some points about feminists:
(1)MARXIST FEMINISTS: Exploitation of women is essential to the success of capitalism. Family cost free because society accepts that housework shouldn’t be paid.
Benston 1969: If housework was paid even at minimum wage, it would damage capitalists profits hugely
Ansley 1972: men take out their frustration and stress from work to women
(2)RADICAL FEMINISTS: Housework is an area of exploitation of women BUT: it is not the fault of capitalism system; patriarchy as built into the structure of the society; men will always oppress women
Delphy and Leonard: men get most of the benefits and women do most of the work – that is a patriarchal institution called family(3) LIBERAL FEMINISTS: The family is only sexist because it supports mainstream culture which is sexist; social change is POSSIBLE through the legal system such as laws and regulations
Tuesday 28 April 2009
Monday 27 April 2009
Describe two benefits of economic growth.
Increase in people standard of living. As economic growth in the short run means increase in real GDP and so people’s real income will rise and they will be able to consume more goods.
Also economic growth can help in reducing unemployment, because with higher GDP tax revenue will increase and government will be able to spend more on building public goods in order to provide unemployed with workplaces.
Comment on the effectiveness of one supply side policy in promoting economic growth.
To promote economic growth government can increase labor’s productivity by using supply side policies such as education and training. Investment in human capital that is education, training that workers get, might help to increase productive capacity and stimulate economic growth. However the opportunity cost is very big and government could spend this money on other sectors. Also effect can be undesirable because productivity might not increase and this very often depends on personal abilities.
Discuss the benefits of a fall in the rate of inflation
Inflation is a sustainable rise in the price level. Low level of inflation is one of the main objectives of the macroeconomic performance of the country. Consumer’s real income, that is the income after adjusted for the inflation, will increase so they will be able to consume more. However benefits vary according to which type of inflation is low. Cost push inflation is more dangerous because it is more difficult to reduce it. And low cost push inflation means that producers can produce goods at lower costs and easier can increase supply. Low inflation rates means that people and businesses can make plans and forecast the future as they know that money will not lose their purchasing power very quickly. Firms can make predictions of their sales and this will be beneficial for their profits.
Low price level means can influence balance of payments and make exports more competitive. However, this depends on a relative inflation in other countries and even if in the country is inflation is low but in others it is lower, then goods within the country will be still uncompetitive.
Sometimes too low price levels may cuase a deflation and if this deflation is arising from fall in AD, suppliers will have to stop ptoducing so many goods and this might lead to a higher unemployment rate.
Increase in people standard of living. As economic growth in the short run means increase in real GDP and so people’s real income will rise and they will be able to consume more goods.
Also economic growth can help in reducing unemployment, because with higher GDP tax revenue will increase and government will be able to spend more on building public goods in order to provide unemployed with workplaces.
Comment on the effectiveness of one supply side policy in promoting economic growth.
To promote economic growth government can increase labor’s productivity by using supply side policies such as education and training. Investment in human capital that is education, training that workers get, might help to increase productive capacity and stimulate economic growth. However the opportunity cost is very big and government could spend this money on other sectors. Also effect can be undesirable because productivity might not increase and this very often depends on personal abilities.
Discuss the benefits of a fall in the rate of inflation
Inflation is a sustainable rise in the price level. Low level of inflation is one of the main objectives of the macroeconomic performance of the country. Consumer’s real income, that is the income after adjusted for the inflation, will increase so they will be able to consume more. However benefits vary according to which type of inflation is low. Cost push inflation is more dangerous because it is more difficult to reduce it. And low cost push inflation means that producers can produce goods at lower costs and easier can increase supply. Low inflation rates means that people and businesses can make plans and forecast the future as they know that money will not lose their purchasing power very quickly. Firms can make predictions of their sales and this will be beneficial for their profits.
Low price level means can influence balance of payments and make exports more competitive. However, this depends on a relative inflation in other countries and even if in the country is inflation is low but in others it is lower, then goods within the country will be still uncompetitive.
Sometimes too low price levels may cuase a deflation and if this deflation is arising from fall in AD, suppliers will have to stop ptoducing so many goods and this might lead to a higher unemployment rate.
Sunday 26 April 2009
Is the nuclear family universal?
Functionalist Murdock suggested an idea of universality of the family as family is the basic and vital institution in all societies. He looked at 250 societies and found four the most significant functions of the family: sexual, economic, reproduction and socialization. These functions are essential and meet needs in all societies and institution who best fits in performing them is family. Murdock defined the family as social group characterized by common residence, consisting of adults both sexes and depended children. We can consider family as being universal since all children in order to have an adequate socialization have to have their parents with them in early stage of life. However if we look at the statistics, since 1930s till 2005 number of divorces increased by almost 130000 ( Social trends, National Statistics Online) and there are many other types of lifestyles appear such as cohabitation, reconstituted families, same sex relationships and etc. Increase in diversity caused by changing in attitudes: people choose their lifestyle according to their priorities and not societies’ expectations and norms (Weeks). Another reason is increased individualization of women and their economic independency ( Beck and Beck – Gernsheim). Expansion of higher education led to changes in priorities of young adults and now people tend to marriage later: age of marriage for men increased from 25 to 32 in 2005 and for women from 23 to 29; but also more people remarry, divorce and choose another type of households ( Social trends, National statistics online).
However, still nuclear family is promoted by politicians and media. For example, Labour policy Supportin Families (1998) suggested different ways of supporting families, all types of families. However Labours also pointed out that preferred type will be nuclear. Media created cereal packet image of the family (Leach) where it was promoting ideal nuclear family. People being influenced by media and politicians start seeing other types of households undesirable or abnormal (Gittins).
However, still nuclear family is promoted by politicians and media. For example, Labour policy Supportin Families (1998) suggested different ways of supporting families, all types of families. However Labours also pointed out that preferred type will be nuclear. Media created cereal packet image of the family (Leach) where it was promoting ideal nuclear family. People being influenced by media and politicians start seeing other types of households undesirable or abnormal (Gittins).
Monetarists and Keynesians about inflation.
Monetarists’ view is based on the idea that the most influential factor of inflation is money supply. Government by using this instrument of monetary policy can change current inflation. If they increase money supply and so banks will be able to lend more and people will have more money to spend on goods and services and also on different financial assets; this might lead to a decrease in interest rates and so further increase in AD and so change in money supply can stimulate wealth effect and lead to a rise in inflationary pressure.
