Functionalism & the family

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Functions of the family

  • Murdock; educational (teaching norms & values) economical (unit of consumption, providing food & shelter) sexual (relationship between parents reduces distruption, reducing 'free for all') & reproductive (creating the next generation).
  • Criticisms - Feminists; reject 'rose-tinted' approach & see the family as serving the needs of men by oppressing women. 
  • Marxists; the family meets the needs of capitalism, not those of family members or society. 
  • Parsons; the functions that the family perform will depend on the kind of society, nuclear family fits the needs of an industrial society & extended family fits pre-industrial.
  • A geographically mobile workforce - People are required to move to where jobs are, therefore a compact two-generation nuclear family is best.
  • A socially mobile workforce - The nuclear family is 'structurally isolated' from its extended kin so they have no binding obligations towards them, in the extended family relatives had a duty to help eachother & avoid conflict/crisis in the home. 
  • Loss of functionsParsons; when society industrialises the family loses its functions, becoming less self-sufficient, e.g, becoming a unit of comsumption instead of production.
  • Modern nuclear families now perform the 'irreducible' functions of primary socialisation & the stablisation of adult personalities (release tensions, 'warm bath theory'). 
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Other functionalist theories

  • Parsons; the sexual division of labour enables the 'warm bath' theory, women take the expressive role & soothe mens emotional stress, whereas men take the instrumental role & go to work, it is rooted in biology. 
  • Murdock; found that versions of the nuclear family exist in 250 societies of different cultures, proving that it is most effective in meeting the four needs & is 'universal'
  • O'Brien & Jones; family diversity is exaggerated & the nuclear family is still the most dominant family within society. 
  • Chester; all types of family stem from the nuclear family. 
  • The emergence of feminism, postmodernism & many new gov. policies threat are a threat to the traditional nuclear family. 
  • Criticisms - Marxist feminists; women end up staying at home being a housewife, without being paid.
  • Parents may fail to bring up their children into social acceptance & are bad role models. 
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