Within the society, it socialises with its institutions and this gives the ability to meet the needs and goals of society. Functionalists also have a biological analogy and compare society to a living thing. For an example, the institutions (the organs of society) need to be healthy for it to work when its ‘sick’ society contains a lot of anomie (lack of shared norms and values). The family meets the needs of society such as the need to socialise children. Functionalists see the family as an important sub-system.
The impact on the personality of the individual, it has the characteristics of participation in the life of the community. The variety of contacts, relationships and active participation in the life of the surrounding general give shape to the human personality. There are two types of social structure, macro and micro which allows the individual to notice, whatever man is constantly in contact, which affects the shape of humans’ personality. One of the most important perspectives of sociological theories is the distinction between structural and social action. 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.
What Makes a Family a Unit Introduction The most important social institution that a person can belong to is the family unit. Society’s view of the family unit differ from culture to culture, however, it remains the forefront base of preparing an individual to function in a society. To gain a better understanding of the family unit, scientist study it’s place according to the social structure of society. Sociology is the study of group behavior through scientific research (Vissing, 2011). There are three views that this paper will look at regarding the family unit, Functionalism, Conflict, and Interactionism.
The interpretation of statistical evidence relating to family diversity. 3. The concepts of life-cycle and family structure in relation to various theoretical forms of family diversity. Chris.Livesey: www.sociology.org.uk Page 1 Family Life Unit 2: Family DiversityIntroductionIn this set of Notes we are going to consider family life in terms of the idea of familiesas a social group within different societies. In particular, the emphasis will be on theconcept of family diversity; that is, the different forms of family relationship it ispossible to note and outline.The Diversity of Contemporary Family LifeWhen we examined the "fit thesis" (see: Teachers’ Notes Unit 2: Family andIndustrialisation) in relation to the way family structures have changed over to past300 years in Britain, we noted that writers such as Laslett and Anderson focusedpart of their criticism on the notion that a single type of family structure could beconsidered "dominant" in whatever period of time one chose to examine (forexample, the idea that the "extended family" was the dominant (main) form in pre-industrial Britain or that the "nuclear family" is the dominant form in industrial Britain).As Andersons research clearly indicated, this "monolithic"
3 Major Theoretical Approaches to Sociology Functionalism (a.k.a. Structural Functionalism, Functional Analysis, Positivism): Until relatively modern times the prevalent sociological perspective was Functionalism, a paradigm which analyzes social structures (such as religion, schooling, or race relations) to deduce what social functions (such as marriage conventions, college attendance, or hiring practices) derive from them. This theoretical approach views society as a system of inter-dependent social functions each working to maintain equilibrium and stability within the whole. The social function of marriage, for instance, might be seen to derive from a religious structure. The values, norms, and behaviors surrounding marriage (such as age limits, ‘showers’, and marriage licenses), and the ways in which these aspects of the function benefit the participants, is the ‘society’ which rises from the initial structure.
The functionalist perspective recognises that families perform vital functions for their members and for their society, to ensure stability and harmony in order to achieve social order (Giddens, 2009). Functionalists say that society is held together by social consensus, in which members of the society agree upon, and work together to achieve, what is best for society as a whole. Emile Durkheim suggested that social consensus takes one of two forms, one of which is Mechanical Solidarity – the sense of togetherness within a society
The agencies of socialisation are identified as families, peer groups, education, and work. The content will also consider theories of socialisation such as functionalists and social action theorists. These too will be evaluated in the thesis. The members of society learning and sharing behaviour are known as culture. Mike O’Donnell (1997) describes culture as “the way of life of a particular society” (P475).
Murdock suggested that the family must create a stable satisfaction of the sex drive, with the same partner to prevent a sexual free-for-all. This would benefit the individual as life could be easier for them. For example it would help the mother or father to raise one or two children instead of four or five. This would benefit society as less resources would be used. For example as the population increases the amount of resources used decreases, so less children would mean the less use of electricity or heating, helping society by using little resources.
The Hyacinth Berry case study will be used throughout to identify and discuss the interconnections of values, ethics and legislation. The General Social Care (GSCC) and BASW offer the social work profession its value base. The message from reading their requirements is that values are a fundamental part of a competent social worker. There is also a clear need for both students and qualified workers to ‘identify and question their own values and prejudices and their implications for practice.’ The need for social workers to have respect for persons and their right to self determination still remains the key to practice. Complexities of the social work task relate partly to the worker having to negotiate the tension between these values and the dilemmas that decision making brings.
Different groups have different views on how beneficial the family is to society. Functionalists, who traditionally dominated the sociology of the family, feel that the family is necessary for the running and continuation of an integrated society. It is assumed by functionalists that if there is the existence of a social institution, then it must have a purpose or a function. Functionalists therefore see the family as beneficial for society. To functionalists, society is an 'organism' that contains different segments which come together to keep society running smoothly.