While Keynesians didn’t see strong relationship between money supply and inflation. They emphasized role of the AD in the economy and money supply is one of the determinants of AD. Their major concept was Phillips curve where they showed a trade off between inflation and unemployment and said that as inflation rises unemployment will reduce that’s why some inflation rate might be desirable for the economy. Keynesians said that government has to intervene in order to maintain low unemployment rate while classical economical approach chooses non-intervention. To downward inflationary pressure Keynesian economists accept some deflationary fiscal policies:
* Reducing the level of government expenditure
* Increasing taxation (either direct or indirect) to
discourage spending
* Increasing interest rates to discourage saving
* Reducing money supply growth
Discuss the effectiveness of the use of monetary policy to deal with the inflation
Inflation is a sustained rise in the price level over a period of time. One of the main macroeconomic objectives of the government is having a low level of inflation. To achieve it government can use different policies. One of them is monetary that is decisions on the rate of interest, money supply and exchange rate. The main instrument of monetary policy is rate of interest. By changing interest rates, government can influence producers and consumers. But whether to use different policies, it is important to know which inflation is it and how high it is. If inflation is demand pull, that is caused by increase in AD, high interest rates may influence people’s consumption and reduce it while savings will increase and so this might reduce inflationary pressure. However it is difficult to consider how high interest rates should be in order not to have surplus in the market.
If inflation is cost push, government can reduce costs by appreciating exchange rate and make imports cheaper and maybe reduce some costs of firms. High exchange rates however can cause current account deficit and make the country less competitive. Also in order to deal with inflation, government can increase supply of money and make it easier for banks to lend more and people spend more, however increase in the money supply lowers interest rates as banks will have a bigger amount that they can lend. And so this again affects AD. Also it is difficult to consider how much government has to increase it’s supply. So all instruments of monetary policy are connected and affect each other. When government is seeking to reduce inflation in the long run, government will use supply side as by increasing productive capacity, quantity and quality of labor productivity can increase and costs will reduce. AD will be increasing with parallel increase in AS.
Tuesday 21 April 2009
Aggregate supply is a total amount that producers are willing and able to supply at a given price level. Increases in AG that are extensions might be caused by different reasons and differently affects output that is amount of goods produced and inflation that is a sustainable rise in the price level. If short run AS increase this is due to reductions in costs while increase in long run AS might be caused by increased productivity. Increase in AS mostly depends on capacity utilization. Capacity utilization means to what extent firms can expand their production. If firms work close to full capacity increases in AS will lead to increases in total output and might help reduce inflationary pressure as you see on the diagram below.
However it depends also in a position of AD and if AD overheating AS, that is when the growth in AD outstripping the growth in AS, this will lead to inflation in the economy.
If there is spare capacity and unemployment, firms can easily expand their production but this will have almost no effect on output and price levels as it is shown on the diagram below.
If there is spare capacity and unemployment, firms can easily expand their production but this will have almost no effect on output and price levels as it is shown on the diagram below.
Saturday 18 April 2009
Examine the reasons for the increase in family and household diversity in the last 40 years.
Twentieth century brought big changes in priorities of people and their expectations of relationships.
Over the past 40 years people, generally, tended to marry later and didn’t consider creating the family as the most important thing in their life. Also more and more people choose living alone rather than with family and have freedom. And if before living alone gave negative status for women as they failed in finding partners, now views have changed and it is not blame to be alone. Also increasing number of people prefers cohabitation, that is living with a partner together but not marry, because it might help avoid conflicts. For 40% cohabitation is a good alternative to marriage, while for most people cohabitation is a kind of prelude which helps to test relationships and make them stronger. Main causes of an increase in family diversity are changing in attitudes that is how people now define the ideal family life, increased opportunities in going to University for everyone made people be more aimed in making their own career and be more independent; from 1967 contraception became more reliable and available for all women and sexual relationships became not only the way of social reproduction but also the expression of love.
Weeks suggested that nowadays there is an increased choice in personal mortality, that is choosing different kinds of families is individual choice rather than influence of values and attitude in the society.
Also family diversity has increased due to changes in expectations from marriage and as Fletcher said, now people place higher values on marriage. The Divorce act 1969 made it easier for people to divorce and they didn’t have to prove guilty of their partners.
Beck and Beck-Gernsteim argued that our society is characterized by increased individualization, women don’t need to rely on their husbands anymore and they can achieve the same statuses with them if not higher. High values are placed on self-expression and independence while marriages which were the norm in the society before will limit people’s actions. Another reason of increased divorce rates is that nowadays there is a trend towards confluent love (Giddens) that is when relationships are focused on expression of love, intimacy and support. And if people don’t find this love in their partners, they prefer to change their lifestyle.
Divorces for many people led to changes in values placed on relationships and they choose another lifestyle such as being alone or cohabiting. More people become to be lone parents as this make their life easier, and as feminists argued, women will escape violence, conflicts and destructive relationships for them and their children (Bernardes).
In recent years increased opportunities for same sex relationships have formed a big number of households based on same-sex relationships. Dunne suggested in her research that lesbian and gay couples are less likely to have conflicts as they share responsibilities and domestic duties.
So as we can see there are many alternatives to marriage which led to increased numbers of family diversity and as Giddens said, diversity is a reflection of opportunities and priorities in modern era. However, Gittins argued that still nuclear family consisting of heterosexual couple and their offspring acted and acts as powerful ideology for most couples and alternatives of the nuclear family are still considered to be abnormal. Her opinion was supported with another sociologist Chester who used the term ‘neo-conventional family’ describing that even if there was some growth in family diversity, generally, most people marry, have children; nuclear family remains the dominant family structure.
New Right ideas about the family diversity are that the decline in traditional values and appearance of new types of households are a big threat to the society and destruct it. Murray said that, for example, single mothers are a principle cause of crime.
In my opinion still a big importance is placed on societal values and expectations and most people will behave in a way that is considered to be normal for the society.
Over the past 40 years people, generally, tended to marry later and didn’t consider creating the family as the most important thing in their life. Also more and more people choose living alone rather than with family and have freedom. And if before living alone gave negative status for women as they failed in finding partners, now views have changed and it is not blame to be alone. Also increasing number of people prefers cohabitation, that is living with a partner together but not marry, because it might help avoid conflicts. For 40% cohabitation is a good alternative to marriage, while for most people cohabitation is a kind of prelude which helps to test relationships and make them stronger. Main causes of an increase in family diversity are changing in attitudes that is how people now define the ideal family life, increased opportunities in going to University for everyone made people be more aimed in making their own career and be more independent; from 1967 contraception became more reliable and available for all women and sexual relationships became not only the way of social reproduction but also the expression of love.
