Functionalists see the family as an important sub-system. George Peter Murdock (1949) says that the family is universal, always has been and always will be. Murdock argues that the family has four functions that are needed in order to meet the needs of society and its members. Firstly, he believes that there is a function within the family that is called, Stable satisfaction of the sex drive – this is with the same partner and is the prevention of social disruption which is ultimately caused by a sexual ‘free-for-all’. Secondly, Reproduction of the next generation – without this essential function, society would seize to exist.
Functionalists believe that society is based on a set of shared norms and values, which society socialises its members. Murdock argues that the family is a universal institution that provides 4 essential functions to meet the needs of society. These are sexual, reproductive, economic and educational. He believes that these needs can only be achieved inside a nuclear family. However, other sociologists would argue that these needs can be achieved in other ways rather than just in a nuclear family.
In this essay I will examine the different functions performed by the family for individuals and society by exploring ideas expressed by the different sociologist groups including functionalism and Marxism. Functionalists had a strong belief that the family is a positive foundation. There view on the family is one that works well with the needs of an industrial society for a workforce that is not just geographically mobile but also socially mobile. This idea they believe benefits all aspects of society is that all families should be a nuclear family and by this they mean the husband is the bread winner this is a role to support the family his wife and children, functionalists call this the instrumental role. The expectation in a nuclear family is that the wife stays at home and looks after the children, she would clean and cook and provide the emotion in the family and they call this the expressive role.
Functionalists claim that society is a system with each part making-up the whole through a system of interdependence. The harmony and cooperation that is paramount to this view is maintained through value consensus. That is, for society to be successful, ordered and integrated, everyone must agree on what is important and good, achieved by teaching and promoting shared values which create a common identity (ibid). Murdock (1949) states that families perform four essential functions; regulating and stabilising sexual relationships; reproduction through procreation; economic provision and primary socialisation (ibid). 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.
Functionalists believe society is based on a set of shared norms and values. Norms and values are formed, using the nuclear family, to socialise future members of society, in order to meet the needs and shared goals of society. This essay will be exploring functionalist theories of the nuclear family and focusing on sociological explanations formed by Talcott Parsons and George Peter Murdock as well as looking at criticisms and other, alternative, theories from Marxists and Feminists. One functionalist theory, argued by Murdock (1949), of the nuclear family is that the family performs four essential functions to meet the needs of society and its members. Firstly, a stable satisfaction of the sex drive with the same partner (husband/wife).
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.
These studies refer to the change of the family form from an extended family to an `isolated nuclear family`, the movement from a rural area to an urban area and from agriculture system to the mass production of goods in a factory system. In view of all this however what can be said is that industrialization changed the family by converting it from a unit of production into a unit of consumption. First work to be referring to is that of Talcott Parsons in his study “the isolated nuclear family”, in which he claims that the isolated nuclear families are needed for industrial societies because they provide a more geographically mobile work force then the extended family. The second work to be referring to is that of Michael Young and Peter Wilmott in the “the symmetrical family” book, in which they suggest that the family has gone through four main stages to develop into a symmetrical family in which industrialization separated home and work and created male bread winner role. final work to be referring to is that of Michael Anderson in which he studied `the town of Preston in 1851s census data`, and argues that the extended family was mostly found between poor families.
Examine the different functions performed by the family for individuals and society. There are many different groups of sociologists that have devoted their time in studying, analysing and evaluating the family. Marxist’s see the family beneficial purely for capitalism and feel as if family is not important for any other aspects of life. They believe family is a bad thing and will strongly disagree with Functionalists who view the family as a major institution in the body of society and cannot live without. Another group is the Feminists who have different groups within them, some with very optimistic views, some with views that will agree with Marxists or some who will have their own ideologies and ways to demolish the generic nuclear family.
Assess the functionalist contributions to our understanding of the family Functionalists believe that parts of society exist for a function and are all part of the organic analogy. If these parts work together to pass on norms and values it creates a collective conscience, hereby creating social order. From the item we can see that Murdock saw the family as fulfilling the function of reproducing the next generation and socialising them into the shared culture. They believe the nuclear family is the most effective family for its function and is the most able to pass on the norms and values to create a collective conscience for the next generation. Murdock, a functionalist sociologist, says that the nuclear family is universal.
Within Sociology the family is defined as a primary social group that consists of parents and their offspring all living together to form a very close social group. This present essay will compare and contrast the difference between four perspectives, these being, the Functionalist, Interactionist, Feminist and the Marxist perspective. The functionalist approach believes that society is a structure of connected parts that work together to maintain a social balance for society. For example they believe that each social institute adds individual functions that are all important to the society. The family for example contributes a lot toward society as it is the main route of reproducing the population and teaching them the important lesson of socialization as they grow.