Social Themes And Perspectives

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SOCIAL THEMES AND PERSPECTIVES Feminism - Functionalism The focus of this assignment will be to compare and contrast two key sociological perspectives, Functionalism and Feminism in relation to the family. It will define both perspectives having identified the meaning of family. Finally it will evaluate the difference between the two perspectives. Shulman (2009:260) highlights the difficulties faced when defining the meaning of ‘family’. The confusion derives from the changing nature of modern relationships and whilst family is a group it is a special type of group, one which cannot be captured in a single definition. A helpful and more modern definition is provided by The National Association of Social Workers (1990). Family is: “A primary group whose members assume certain obligations for each other and generally share common residence” Furthermore they suggest family is two or more people who consider themselves to be family and assume obligations, functions and responsibilities generally essential to healthy family life. Functionalism is a structualrist theory, which first emerged in Europe in the nineteenth century. Emile Durkheim a sociologist from France was the most influential functionalist of his time. In the twentieth century the theory was developed further in America by sociologists such as Talcott Parsons. During the 1940’s and 1950’s this theory was the most dominant perspective on how societies function, but was to lose its validity from the 1960’s onward, when it was criticised as being not general to the majority populous. Also at this time there were competing perspectives emerging that seemed to provide superior explanations on society. When functionalists describe society, they will often liken it to the human body, where all of the parts need to work in unison to ensure well being. The different parts of a society are seen to be
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