The Family Structure Serves to Meet Which of the Following Needs of Family Members????
Functionalists focus on the positive functions of the nuclear family, such equally secondary socialisation and the stabilisation of developed personalities.
This brief post is designed to help yous revise the Functionalist Perspective on the Family, relevant to the Equally Sociology Families and Households Module. Information technology summarises the work of George Murdoch and Talcott Parsons so offers some full general criticisms .
The Functionalist View of Society
Functionalists regard lodge as a system made up of unlike parts which depend on each other. Different institutions each perform specific functions within a lodge to keep that society going, in the aforementioned mode every bit the different organs of a human trunk perform different functions in gild to maintain the whole.
Functionalists meet the family every bit a particularly of import institution equally they see it as the 'basic building block' of society which performs the crucial functions of socialising the young and meeting the emotional needs of its members. Stable families underpin social order and economical stability.
Before you go any farther you might similar to read this more in depth postal service 'Introduction to Functionalism' post which covers the key ideas of Functionalism.
George Peter Murdock – The four essential functions of the nuclear family
George Murdock was an American Anthropologist who looked at 200 unlike societies and argued that the nuclear family was a universal feature of all human societies. In other words, the nuclear family is in all societies!
Murdock suggested there were 'four essential functions' of the nuclear family:
ane. Stable satisfaction of the sex drive – inside monogamous relationships, which prevents sexual jealousy.
2. The biological reproduction of the next generation – without which society cannot continue.
3. Socialisation of the young – didactics basic norms and values
iv. Meeting its members economic needs – producing food and shelter for example.
Criticisms of Murdock
- Feminist Sociologists contend that arguing that the family is essential is ideological considering traditional family structures typically disadvantage women.
- Information technology is feasible that other institutions could perform the functions above.
- Anthropological research has shown that there are some cultures which don't announced to accept 'families' – the Nayar for instance.
Talcott Parsons – Functional Fit Theory
Parsons has a historical perspective on the evolution of the nuclear family unit. His functional fit theory is that equally society changes, the type of family that 'fits' that society, and the functions it performs modify. Over the final 200 years, society has moved from pre-industrial to industrial – and the main family blazon has changed from the extended family to the nuclear family. The nuclear family fits the more complex industrial order better, but it performs a reduced number of functions.
The extended family consisted of parents, children, grandparents and aunts and uncles living under one roof, or in a drove of houses very close to eachother. Such a big family unit unit 'fitted' pre-industrial society as the family was entirely responsible for the education of children, producing food and caring for the sick – basically it did everything for all its members.
In dissimilarity to pre-industrial society, in industrial society (from the 1800s in the Great britain) the isolated "nuclear family" consisting of merely parents and children becomees the norm. This blazon of family unit 'fits' industrial societies because it required a mobile workforce. The extended family was too hard to move when families needed to move to find work to see the requirements of a rapidly irresolute and growing economic system. Furthermore, in that location was also less need for the extended family unit every bit more and more than functions, such as health and education, gradually came to be carried out by the state.
I really like this brief caption of Parson's Functional Fit Theory:
Criticisms of Parson's Theory of Functional Fit
- Information technology's also 'smashing' – social modify doesn't happen in such an orderly manner:
- Laslett plant that church records show only 10% of households contained extended kin before the industrial revolution. This suggests the family was already nuclear earlier industrialisation.
- Immature and Wilmott found that Extended Kin networks were nevertheless strong in E London equally late every bit the 1970s.
Parsons – The two essential or irreducible functions of the family unit
According to Parsons, although the nuclear family performs reduced functions, it is still the only institution that can perform two core functions in society – Primary Socialisation and the Stabilisation of Adult Personalities.
1. Primary Socialisation – The nuclear family unit is still responsible for teaching children the norms and values of society known as Primary Socialisation.