Weeks suggested that nowadays there is an increased choice in personal mortality, that is choosing different kinds of families is individual choice rather than influence of values and attitude in the society.
Also family diversity has increased due to changes in expectations from marriage and as Fletcher said, now people place higher values on marriage. The Divorce act 1969 made it easier for people to divorce and they didn’t have to prove guilty of their partners.
Beck and Beck-Gernsteim argued that our society is characterized by increased individualization, women don’t need to rely on their husbands anymore and they can achieve the same statuses with them if not higher. High values are placed on self-expression and independence while marriages which were the norm in the society before will limit people’s actions. Another reason of increased divorce rates is that nowadays there is a trend towards confluent love (Giddens) that is when relationships are focused on expression of love, intimacy and support. And if people don’t find this love in their partners, they prefer to change their lifestyle.
Divorces for many people led to changes in values placed on relationships and they choose another lifestyle such as being alone or cohabiting. More people become to be lone parents as this make their life easier, and as feminists argued, women will escape violence, conflicts and destructive relationships for them and their children (Bernardes).
In recent years increased opportunities for same sex relationships have formed a big number of households based on same-sex relationships. Dunne suggested in her research that lesbian and gay couples are less likely to have conflicts as they share responsibilities and domestic duties.
So as we can see there are many alternatives to marriage which led to increased numbers of family diversity and as Giddens said, diversity is a reflection of opportunities and priorities in modern era. However, Gittins argued that still nuclear family consisting of heterosexual couple and their offspring acted and acts as powerful ideology for most couples and alternatives of the nuclear family are still considered to be abnormal. Her opinion was supported with another sociologist Chester who used the term ‘neo-conventional family’ describing that even if there was some growth in family diversity, generally, most people marry, have children; nuclear family remains the dominant family structure.
New Right ideas about the family diversity are that the decline in traditional values and appearance of new types of households are a big threat to the society and destruct it. Murray said that, for example, single mothers are a principle cause of crime.
In my opinion still a big importance is placed on societal values and expectations and most people will behave in a way that is considered to be normal for the society.
Friday 17 April 2009
China Effect
China Effect which is a huge economic growth of the China has a big impact on all other countries. As GDP is growing rapidly in China and the country faces increased demand and demand-pull inflation, the UK will face inflationary pressure from this country and as China is the top producer of coal, steel, cement, and 10 kinds of metal, not only UK but all parts of the world will suffer from inflation. This might lead to an increased trade deficit in the UK when the amount of imports exceeds the amount of exports. But as Saunders, the economist of Citigroup said: “At the same time, growing demand from these countries is pushing up commodity prices across the board”. Also UK faces a high competitiveness from China and has to increase its spending on supply side policies in order to increase productive capacity and remain competitive in the market. Also UK has to increase its lower productivity and reduce unemployment when facing increased demand for goods from overseas.
China’s exchange rates are relatively low compared to pounds and so UK could enjoy cheaper imports for a while however this will not be always “and the exchange rate provides just temporary shelter against import price rises.”
China’s exchange rates are relatively low compared to pounds and so UK could enjoy cheaper imports for a while however this will not be always “and the exchange rate provides just temporary shelter against import price rises.”
Examine the effects of urbanisation and industrialisation on the family and household structure.
The process of industrialization when there is a development in manufacturing industry started in Britain in the late of 18th and early 19th centuries has a big impact on families’ structure.
Before the industrial revolution, families were unit of production and considered to be multifunctional. Every member of the family had to work, including small children, families had wide kinship networks and supported each other and main sectors of work were agriculture and small cottage industry. With development machines and equipment which could make people’s job easier and had higher productivity, people had to adapt to new conditions and change something in their lifestyle. Firstly, the industrialization demanded higher geographical mobility which led to a reduction of kinship network and appearing of a nuclear family which was better fitted to that time. Families didn’t need such support that they needed before from their relatives. Also the appearance of social mobility gave people opportunities to get higher qualifications and created division of labor. Families couldn’t perform all the functions they had to before and some of them were taken over by other institutions. Families continued to reproduce only main functions and became isolated nuclear as Parsons suggested in his research. Family became to be unit of consumption. However his view was criticized and as Laslett found in his research, in pre-industrial Britain, nuclear family was the most common type of families; however he defined the nuclear family in different way with functionalists (Parsons) and said that it is not necessary for extended families to live under the same roof and they can have close relations in distance.
Also geographical mobility led to increase in urbanization that is when households move from rural areas to towns in order to satisfy the demand for labor and find better job. Both these processes changed not only the structure of the family but also relationships within families. Women and children were stepped aside from work in order to perform family’s functions and men were seen as breadwinners.
However people interpret the effect of industrialization and urbanization differently. And if Functionalists see these changes in family structure necessary in order to cope with all the changes around and be the best fit for the society, Marxists see them differently. They see the main function of the family is reproducing the social conditions and the appearance of new forms of families with these processes will help to better reproduce labor power, give emotional support for workers and help children to socialize in the world of inequality. For feminists, Oakley, industrialization gave the beginning of women’s primary role of caretaker and domestic labor.
Also these processes of industrialization and urbanization have different impact on different social classes and, for example, for upper classes a wide kinship network had always been significant (Gomm).
Before the industrial revolution, families were unit of production and considered to be multifunctional. Every member of the family had to work, including small children, families had wide kinship networks and supported each other and main sectors of work were agriculture and small cottage industry. With development machines and equipment which could make people’s job easier and had higher productivity, people had to adapt to new conditions and change something in their lifestyle. Firstly, the industrialization demanded higher geographical mobility which led to a reduction of kinship network and appearing of a nuclear family which was better fitted to that time. Families didn’t need such support that they needed before from their relatives. Also the appearance of social mobility gave people opportunities to get higher qualifications and created division of labor. Families couldn’t perform all the functions they had to before and some of them were taken over by other institutions. Families continued to reproduce only main functions and became isolated nuclear as Parsons suggested in his research. Family became to be unit of consumption. However his view was criticized and as Laslett found in his research, in pre-industrial Britain, nuclear family was the most common type of families; however he defined the nuclear family in different way with functionalists (Parsons) and said that it is not necessary for extended families to live under the same roof and they can have close relations in distance.
