject areas such as math, business,
entrepreneurship, are taught in school Many students rebel against school rules and so the hidden
curriculum is not always effective.
(b)Pierre Bourdieu→ Cultural Capital

Neo-Marxist Pierre Bourdieu argues that the educational system is owned and operated by upper
class individuals. Consequently, the aim of the education system is cultural reproduction, i.e., they
only teach and test upper class norms and values.

. On entering the educational system, the upper class student who has been previously
socialized (at home) in the upper class norms and values are at a significant advantage.
The advantage they possess is called Cultural Capital.

. Lower class students on the other hand are at a disadvantage, as they were socialized in
the lower class culture at home. Hence on entering the educational system, they have to
start from scratch and on some occasions unlearn some of the truths they knew to be true
if they are to be successful.

. Still both the upper class and lower class students are taught using the same methods and
are forced to sit the same exams. Upper class students (the possessors of cultural capital)
are therefore more likely to succeed in the educational system and the lower class more
likely to fail. This, however, is the way the bourgeoisie want the system to be.

Interactionalist Perspective
Interactionists are concerned with the perceptions of pupils by teachers. Their examination of
education is based on what is observed in the classroom.

(a)David Hargreaves & Frank Mellor

Failure or success in the education system is determined by teachers and how they label students.
On entering the educational system students are labelled by teachers according to their social
background. The labelling process has three (3) stages: speculation, elaboration ,and stabilization.
Once labelled, the students are treated according to the label applied.

Lower class student are usually labelled as under achievers and are treated accordingly. The
label, according to Cicourel and Kitsuse, becomes the students' master status i.e. (they only way in
which the student is seen).

Soon students act according to the labels applied, and become what teachers had originally
labelled them to be – a process called the self-fulfilling prophesy.
(b) Steven J Ball & Neil Keddie

A student's success or failure in the education system is determined by his or her teacher.
Teacher's label and stream students according to their view of the ideal student. Ideal students
display upper class values and attitudes and most importantly do not challenge their teachers.

Thus, it's the lower class students who are labelled as under achievers and are placed in lower
stream or bands.
Lower class students receive inferior knowledge (Keddie) or inferior subjects (Ball) which allows
them little success in the education system, and soon society. This is unlike their upper class
counterparts who are labelled as “bright” and given superior knowledge and subjects to do, thus
ensuring their educational and societal success.
(c) JWD Douglas→ The Home & The School

J. W. B. Douglas and colleagues studied 5362 British children who were born between March 1-
7,1946. Douglas did a longitudinal study hence the kids were tracked in their educational progress
up to 1962 when they were 16. Students were divided by ability using many tests including IQ
style tests. They were also divided into four social class groupings. These divisions into groups
allowed for comparisons and contrasts, using statistical work.

Douglas found significant difference in the educational attainment of students who had the same
IQ, but different social classes. Almost always, the lower class child was performing worse in school
than his upper classmate with the same IQ. Douglas found that the biggest factor in student
attainment was parental involvement in the child's education, measured by frequency of visits of
the parents to t school.

Lower class students were more likely to fail because their parents were less in volved in their
educational pursuits. The opposite was true for upper class students whose parents were very
involved in their education and who did much better in school.

Overview Of The Theorists(Along With Some New Ones)

Functionalism

1.Emile Durkheim

Education provides society with 3 functions (social, solidarity teaching of social rules and giving
you the skills to be a part of the specialized labour force). It is the bridge between family and
society.

2.Talcott Parsons

Education system is meritocratic as it is based on universalistic standards. It teaches the values of

achievement and equality of opportunity.

3.Davis and Moore

Education system is meritocratic and functional. It ensures the most talented gets the most
functional jobs.
Marxist
4.Bowles and Gintis

Education system is not meritocratic as only those who can afford to stay long in school will get
good qualifications. It reproduces the capitalist labour force.
Interactionist

5.David Hargreaves

Failure or success in education system is determined by teachers who label students according to
their social class.

6.Steven J Ball and Nell Keddie

Lower class students are placed in interior streams (Keddie) and bands (ball) and given inferior
subjects and inferior knowledge.
Other Theories

7.Cicourel and Kitsuse(1963)→interactionist

They are of the view that teachers respond to students based on how they look and treat students
differently. Once a student is labelled, they normally fulfil the teacher's prophecy about
themselves.

8.Gordon and Beckford (Caribbean Theorist)→Marxist

Education system maintains the privileges of the whites, and it allows blacks to fail it is not
meritocratic

9.Ishmael Baksh→Marxist

Lower class students in the Caribbean are given inferior technical subjects which will lead to low
paying jobs. The education system is not meritocratic.

10.Applewaite→Feminist

Girls are encouraged by parents and teachers to do well academically, boys don't get as much
encouragement, so will fail in the education system.

11.Errol Miller→Marxist

Educational success is not associated with masculinity, so boys don't try as hard in the educational
system. Thus, girls outperform them

12.Barry Chavannes→Functionalist

Mainly female teachers in the education system leave boys with few role models. Additionally,
female teachers teach in a manner conducive to the learning styles of girls and that of not boys.

13.Mark Figueroa→Functionalist

The prevalence of the matrifocal family leads to the failure of boys as single mothers are unable to
control their teenage boys who are left to their own devices which usually does not include
educational pursuits.

14. Rosenthal & Jacobson (1968)→Interactionalists

Conducted research to test the validity of the ‘self-fulfilling prophecy’ in an elementary school.

15. Howard Becker (1963)→Interactionalist

Looks at the labelling of students, (good, bad or dull) and argues that this affects student’s
performance because they accept their labels. Labels such as “learning-disability” and “gifted”
have effects on students.