Sociological Approaches to the Family

• The family is a posotive thing for society
• The nuclear family is the most beneficial and is the main family type in the UK.
• The family performs these functions for society:
  • Reproduction- To continue the human race
  • Primary Socialisation-Family teaches children the norms and values(acceptable behaviour) of society 
  • Economic Support-The family provides shelter and food for its members. It can also be said that it provides emotional support for its members as well as the basics for survival.

The new right approach states that the family is negative for society if it is not a nuclear family. In their opinion the nuclear family is the only family type that sufficiently performs adequate sociailisation.They have similar veiws to functionalsts. They believe children from nuclear families:

The New Right Approach also states that same sex and single parent families are bad for society and produce children who behave oppisitely to those who've been socialisied in a nuclear family.

Marxists think that the family is bad for society and is made to benefit the rich. The nuclear family means that the social class divide can be kept alive as wealth and land is passed down linearlly by middle class parents to middle class children. The family means that middle class children are bought a private education and enter middle class jobs whereas working class children are born and socialised to accept their fate and accept that they are working class. This attitude keeps the class divide. Marxists belive that society was created to seperate the social classes.

Feminists belive the family is bad for society. They believe it is male dominated, this is known as patriarchy. This approach states that within the family boys and girls are socialised differently and learn their appropriate gender roles through things such as their toys. Girls learn that housework and childcare is an acceptable gender role for them as they receive these toys, but they also see and copy their mother's behavious which also mirrors these activities. This work the same but oppositely for males in the family. This states that the faimly encourages and keeps women as housewives who marry early and have children to look after.