Functionalist Murdock suggested as children we are socialised into societies shared norms and values and he believed that males provide the economic roles and females provided the expressive role. Therefore it is natural for women to play the expressive role in the household looking after the family’s emotional needs. However, radical feminist Ann Oakley argues that the role of the housewife is a social construction and isn’t linked to the female role. The housewife role makes sure that women stay inferior to men making it difficult for them have careers. Women carry out the triple burden in the household; the domestic labour, emotional labour, and paid labour.
Outline and assess functionalist and new right views on the family This essay aims to explore the views of the functionalist and new rights approach on the family. Functionalists argue that the family is the most important institution in society as it benefits both the individual and society. They have the most positive view on the family, and state that it performs vital functions for the maintenance of society. Their main emphasis is on the nuclear family which is the stereotypical family of married, heterosexual parents with children - they tend to ignore any other family types. The approach presents the family as a family isolated from wider kinships because of the mobility required by labour markets in industrial societies.
Marx believed that societies grew and changed due to struggles of different social classes. Durkheim believed in studying the “social facts,” which would help determine if a society was healthy or pathological. Weber’s focus on the structure of society included the elements of class, status and power. Each sociologist had a great influence in the field of sociology, but took different approaches to studying societies. Sociology enables us to understand how society functions and under which circumstances.
New right thinkers however; believe that these laws undermine the traditional male dominance in families, but many believe these new policies for women and children strengthen the family rather than weaken it. Sociologists such as new right thinkers argue that the Labour party has constructed a ‘nanny state’ which over-intervenes in personal living arrangements. The Labour party have constructed many laws beneficial for women in families as they have realised most families now rely of two
Simmel was interested in revealing the universal characteristics present in all social relationships, whether in an office, a family or a bus queue. Similarly historical studies of the social structure of the Roman Empire may have little relevance to today’s social problems. On the other hand, may sociologists are interested in solving social problems through their research. For example, sociologists who feel strongly about poverty or about inequalities in educational achievement have conducted research aimed at discovering solutions to the social problems. Many are employed directly by the government departments such as the Home Office or the Department for Children,
Murdock – argues that the family performs four essential functions to meet the needs of society and it members. 1) Stable satisfaction of the sex drive – with the same partner, which prevents a social disruption 2) Reproduction of the next generation – without which society wouldn’t continue 3) Socialisation of the young – into society’s shared norms and values 4) Meeting its members economic needs – such as food and shelter Murdock argues that these four factors explains why having a nuclear family is universal Criticisms of Murdock Other sociologists argue that other institutions or non nuclear family structures could equally performs these functions, not just nuclear families. Feminists argue that they see the family as serving the needs of men and oppressing women. Parsons functional fit theory Parsons distinguishes two family structures Nuclear family – just parents and dependent children Non Nuclear family – three generations living under the same roof Parsons argues that the particular structure and functions of a given type of family will ‘fit’ the needs of the society in which it is found. According to Murdock there are two basic types of society -Modern industrial family: nuclear family -Pre industrial family: extended family A geographically mobile workforce -Parsons argues that it is easier for the nuclear family to move.
Sociology differs from social psychology because sociology specifically looks at the different social behaviors and the surrounding influences at more of a broader view. Sociologists look at and their interests are with the institution and also the different cultures that influence how people behave. Psychologists or researchers use many different scientific methods to conduct their research in social psychology. Some examples of these methods are; descriptive research- shows what may already exist within a group.
The idea of nuclear family was thought up by Functionalist Talcott Parsons, this family consisted of a married man and wife living together and raising children of their own. The father would naturally be seen to be the breadwinner while the mother had the nurturing, comforting and expressive role in the family. Watson (2011) stated that “Parsons claimed that marriage was essential for emotional security. Within marriage, men and women are filling their natural roles as human beings.” This did cause much controversy especially among feminists at the time as it took away from the concept of equality between men and women. Murdock (1949) said “The family is a social group characterized by common residence, economic co-operation and reproduction.
Many people believe that the family should be nuclear and the male should be the main economic provider with the woman spending most time at home and taking care of the children, this is a functionalist point of view, who believe that the nuclear family is the best type of family and childcare is less important than financial income. One of the main factors affecting the division between genders is societies view on men and women. Pink and blue jobs are a good example of how the division is set, women would do pink jobs which included maids and domestic workers and men would do blue jobs which would include more manual labouring jobs and jobs that required a higher level of intellect. Even nowadays these are still referred to, In the United States, a pink-collar worker performs jobs in the service industry. In contrast, a blue-collar worker is a working class person who performs skilled or unskilled manual labor.
Social policy is the actions, plans and programmes of government bodies and agencies aim to deal with a problem or achieve a goal, for example, preventing crime or reducing poverty. Social policies are sometimes influenced by the findings of sociologists, however this usually depends on the government in power and their political ideologies. There are different types of social problems that cause public concern such as crime and poverty; these usually need some sort of solution. And there are also areas of sociological interest that may have an impact on policy such as why some people are poor, commit crime, or fail in school. Sociologists carry out their research from a number of theoretical perspectives, and depending on the views they adopt they will have different ideas about the nature of social problems and know how to solve them.