The Sociology Book

F

or many years, sociologists
had used scientific methods
to study institutions and
the structure of society as a whole.
However, the middle of the 20th
century saw a shift in emphasis
toward understanding the social
actions of individuals—a study of
reasons and meanings rather than
quantities and correlations. This
came to be known to sociologists
as the interpretative approach.
From the 1950s, the scope of
this interpretive method widened
slightly to include the study of
families, which could perhaps be
seen as a social unit somewhere
between the individual and
institutions. As such, it was
possible to identify not only the
relationships between individuals
and their families, but also the
connections between families

and wider society. This area of

study progressed to examine

interpersonal relationships and

how they are shaped by society.

Family roles

Among the first sociologists to

examine the family in this way

was US scholar Talcott Parsons,

who combined the interpretive

approach of German social theorist

Max Weber with the concept of

functionalism. For Parsons, the

family is one of the “building

blocks” of society, and has a

specific function in the working

of society as a whole. Its primary

function, he argued, was to provide

an environment in which children

can be prepared for roles they will

later play in society, by instilling

in them its rules and social norms.

Adults too benefit from another

function of the family unit—to offer

a framework in which they can

develop stable relationships.

Others were more critical of

the conventional notions of family.

Traditionally, families reflected the

norms of wider society—patriarchal

in their structure, with a male

breadwinner and a female child-

carer and houseworker. But

attitudes changed rapidly after

World War II. The idea of the stay-

at-home mother was increasingly

regarded as a form of oppression,

and feminist sociologists such as

Ann Oakley and Christine Delphy

described the alienation that these

women experienced.

Gender roles within the family

and, by extension, within society

as a whole, began to be challenged,

as did the idea that there is such

a thing as a “typical” or “normal”

INTRODUCTION

1930 S AND 40 S

1955

1980

1984

1974

1976

Adrienne Rich’s essay

“Compulsory Heterosexuality

and Lesbian Existence”

describes the oppression of

women in a society where

heterosexuality is

considered the norm.

In Family, Socialization, and

Interaction Process, Talcott Parsons

argues that the family serves the

social function of instilling the

cultural rules of society

into children.

Ann Oakley’s The

Sociology of Housework

describes how women

are alienated by

domestic work.

Michel Foucault publishes

the first volume of The

History of Sexuality, which

examines the power

relations that regulate

social norms.

Margaret Mead’s

cross-cultural studies

challenge traditional

Western concepts

of gender roles and

sexuality.

Christine Delphy examines

the role of capitalism in

women’s treatment as

second-class citizens in Close

to Home: A Materialist Analysis

of Women’s Oppression.

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