An important role of socialisation according to Functionalists is 'gender office socialisation. If primary socialisation is done correctly then boys larn to adopt the 'instrumental office' (as well known as the 'breadwinner function) – they continue to go out to work and earns coin. Girls learn to adopt the 'expressive part' – doing all the 'caring work', housework and bringing upwardly the children.
2. The stabilisation of developed personalities refers to the emotional security which is achieved within a marital relationship between two adults. Co-ordinate to Parsons working life in Industrial club is stressful and the family is a place where the working homo can return and exist 'de-stressed' past his married woman, which reduces conflict in social club. This is too known every bit the 'warm bath theory'
The Positive Functions of the Family: A summary
Functionalists identify a number of positive functions of the nuclear family, below is a summary of some of these and a few more.
- The reproduction of the next generation – Functionalists run across the nuclear family unit as the 'central unit of measurement of society' responsible for carrying that guild on by biological reproduction
- Related to the in a higher place point one of the main functions is chief socialisation – teaching children the basic norms and values of society.
- This kind of overlaps with the in a higher place, but even during secondary socialisation, the family unit is expected to aid educated children alongside the school.
- The family provides psychological security and security, especially for men i might say (as with the 'warm bath theory'.)
- A further positive function is elderly care, with many families still taking on this responsibility.
- Murdock argued that monogamous relationships provide for a stable satisfaction of the sex drive – almost people today notwithstanding encounter committed sexual relationships every bit best.
General criticisms of the Functionalist perspective on the family
Information technology is really important to be able to criticise the perspectives. Evaluation is worth effectually half of the marks in the test!
1. Downplaying Conflict
Both Murdock and Parsons paint a very rosy flick of family life, presenting information technology as a harmonious and integrated establishment. However, they downplay conflict in the family, particularly the 'darker side' of family life, such equally violence confronting women and child abuse.
ii. Being out of Date
Parson's view of the instrumental and expressive roles of men and women is very onetime-fashioned. Information technology may take held some truth in the 1950s just today, with the majority of women in paid work, and the blurring of gender roles, it seems that both partners are more probable to take on both expressive and instrumental roles
3. Ignoring the exploitation of women
Functionalists tend to ignore the way women suffer from the sexual division of labour in the family. Even today, women still end up beingness the chief child carers in ninety% of families, and endure the burden of actress piece of work that this responsibleness carries compared to their male person partners. Gender roles are socially constructed and usually involve the oppression of women. There are no biological reasons for the functionalist's view of separation of roles into male breadwinner & female person homemaker. These roles atomic number 82 to the disadvantages being experienced by women.
4. Functionalism is too deterministic
This ways it ignores the fact that children actively create their own personalities. An individual's personality isn't pre-determined at nascency or something they have no command in. Functionalism incorrectly assumes an almost robotic adoption of guild'due south values via our parents; conspicuously there are many examples where this isn't the case.
A Level Folklore Families and Households Revision Parcel
If you similar this sort of thing, then you might like my AS Sociology Families and Households Revision Packet which contains the following:
- 50 pages of revision notes roofing all of the sub-topics inside families and households
- listen maps in pdf and png format – nine in total, covering perspectives on the family
- brusque answer exam practice questions and exemplar answers – 3 examples of the ten marking, 'outline and explicate' question.
- ix essays/ essay plans spanning all the topics within the families and households topic.
Sources used to derive this data include:
Haralambos and Holborn (2013) – Sociology Themes and Perspectives, 8th Edition, Collins. ISBN-10: 0007597479
Chapman et al (2015) A Level Sociology Student Book One, Including AS Level [Fourth Edition], Collins. ISBN-ten: 0007597479
Robb Webb et al (2015) AQA A Level Folklore Book 1, Napier Printing. ISBN-10: 0954007913
Related Posts
The Functionalist perspective on the family is usually the very get-go topic taught within the the families and households module.
It is unremarkably followed and critiqued past the Marxist perspective on the family and Feminist Perspectives on the family.
Source: https://revisesociology.com/2014/02/09/functionalist-perspective-family/
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