Families and households

The Functionalist persepetive on the family.

• Functionalist believe that society is based on the value of consensus- a set of shared norms and values-into which society socialises its members.
• Functionalists see the family as a particularly important su-system- abasic building block of society.
• Murdock (1949) argues that the family performs four functions to meet the needs of society.
• 1. Stable satisfaction of sex drive- with the same partner, preventing the social disruption caused by sexual "free for all". 
• 2. Reproduction of the next generation,without which society could not continue.
• 3. Socialisation of the Young, ino society's…