Also geographical mobility led to increase in urbanization that is when households move from rural areas to towns in order to satisfy the demand for labor and find better job. Both these processes changed not only the structure of the family but also relationships within families. Women and children were stepped aside from work in order to perform family’s functions and men were seen as breadwinners.
However people interpret the effect of industrialization and urbanization differently. And if Functionalists see these changes in family structure necessary in order to cope with all the changes around and be the best fit for the society, Marxists see them differently. They see the main function of the family is reproducing the social conditions and the appearance of new forms of families with these processes will help to better reproduce labor power, give emotional support for workers and help children to socialize in the world of inequality. For feminists, Oakley, industrialization gave the beginning of women’s primary role of caretaker and domestic labor.
Also these processes of industrialization and urbanization have different impact on different social classes and, for example, for upper classes a wide kinship network had always been significant (Gomm).
Examine the reasons for the changes in the position of children in the family and society
Childhood is considered to be a social construction which means that it was created by the society from social views and definitions. However different cultures see childhood differently and there is no universal description for everyone what is the childhood. In biological terms we consider people to be children when they just born and grow up because in this period they can’t be independent and survive without the help. In pre-industrial societies families were as unit of production and all the members of the family had to work in order to survive. But with the industrialization the role of women and children has changed; families lost some of their functions which were taken by other institutions (Parsons), and women were stepped aside of the work and their major duties were taking care of children and all the domestic work. Children became to be more protected and childhood was more independent stage of life when people needed more attention and care and also they had to study in order to get skills to their future jobs in manufacturing.
In Medieval Europe, as Aries suggested in his research, childhood didn’t exist. Children were seen as little adults and had the same rights with them and were treated in the same way. However later because of different diseases and high mortality rates they had to have special care and protection.
However a big importance plays ethnicity, culture. And for instance, if in the West children treated in some cases like Aries said, in the East relationship was different mostly because of diverged values of families. In the West people tended to be more independent, have their own priorities, while in the East families were cooperating and share their values.
However in the 19th century some rights of children were protected by the government such as introduction of Factory Act according to which children had to have special conditions while working, however still they were mostly as unit of production and only in 20th century they became a separate stage of life and had their own rights. Compulsory Schooling Act required primary level of education for all children by law and so they mustn’t work at this age, The children Act in 1989 gave children their rights; education acts said that children had to study up to a certain age.
However nowadays as Lee suggested, children increasingly have more rights, they have greater similarities with adults; adulthood, by contrast is becoming more unstable and uncertain, so generally he said that now adults and children change their roles.
Also, Postman said that now notion of childhood has disappeared. The influence of media, new technologies broke boundaries between children and adults and now there are only biological differences between them. However we can’t say that childhood has disappeared because still children are depended on their parents because parents are those who bring them up and taking care of them and support them in material questions.
In Medieval Europe, as Aries suggested in his research, childhood didn’t exist. Children were seen as little adults and had the same rights with them and were treated in the same way. However later because of different diseases and high mortality rates they had to have special care and protection.
However a big importance plays ethnicity, culture. And for instance, if in the West children treated in some cases like Aries said, in the East relationship was different mostly because of diverged values of families. In the West people tended to be more independent, have their own priorities, while in the East families were cooperating and share their values.
However in the 19th century some rights of children were protected by the government such as introduction of Factory Act according to which children had to have special conditions while working, however still they were mostly as unit of production and only in 20th century they became a separate stage of life and had their own rights. Compulsory Schooling Act required primary level of education for all children by law and so they mustn’t work at this age, The children Act in 1989 gave children their rights; education acts said that children had to study up to a certain age.
However nowadays as Lee suggested, children increasingly have more rights, they have greater similarities with adults; adulthood, by contrast is becoming more unstable and uncertain, so generally he said that now adults and children change their roles.
Also, Postman said that now notion of childhood has disappeared. The influence of media, new technologies broke boundaries between children and adults and now there are only biological differences between them. However we can’t say that childhood has disappeared because still children are depended on their parents because parents are those who bring them up and taking care of them and support them in material questions.
Thursday 9 April 2009
a)Expressive role is role usually kept by women which means that their role is to create home comfort and take care after other members of the family.
b) Unpaid domestic labor; emotional support for the whole family
c) Advances in medicine; increased standard of living; end of wars and poverty which was during the last century, economic stability
d) One of the main sociologists of last century Philip Aries argued that childhood started developing only about 300 years ago and in medieval Europe it didn’t exist. However Aries’ main material which he used in his research was paintings by outstanding artists so this source is not very unreliable since we don’t really know whether artists painted the world as it was.
We can say that childhood is socially constructed since there is different behavior to children as writer Pollack noticed. Parents tended to be kind and understanding to their children and there were many examples of violence when parents tried to encourage them to do something or act in a polite way.
In pre industrial societies families were as unit of production and every member did something in order to survive and help his family. As the society was developing, women were becoming out of work as children did and their main responsibility was bringing up children and be a housewife. In 1989 there was the first Children Act which maintained children’s rights and protected them. However in 1975 The Family Law Act had already emphasized children’s rights but not so clearly. Children were under protection of government and in cases of violence or abuse at home they can be taken from their biological parents in order to be safe.
There are laws according to which children cannot buy demerit goods such as alcohol or tobacco before 18 and so this law is aimed to protect young generation and keep it healthier. All these policies are helpful in reducing death rates and increasing standard of living. In the UK there is a law according to which children have to study until 18 and so childhood is considered to be continued till 18 years old, but as O’Donnel noted the length of childhood varies in different countries but usually it is between 18-21 because in this age people are still developing physically and mentally. In most developed countries children get welfare benefits and support in finding jobs after the graduating from university, so this helps them maintain their future life.
Shared Parental Responsibility Act 2006 determines “the best interests of the child” and emphasizes equal time parenting of the child by both parents.
But as Nick Lee said in 21 century childhood is becoming increasingly independent and influenced by media, however they are still dependent on their parents. Media considers childhood as independent and powerful unit of consumption and there are many programs which aimed especially to children in order to attract them with new things or shows. So even if there are many arguments that state that childhood is disappeared (Neil Postman) it is not true because still children will be protected by laws and be independent section of population.
e)Nowadays there are many different ways of constructing the family and as Giddens said this era is era of modernity where everyone chooses his own lifestyle and don’t try to be like others.
