Functionalism, Marxism and Feminism are common theories. Using the family and education system as examples, evaluate their effectiveness in explaining the social system. In this assignment, I am going to explain the theories of Functionalism, Marxism and Feminism. I will give examples that expand the definitions and show that such ideologies still have an impact on the society we live in. Functionalism is a macro theory, which looks at society as a whole rather than focuses on each individual.
Outline and Explain the Functionalist Perspective on the Family The meaning of family is usually a group of people that are related by marriage or blood. The founder of Functionalism was Emile Durkhiem. Functionalists share the same ontological view of Marxists, this view is the belief that man is weak, man is passive and society is strong. Functionalists believe that society is something that is based on value consensus (meaning a set of shared norms and values). Within the society, it socialises with its institutions and this gives the ability to meet the needs and goals of society.
According to Parsons, society is based on a value consensus, which is a set of agreed goals, values and roles that standardise and determine behaviour. This value consensus is established and maintained within the institutions of society. Society is therefore a system and has to meet certain needs to survive. Just as the parts of a biological organism function to meet its’ needs, so the parts of the social system function to meet the needs of society. The social needs are adaption, goal attainment, integration and pattern maintenance.
But an industrial society, Parsons argued, needed a different sort of family – a smaller, more geographically mobile unit – the nuclear family – and it became much more of a unit of consumption, rather than production. It needed this because large scale, industrial societies are meritocratic. They need to be he argued, in order to be fully productive; they simply would not succeed if they permitted the existence of the sort of privileged classes and cliques promoted by pre-industrial societies. However, Parsons also argues that the shift to an
Different groups of sociologists have devoted time in studying and analysing the family, however different types of sociologists share different views over the functions performed for individuals and society. Functionalist see society as an interrelated whole. To functionalists every institution in society performs one or more important functions or jobs and the sociologist has to determine what these functions are. Many functionalists look at the good things in family life, the two functionalists I am focusing on are Murdock and parsons, both of these share similar views on the family. Murdock believed that the nuclear family was a universal institution that was vital to the well being of all societies and stated that the family's primary purpose is for sexual, reproductive, economic, and educational.
Parsons (1955) argues that nuclear families in post-industrialised societies, are more ‘specialised’ and isolated, particularly as independent units of consumption, due to factors such as increased geographical mobility and the breakdown of the extended family. This has reduced the essential functions to two; primary socialisation and stabilisation of adult personality (ibid). This stabilisation is seen as the ‘warm bath theory’, whereby the family provides a loving and supportive haven from the stresses of modern life, primarily for the patriarchal figure fulfilling the
Murdock saw the family, the nuclear family in particular, an absolute need for society and he considered the four basic functions of the family to be the sexual, the reproductive, the socialisation and the economic. He carried out a study all over the world and said that the family is a universal thing and these are universal functions that everyone else follows too. Without the family, we wouldn't have food and shelter otherwise life itself would cease. Parsons believes that without the family we would have primary socialisation and stabilisation of the adult personality, furthermore, without culture and the shared values passed on from generations to generations- society wouldn’t exist
Structural action, in other words structuralism, is a perspective which is concerned with the overall structure of society and sees individual behavior molded by social institutions like the family, the educations, the mass media and work. The relationship between individual and society in structuralism is referred as a macro approach which is focusing on the large scale structure of society as a whole. For example, the effects of industrialization on older people's status, or how gender and income affect older people's well-being. Functionalism and Marxism are two main varieties of structuralism. Functionalism, is a sociological perspective, which sees society, as made up of parts which work together to maintain society as an integrated whole, like a human body.
Functionalist perspective on the family Functionalists believe that society is based on a set of shared norms and values, into which society socialises its members. This enables them to meet society’s needs and achieve shared goals. -Functionalists regard society as a system made up of different parts or sub systems that depend on each other. -Functionalists often compare society to a biological organism like the human body. Murdock – argues that the family performs four essential functions to meet the needs of society and it members.
The society would spend a lot of money to buy all sorts of equipments due to the view that technology makes life easier. Based on this perception, people always have gadgets in hand. However, the society is not aware that excessive technology usage may jeopardize health. People would totally depend on gadgets which then make them passive, isolated and other unhealthy lifestyle. It is also a fact that technology wave may