There has been a decrease in the number of nuclear families in the UK and an increase in various other families such as single parent families. But the raise in single parent households has to do with the increase in divorce across the UK which means that more people are left having to support their children on their own unless they become a reconstituted family. Functionalists are classed as modernists when it comes to their opinions on family diversity in post-modern UK. But they also see modern society as clear-cut, fixed and predictable. They think that the best and strongest family type is the nuclear family.
Some sociologists believe that society is not too diverse to have one type of family. In recent years there has been a dramatic increase in divorce rates, more remarriages and more births outside of marriage which has caused a large decrease in the number of nuclear families. There are now more reconstructed families, cohabitating families, same sex families and lone parent families.
The divorce act made irretrievable breakdown a justifiable reason as to why someone would request a divorce. This caused a large peak in divorce. The idea that marriage is a stable life-choice has now began to decrease for many people. If their partner was not suitable, or they just weren’t in ‘love’ anymore, divorce became a very easily availability, which is another factor for the rise in cohabitation and the decrease in marriage. Secularisation (decreased value of religion in society) has had a large impact on marriage and cohabitation.
Copyright © 2002 by National Review. Reproduced with permission. From the view point this person he or she has pointed out divorce as serious problem of social science. And have also compare the current situation with 20 years later problems and statistical databases . person view point is on that divorce is bad for child, which leads child to serious social, emotional, and/or psychological dysfunction.
Another sociologist, Michael Anderson found evidence that extended families developed more during industrialisation because while parents were away at work, grandparents or uncles and aunts were there to look after the children so in return the extended kin get looked after too. Peter Laslett, an English historian disagreed and found that after industrialisation, nuclear families was more dominated than the extended family and single parent families became popular
There are different views on the functionalism of the family and these views can change over time, between societies and between people in the same society. One man who expressed his functionalist view on the family was Murdock. He felt that the family was at the heart of society and that the nuclear family (mother, father and two or more children) was so useful to society it is inevitable and universal. This suggests that Murdock thought that the family was a natural part of society and happens all over the world. He felt that the family was multi-functional and could do a lot of things that needed to be done in modern day culture.
While this feature can be used to explain incidents and changes that have occurred within society there is still a large gap between the resources available to those who are considered lower class or underclass compared to those with wealth within the United Kingdom and according to The Guardian newspaper inequality has risen faster in Britain than in any other country since 1975. The family would be unable to access the resources that would be available to those in power due to their wealth and social status however due to these factors Conflict Theorists would suggest that they would never gain access to them as the “ruling classes” would continue to oppress the lower classes in order to keep the resources for
Using material from Item 2B and elsewhere assess the view that, in today’s society, the family is losing its functions. (24marks). Item 2B For functionalist sociologists, the family fulfils a number of important functions for individuals and for society, such as the socialisation of children and the stabilisation of adult personalities. However, some sociologists suggest that, in today’s society, these functions are being taken over by other institutions and the family is losing its importance. For example, nurseries and playgroups have an increasingly important role in the socialisation of young children whose parents are working full-time.
How has the family changed in the past 100 years? In the early stages of the 20th century during the social stage of solid modernity, a typical family would have consisted of a bread-winning husband, a stay at home wife and several children. Now, in the 21st century, our society has entered the social stage of liquid modernity, and the preconceived stereotype about families has changed. Aspects of the family life style such as high divorce rates, cohabitation as a substitute for marriage, and children born out of wedlock would have been seen as great issues in the 20th century. In the present century, however, these issues are quickly becoming the norm in society.
In such family, the husband is usually the breadwinner, while the wife is responsible for the housework . Murdock (1949) argued that nuclear family is a 'universal social grouping' which can be found in all societies. However, a number of changes have taken place and the family became more diverse in the recent years. In the olden days, nuclear families were the norm. It was required that the relationship between a couple should be armoured by marriage.