First of all, marriage is not the first priority for every women as they are becoming more individualized (Beck &Beck-Gernsheim), their economic position increased; women don’t need necessarily to be dependent on their husbands as they can start their own career which is becoming more and more important for young women. Also social values changed and it is not shame anymore to divorce or be alone as it was before. Both partners don’t expect from each other just taking the part in duties but also spouses demand more support and love, and this can lead to marital breakup (Coontz) and appearing other ways of creating the family.
With changing in priorities expectations of marriage and love change, some need more support, others try to be more independent. That’s why there is a tendency for everyone to choose their own lifestyle. According to the national statistics, households made up with a couple and their dependent children decreased by 15 % from 1961 in 2006, while there was a significant increase in other types of households such as cohabitation, same-sex or single-hood , lone-parents. Of course, still most people want to have good stable relations however as needs increase and now it is easier to divorce, young people choose being alone rather than with unwanted partner; or just they choose cohabitation in order to feel free and change partners when they want. Also more and more people choose same-sex relationships and as evidence shows (Gillian Dunne) they have less arguments, share all the responsibilities and children raised in such families are no different from those who were raised by heterosexual couples (Fitzgerald).
Another point which consider people when maintaining their own life whether they will economically able to support their own family, because they are not usually sure about their future that’s why many people avoid having children and create their own family in elder ages or never.
Also as Anthony Giddens said there is increase in confluent love that is deep emotional intimacy which individuals expect from their partners and if partners fail in giving such love many people choose other types of lifestyle more suitable for them.
However as Somerville argued “these changes are exaggerated” and he in some cases is right because for most people the cereal packet image of the family which includes heterosexual couple with their biological dependent children acts as a powerful ideology and was the ideal image of the family( Gittins 1993). Chester noted in the 1980 Neo-Conventional family where little had changed since 1940 and still more adults marry and have children, most children are reared by their natural parents.
b) Unpaid domestic labor; emotional support for the whole family
c) Advances in medicine; increased standard of living; end of wars and poverty which was during the last century, economic stability
d) One of the main sociologists of last century Philip Aries argued that childhood started developing only about 300 years ago and in medieval Europe it didn’t exist. However Aries’ main material which he used in his research was paintings by outstanding artists so this source is not very unreliable since we don’t really know whether artists painted the world as it was.
We can say that childhood is socially constructed since there is different behavior to children as writer Pollack noticed. Parents tended to be kind and understanding to their children and there were many examples of violence when parents tried to encourage them to do something or act in a polite way.
In pre industrial societies families were as unit of production and every member did something in order to survive and help his family. As the society was developing, women were becoming out of work as children did and their main responsibility was bringing up children and be a housewife. In 1989 there was the first Children Act which maintained children’s rights and protected them. However in 1975 The Family Law Act had already emphasized children’s rights but not so clearly. Children were under protection of government and in cases of violence or abuse at home they can be taken from their biological parents in order to be safe.
There are laws according to which children cannot buy demerit goods such as alcohol or tobacco before 18 and so this law is aimed to protect young generation and keep it healthier. All these policies are helpful in reducing death rates and increasing standard of living. In the UK there is a law according to which children have to study until 18 and so childhood is considered to be continued till 18 years old, but as O’Donnel noted the length of childhood varies in different countries but usually it is between 18-21 because in this age people are still developing physically and mentally. In most developed countries children get welfare benefits and support in finding jobs after the graduating from university, so this helps them maintain their future life.
Shared Parental Responsibility Act 2006 determines “the best interests of the child” and emphasizes equal time parenting of the child by both parents.
But as Nick Lee said in 21 century childhood is becoming increasingly independent and influenced by media, however they are still dependent on their parents. Media considers childhood as independent and powerful unit of consumption and there are many programs which aimed especially to children in order to attract them with new things or shows. So even if there are many arguments that state that childhood is disappeared (Neil Postman) it is not true because still children will be protected by laws and be independent section of population.
e)Nowadays there are many different ways of constructing the family and as Giddens said this era is era of modernity where everyone chooses his own lifestyle and don’t try to be like others.
First of all, marriage is not the first priority for every women as they are becoming more individualized (Beck &Beck-Gernsheim), their economic position increased; women don’t need necessarily to be dependent on their husbands as they can start their own career which is becoming more and more important for young women. Also social values changed and it is not shame anymore to divorce or be alone as it was before. Both partners don’t expect from each other just taking the part in duties but also spouses demand more support and love, and this can lead to marital breakup (Coontz) and appearing other ways of creating the family.
With changing in priorities expectations of marriage and love change, some need more support, others try to be more independent. That’s why there is a tendency for everyone to choose their own lifestyle. According to the national statistics, households made up with a couple and their dependent children decreased by 15 % from 1961 in 2006, while there was a significant increase in other types of households such as cohabitation, same-sex or single-hood , lone-parents. Of course, still most people want to have good stable relations however as needs increase and now it is easier to divorce, young people choose being alone rather than with unwanted partner; or just they choose cohabitation in order to feel free and change partners when they want. Also more and more people choose same-sex relationships and as evidence shows (Gillian Dunne) they have less arguments, share all the responsibilities and children raised in such families are no different from those who were raised by heterosexual couples (Fitzgerald).
Another point which consider people when maintaining their own life whether they will economically able to support their own family, because they are not usually sure about their future that’s why many people avoid having children and create their own family in elder ages or never.
Also as Anthony Giddens said there is increase in confluent love that is deep emotional intimacy which individuals expect from their partners and if partners fail in giving such love many people choose other types of lifestyle more suitable for them.
However as Somerville argued “these changes are exaggerated” and he in some cases is right because for most people the cereal packet image of the family which includes heterosexual couple with their biological dependent children acts as a powerful ideology and was the ideal image of the family( Gittins 1993). Chester noted in the 1980 Neo-Conventional family where little had changed since 1940 and still more adults marry and have children, most children are reared by their natural parents.
Monday 6 April 2009
Functionalists' perspecitve about the family
(I know that this topis is not new already but still wanted to write about functionalists in order to remember main points in their view)
The development of functionalists perspective about the family is connected with the study of anthropology. They compared society with the whole organism or human body and so every part of the society has is essential and has important functions. Family represents one of these important parts and it has to change according to changes in the whole body (society). That’s why with the industrialization family had changed and lost some of the functions which probably weren’t necessary.
