Functionalist View of the Family

1. Functional fit theory

2. Parsons - 2 functions

3. Murdock - 4 functions

4. strengths

5. weaknesses

Functional fit theory: Parsons

the nuclear family has developed to meet the needs of modern industrial society. People are no longer relying on wider family networks (extended families) for survival and they are geographically mobile (meaning they can move to where the work is,) and socially mobile.

-However, this fit thesis has been challenged by historians of the family for a number of reasons.

Pre-industrial society had mainly extended families with many functions. Modern industrial society needs nuclear families, smaller with less functions.

Geographically mobile workforce: In traditional pre-idustrial society people lived in the same village, working in the same job. Parsons argues that it is easier for the nuclear family to move than the extended family.

Socially mobile workforce: Modern industrial society is based on a constantly evoloving technology and so requires a technically competent workforce. In modern society an individuals status is based off skills instead of their ascribed background.

1. The primary socialisation of children: the family equips children with basic skills and societies values, to enable them to co-operate with others and begin to integrate into society. Children are taught gender roles from their parents. Girls are taught to have the expressive role, whereas males are taught to take on a more instrumental role within the family. Thus, the children are socialised into becoming adults themselves.

2. The stabilisation of adult personalities: Meaning that the family is a place where adults can relax and release tensions enabling them to return to the workplace refreshed and prepared to meet its demands. Functionalists think men should be the breadwinner of the family, and this is known as warm bath theory.

Marxist feminists disagree with parsons 2 functions of the family, claiming that "women are takers of ****."

George Murdock studied families in a variety of cultures, through this he found that families had 4 functions:

1. Sexual: He regarded this function as needed for the parents to continue to bond in order to function better in society.

2. Reproduction: Without reproduction, there would be no next generation. Mothers and babies would not survive if there was no father present to protect them.

3. Economic: Parents earn money, do housework and generally support eachother in the household, without which the family would be unable to sustain itself.

4. Education: Parents can pass on norms and values of society, acting as agents of primary socialisation.

Criticisms: It is possible that other institutions could perform the functions of the family. Anthropological research has shown that there aresome cultures which dont appear to have families e.g. the NAYAR. 

• Recognises the importance of family to people and sees its importance in organising society.
• Explains why people follow social rules and emphasises the importanc of social stability.
• Sees how family is central to social structure and how it controls our behaviour.

• Marxists and feminists claim that functionalists overlook the dark side of family life, such as the exploitation of women and the way families are apart of the ideology of capitalism. They claim that functionalists view the family through "rose tinted glasses."
• The support of the nuclear family by politicians and functionalists implies that other family forms are lackinig in some way.
• Too deterministic, ignoring the fact that children create their own personalities.