Functionalist views on the role of the family
- Created by: Amy
- Created on: 02-03-13 13:43
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- Functionalist views on the role of the family
- Basic ideas are that the family compliment society and the way it works
- Organic analogy describes society like organs in the body that have separate roles but work with each other to keep the body
- Functionalists believe that institutions, such as the family teach us norms and values to reproduce value consensus and help socialise the generations
- Functionalism is a structural theory in that it believes that the social structure of society is responsible for shaping us as individuals and determining our experiences and life chance
- Murdock - 4 Functions: Economic, educational, sexual and reproductive
- Criticisms of Murdock - These could be performed by other family types. Feminists see the family as serving the needs of men and Marxists as meeting the needs of capitalism
- Parsons - 2 Functions: Primary socialisation and stabilisation of adult personalities
- Accuse of idealising the family and presenting a too simplistic explanation of its roles in society
- Parsons Warm Bath Theory -Where the woman in the household will
stay at home and soak up the stresses and strains of their husband when they
come home from a long day at work
- Marxist Feminist Ansley argues that ‘women are takers of ****’ because they deal with their husbands angers and frustrations
- Functionalist Fletcher believes that the family has developed new functions such as acting as a unit of consumption where goods and services are bought by families rather than as a unit of production as was the case in pre-industrial societies when extended families were the norm
- A criticism of functionalist views of the family is that functionalists paint a picture of happy families and tend to ignore the conflict that often exists
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