In pre-industrial society family had wide developed kinship network as it had to help relatives and be supported by them and performed a number of functions. It was extended and multifunctional as there weren’t any other important institutions and every family had to cope with all the difficulties. With the developments in the society family had to evolve and its structure became more beneficial for that time. Increased development of division of labor meant that family had to be more geographically and socially mobile to be more suitable for the society and that’s why reduced it’s connection with kinship and became nuclear. One of the main sociologists-functionalists Talcott Parsons argued that in industrial society family was isolated nuclear and the main reason of this was that as division of labor and industrialization increased some other institutions took over responsibilities of some functions of the family such as education, welfare support… Mainly families weren’t units of production anymore as they didn’t just produced and consumed food but they were main consumers of other producers and so became to be units of consumption also. So generally isolated nuclear family was beneficial for the society as it was evolving and changing according to needs of the society.
Parsons said that even if there many functions that family has lost with changes in the society there are two main and irreducible functions performed by the family:
1)Primary socialization of children that is internalization of society’s culture and giving basic ideas of adequate behavior which is suitable for the society’s needs. With this function children will come to the value consensus.
2)Stabilisation of adult personalities means that children need emotional support in order to cope with difficulties in the society in the future and be prevented from all the threatens in the modern worlds.
Parsons’ theory is also known as ‘warm bath theory’: husband after a stressful day of work comes to get a warm bath that his family provides.
Another sociologist Peter Murdock argued that family as the part of the organism is universal and influence all other parts – institutions and in order to perform well and evolve have four main functions
1)Sexual : it strengthens relations in the family and creates sexual gratification for both partners but also as there are laws in some societies that forbid/limit sexual activity outside the marriage it will prevent disruption or conflicts that might occur.
2)Economic: this functions means that family has to produce and consume something in order to satisfy it’s needs and wants. Specialization of labor means that each person is specialized in particular task and his productivity rises which will be conductive to economic growth in the society
3)Reproduction: family is the main unit of reproduction of children and it helps to reproduce society
4)Educational: family is responsible for primary education of the children in order to help them accept norms and values in the society.
Murdock saw these functions as the most significant for the development of the whole society.
But when we talk about the family it is important to know how we define the family. From functionalists’ point of view family is a heterosexual couple with depended children and different roles between spouses as generally male was a breadwinner and woman housewife. Functionalists didn’t accept other forms of the family as they weren’t suitable for the society and couldn’t evolve according to changes. This picture acts as a powerful ideology as Diana Gittins argued and gave the beginning of stereotyping. However functionalists’ view was criticized because they don’t see positives in other forms of households (Morgan), they don’t take into account drawback of nuclear family such as conflicts and diversity which appear with the development of the society.
Functionalists, generally, see family as patriarchal because it is man who mainly responsible for finding all the necessities for the family and so he has more power among other members, while wife has to create warm bath for him and take care of children in addition to all the housework. Feminists said that there is a work exploitation of women.
Also functionalists in their perspective can’t explain increase family diversity which also was created by changes within society. More people choose cohabitation or single hood because see these types of living as the most suitable for them and the picture of idealized nuclear family which was introduced by Parsons looks weak in the modern society.
The development of functionalists perspective about the family is connected with the study of anthropology. They compared society with the whole organism or human body and so every part of the society has is essential and has important functions. Family represents one of these important parts and it has to change according to changes in the whole body (society). That’s why with the industrialization family had changed and lost some of the functions which probably weren’t necessary.
In pre-industrial society family had wide developed kinship network as it had to help relatives and be supported by them and performed a number of functions. It was extended and multifunctional as there weren’t any other important institutions and every family had to cope with all the difficulties. With the developments in the society family had to evolve and its structure became more beneficial for that time. Increased development of division of labor meant that family had to be more geographically and socially mobile to be more suitable for the society and that’s why reduced it’s connection with kinship and became nuclear. One of the main sociologists-functionalists Talcott Parsons argued that in industrial society family was isolated nuclear and the main reason of this was that as division of labor and industrialization increased some other institutions took over responsibilities of some functions of the family such as education, welfare support… Mainly families weren’t units of production anymore as they didn’t just produced and consumed food but they were main consumers of other producers and so became to be units of consumption also. So generally isolated nuclear family was beneficial for the society as it was evolving and changing according to needs of the society.
Parsons said that even if there many functions that family has lost with changes in the society there are two main and irreducible functions performed by the family:
1)Primary socialization of children that is internalization of society’s culture and giving basic ideas of adequate behavior which is suitable for the society’s needs. With this function children will come to the value consensus.
2)Stabilisation of adult personalities means that children need emotional support in order to cope with difficulties in the society in the future and be prevented from all the threatens in the modern worlds.
Parsons’ theory is also known as ‘warm bath theory’: husband after a stressful day of work comes to get a warm bath that his family provides.
Another sociologist Peter Murdock argued that family as the part of the organism is universal and influence all other parts – institutions and in order to perform well and evolve have four main functions
1)Sexual : it strengthens relations in the family and creates sexual gratification for both partners but also as there are laws in some societies that forbid/limit sexual activity outside the marriage it will prevent disruption or conflicts that might occur.
2)Economic: this functions means that family has to produce and consume something in order to satisfy it’s needs and wants. Specialization of labor means that each person is specialized in particular task and his productivity rises which will be conductive to economic growth in the society
3)Reproduction: family is the main unit of reproduction of children and it helps to reproduce society
4)Educational: family is responsible for primary education of the children in order to help them accept norms and values in the society.
Murdock saw these functions as the most significant for the development of the whole society.
But when we talk about the family it is important to know how we define the family. From functionalists’ point of view family is a heterosexual couple with depended children and different roles between spouses as generally male was a breadwinner and woman housewife. Functionalists didn’t accept other forms of the family as they weren’t suitable for the society and couldn’t evolve according to changes. This picture acts as a powerful ideology as Diana Gittins argued and gave the beginning of stereotyping. However functionalists’ view was criticized because they don’t see positives in other forms of households (Morgan), they don’t take into account drawback of nuclear family such as conflicts and diversity which appear with the development of the society.
Functionalists, generally, see family as patriarchal because it is man who mainly responsible for finding all the necessities for the family and so he has more power among other members, while wife has to create warm bath for him and take care of children in addition to all the housework. Feminists said that there is a work exploitation of women.
Also functionalists in their perspective can’t explain increase family diversity which also was created by changes within society. More people choose cohabitation or single hood because see these types of living as the most suitable for them and the picture of idealized nuclear family which was introduced by Parsons looks weak in the modern society.
Sunday 5 April 2009
Sociology. Family and Households
Hanmer and Saunders
1983. Women’s behaviour is very restricted by fear of men. 59% of women have experienced threaten/violence during the previous year.
Abbott and Wallace
1980. The main trigger for violence is male’s perception that woman is failed in her duties.
Dobash and Dobash
These duties are about sex, money, housework. 31% of women said that there were reasons for hitting them.
Men blame wives (80%) and ignore the beating and act as nothing has happened.
Wives usually don’t end relations after being beaten but can leave home for a while just to escape aggressiveness of husbands and them come back in order to try reestablish relations.
Violence is considered to be normal and accepted part of English Culture.
Borkowsky
Alcohol is leading contributor to domestic violence
Strauss
Violent homes affect children’s future behaviour.
1983. Women’s behaviour is very restricted by fear of men. 59% of women have experienced threaten/violence during the previous year.
Abbott and Wallace
1980. The main trigger for violence is male’s perception that woman is failed in her duties.
Dobash and Dobash
These duties are about sex, money, housework. 31% of women said that there were reasons for hitting them.
Men blame wives (80%) and ignore the beating and act as nothing has happened.
Wives usually don’t end relations after being beaten but can leave home for a while just to escape aggressiveness of husbands and them come back in order to try reestablish relations.
Violence is considered to be normal and accepted part of English Culture.
Borkowsky
Alcohol is leading contributor to domestic violence
Strauss
Violent homes affect children’s future behaviour.
Sociology.Family and Households
Duncompe and Marsden
1993. Women are mainly responsible for managing the whole family’s emotions; triple shift of work: housework/childcare, paid job, emotional work
Edgel
1980. Decision making: wives are dominantly responsible for minor decisions such as interior decorations, food and clothes while husbands in all other important areas. Most interviewed couples see sexual equality as a bad thing
Pahl
1989.Money and Management. Different types of money management:
- Housekeeping allowance system: a husband gives fixed sum of money to his wife for housekeeping and controls how this money is spent
- Pooling system: money is shared between husband and wife however men have dominant role in planning of spending this money.
Women who are in paid job usually have more power in financial question rather than those who don’t have job
Men generally tend to have more personal spending rather than women and if someone had to economize on himself it usually were women.
Independent managing of money usually appear in young couples who don’t have children and don’t need to spend on mortgages or buying expensive things.
Gullian Dunne
1999. Lesbian households share main responsibilities such as housework or childcare
Gender inequality in labor market shape gender inequality in relations.
1993. Women are mainly responsible for managing the whole family’s emotions; triple shift of work: housework/childcare, paid job, emotional work
Edgel
1980. Decision making: wives are dominantly responsible for minor decisions such as interior decorations, food and clothes while husbands in all other important areas. Most interviewed couples see sexual equality as a bad thing
Pahl
1989.Money and Management. Different types of money management:
- Housekeeping allowance system: a husband gives fixed sum of money to his wife for housekeeping and controls how this money is spent
- Pooling system: money is shared between husband and wife however men have dominant role in planning of spending this money.
Women who are in paid job usually have more power in financial question rather than those who don’t have job
Men generally tend to have more personal spending rather than women and if someone had to economize on himself it usually were women.
Independent managing of money usually appear in young couples who don’t have children and don’t need to spend on mortgages or buying expensive things.
Gullian Dunne
1999. Lesbian households share main responsibilities such as housework or childcare
Gender inequality in labor market shape gender inequality in relations.
Allan and Crow
“Women get satisfaction from self-sacrifice. This confirms her identity as a good wife and mother” (Sociology in Focus, AQA AS level)
Wednesday 1 April 2009
Families and households
Bott
Conjugal roles.
Conjugal roles are roles that played by wife and husband within marriage with reference to the domestic division of labour. There are two kinds of roles:
1)Joint: roles are more shared, interests, leisure also shared between wife and husband. Those who have loose knit networks are ore likely to have joint roles
2)Segregated: clear and distinct responsibilities, leisure time is separated. Those who have close knit networks are more likely to have segregated roles.
Oakley
1974.The Sociology of Housework.
Women have a dual burden: keeping traditional responsibilities for home and children and working in paid jobs.
Housework is seen as being a predominantly female role. Research showed that 88% of women were solely responsible for washing and ironing compared to 1% of men.
Women are a threat to men’s employment
Due the industrial revolution women were banned from some kinds of work. They and children are started to be economically dependent on men. This economic dependence and domestic duties meant that the housewife became the primary role for women
Bernard
1982. The Wife’s marriage.
It is being a housewife rather than being married contributes to the poor mental and emotional health of married women.
Hunt
1980. Husbands of both waged and unwaged wives helped only on the easiest domestic duties. Wives do double shift.
Gittins
1993. The cereal packet image of the family, that is heterosexual couple with children and which have traditional division of labor, acts as a powerful ideology defining what is normal and desirable and labeling alternative types of families as abnormal.
Weeks
2000. Personal morality has become an individual choice rather than a set of values influenced by religion or dictated in the society. This means that every individual chooses its own life according to his preferences, e.g. singlehood or same sex relations.
Giddens
1992.Late modernity: opportunities to choose and identity and select a lifestyle; diversity is a reflection in differences in views and priorities of late modernity. People choose whether they want marry or cohabit or build reconstituted families.
Relationships in late modernity are based on confluent love – deep and emotional and couples demand more and more support from each other.
Stacey
1996. Postmodern society: family relationships are unresolved and diverse; diversity is an opportunity for people to choose more appropriate lifestyle; increased possibility of more democratic and equal relations (Stacey thinks that gay and lesbian couples are more equal as such couples share domestic duties and responsibilities of taking care of children and usually both have paid jobs)
Conjugal roles.
Conjugal roles are roles that played by wife and husband within marriage with reference to the domestic division of labour. There are two kinds of roles:
1)Joint: roles are more shared, interests, leisure also shared between wife and husband. Those who have loose knit networks are ore likely to have joint roles
2)Segregated: clear and distinct responsibilities, leisure time is separated. Those who have close knit networks are more likely to have segregated roles.
Oakley
1974.The Sociology of Housework.
Women have a dual burden: keeping traditional responsibilities for home and children and working in paid jobs.
Housework is seen as being a predominantly female role. Research showed that 88% of women were solely responsible for washing and ironing compared to 1% of men.
Women are a threat to men’s employment
Due the industrial revolution women were banned from some kinds of work. They and children are started to be economically dependent on men. This economic dependence and domestic duties meant that the housewife became the primary role for women
Bernard
1982. The Wife’s marriage.
It is being a housewife rather than being married contributes to the poor mental and emotional health of married women.
Hunt
1980. Husbands of both waged and unwaged wives helped only on the easiest domestic duties. Wives do double shift.
Gittins
1993. The cereal packet image of the family, that is heterosexual couple with children and which have traditional division of labor, acts as a powerful ideology defining what is normal and desirable and labeling alternative types of families as abnormal.
Weeks
2000. Personal morality has become an individual choice rather than a set of values influenced by religion or dictated in the society. This means that every individual chooses its own life according to his preferences, e.g. singlehood or same sex relations.
Giddens
1992.Late modernity: opportunities to choose and identity and select a lifestyle; diversity is a reflection in differences in views and priorities of late modernity. People choose whether they want marry or cohabit or build reconstituted families.
Relationships in late modernity are based on confluent love – deep and emotional and couples demand more and more support from each other.
Stacey
1996. Postmodern society: family relationships are unresolved and diverse; diversity is an opportunity for people to choose more appropriate lifestyle; increased possibility of more democratic and equal relations (Stacey thinks that gay and lesbian couples are more equal as such couples share domestic duties and responsibilities of taking care of children and usually both have paid jobs)
(to be continued)
families and households
There are some important people whom we have to remember for our first exam in Sociology about Families
Rapoport.
1982. 5 types of diversity:
1)organizational -> differences in the way families are structured
2)cultural -> differences arise from different cultures’ norms and values
3)class ->different views by different parts of society (e.g. middle class and working class havew different views on relations and socializing children)
4)life course ->diversity caused by different stages people have reached
5)cohort ->diversity created by the historical periods the family have lived through ( e.g. unemployment leads to a smaller family structure
1978. Dual career marriage. Costs and strains for women when attempting to balance two roles: family and career.
Two types of the ideas of dual career marriages:
1)Old-style: traditional stereotypes of wives’ roles and thereby as employment rates of women rise, divorce rates also rise because women can not balance these two roles; children of working mothers perform badly at school
2)New-style: dual career marriage is not necessarily finishes with divorces and the net gain in satisfaction for most dual career couples is greater than the perceived losses. However women have to overcome many difficulties such as stress and strong stereotypes with wives’ roles.
Chester.
1985. The rise of the neo-conventional family.
Even if there is a growth in family diversity, nuclear family remains dominant family structure and he argues that:
- most adults still marry and have children
- most children are rared by their real parents
- most people live as a married couple
Wilmott and Young
1973. The symmetrical family. 4 stages:
1)Pre industrial: family is a unit of production; home and work are not separated
2)The early industial: the family’s economic function is taken by industry, the appearance of differences in husband’s and wife’s duties, large kin networks
3)Symmetrical: nuclear family, home centred and privatized, more equal roles of men and women, more widespread among middle class. The appearance of stratified diffusion when ideas of norms and values are spread through the class system from top to bottom
4)The Asymmetrical: stratified diffusion continues; upper class will set the trends for ideal family life; work-centred rather than home centred
1957. Family and Kinship in East London
Traditional division of labour gives an opportunity to men and women create a new kind of companionship. Joint conjugal roles are spread; working class couples have relations have more similar styles f relationship with middle class.
Parsons.
- The essential functions of the family:
-primary socialization
-stabilization of adult personalities
- Nuclear family is the best fit for industrial society
- Industrial nuclear family is isolated from its kinship network and the main reason for it is a loss of functions performed by the family, e.g. schools have taken educational function.
Kessler and Mckenna.
Criticism of Parsons: he excludes other types of the family such as childless, single-parent,same sex. Parsons says that they are only exceptions.
Rutter
Children need to be with their natural parents and caretaker should be a female
(to be continued)
Rapoport.
1982. 5 types of diversity:
1)organizational -> differences in the way families are structured
2)cultural -> differences arise from different cultures’ norms and values
3)class ->different views by different parts of society (e.g. middle class and working class havew different views on relations and socializing children)
4)life course ->diversity caused by different stages people have reached
5)cohort ->diversity created by the historical periods the family have lived through ( e.g. unemployment leads to a smaller family structure
1978. Dual career marriage. Costs and strains for women when attempting to balance two roles: family and career.
Two types of the ideas of dual career marriages:
1)Old-style: traditional stereotypes of wives’ roles and thereby as employment rates of women rise, divorce rates also rise because women can not balance these two roles; children of working mothers perform badly at school
2)New-style: dual career marriage is not necessarily finishes with divorces and the net gain in satisfaction for most dual career couples is greater than the perceived losses. However women have to overcome many difficulties such as stress and strong stereotypes with wives’ roles.
Chester.
1985. The rise of the neo-conventional family.
Even if there is a growth in family diversity, nuclear family remains dominant family structure and he argues that:
- most adults still marry and have children
- most children are rared by their real parents
- most people live as a married couple
Wilmott and Young
1973. The symmetrical family. 4 stages:
1)Pre industrial: family is a unit of production; home and work are not separated
2)The early industial: the family’s economic function is taken by industry, the appearance of differences in husband’s and wife’s duties, large kin networks
3)Symmetrical: nuclear family, home centred and privatized, more equal roles of men and women, more widespread among middle class. The appearance of stratified diffusion when ideas of norms and values are spread through the class system from top to bottom
4)The Asymmetrical: stratified diffusion continues; upper class will set the trends for ideal family life; work-centred rather than home centred
1957. Family and Kinship in East London
Traditional division of labour gives an opportunity to men and women create a new kind of companionship. Joint conjugal roles are spread; working class couples have relations have more similar styles f relationship with middle class.
Parsons.
- The essential functions of the family:
-primary socialization
-stabilization of adult personalities
- Nuclear family is the best fit for industrial society
- Industrial nuclear family is isolated from its kinship network and the main reason for it is a loss of functions performed by the family, e.g. schools have taken educational function.
Kessler and Mckenna.
Criticism of Parsons: he excludes other types of the family such as childless, single-parent,same sex. Parsons says that they are only exceptions.
Bowlby
Rutter
Children need to be with their natural parents and caretaker should be a female
(to be continued)
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