Comparing Two Sociological Perspectives

Sociological theories give us different ways to look at our societies. Sociological perspectives are used as a way of looking at human behaviour and how it has an effect on the society in which we live. They are used to interpret and provide sociological explanations for how individuals act and how it affects society as a whole. The “science of society” was developed by Auguste Compte in the 19th century. However, not all sociologists share the same ideas. This assignment will be considering two sociological perspectives in detail and comparing a third. The perspectives being considered are Marxism, functionalism, which took a macro view of society, and interactionism, which took a micro view on society. and the areas being considered are
family and poverty.

Functionalism was first developed in 19th century Europe by French sociologist Emile Durkheim. It was further developed in the 1940’s and 1950’s by Talcott Parsons and Robert Merton. Functionalists believe that society is a system of connected parts that work together as a whole for the benefit of all. It can be compared to how doctors look at the human body, with the family being the heart, the brain being education etc. Functionalists would then look at how these parts or institutions worked in conjunction with each other, rather than on one part at a time. They believe that each institution is a contributor to society, the family for example is there to nurture and socialise children, teaching them norms and values. Education is the key for how a society passes on knowledge to our youth and religion provides moral guidance and an opportunity for worship. Therefore looking at how different areas of society interact with each other gives a better picture of society as a whole. Functionalists also use the terms functional and dysfunctional. If elements of society interact and contribute to society then they are classed as functional and dysfunctional if they are a disruption to social stability.
The functionalist theory looks at family life with a concensus approach. If the whole family interacts and works together they will be functional, however, if one part of this does not work then they will be a dysfunctional family. From primordial times the family has been rooted in the moral orders of societies. The legal family is established by the act of marriage. The man and wife sign a legally bound contract that establishes their rights, responsibilities and obligations and also defines positions of husband/wife, child/parent, grandparents, aunts/uncles, in-laws and other immediate and extended family ( Sussman, 1975, Weitzman 1981).
Murdock in 1949, did a study entitled Social Structure where he studied 250 different societies, from small tribes to large industrialized groups. He discovered that no matter how big, small or diverse the society was that there was always some form of a nuclear family, and thus helped him to provide a definition of the family and the theory that the nuclear family was universal in all societies. (Birx, 2005, pp. 944-946) Murdocks definition of family was one that was characterised by residence, economic cooperation and reproduction.
He argued that “the nuclear family is a universal social grouping”. Murdock also stated that the nuclear family provided a stable, permanent, heterosexual relationship between couples, that there would be strong emotional bonds between children and parents thus meaning that the socialisation of the children would be more effective. Murdock along with Talcott Parsons was a great believer in gender division, the man was the breadwinner and provided financial stability while the mother was the home maker, and provided emotional and physical well being of the
family.
With reference to whether this links to the contemporary, quantitative data suggests that this sociological theory is out dated.
The way society defines family has changed dramatically over the last hundred years. Murdock was quite limiting on his use of the term family. For example lone parents were not classed as a family as they were missing one parent. Same sex couples or those couples without children were also excluded from being called a family for the same or similar reasons. However, this has changed dramatically in the last hundred years or so. Society has gone from many generations of one family all living under one roof as an extended family of grandparents, aunts, uncles, parents and children to the smaller nuclear family that is known today of two parents and their children. The way families have been defined has also changed over the last hundred years. A nuclear family was stated to be one mother, one father and their biological children. In contemporary times we have same sex marriage, lone parent families and blended families where two families join together as one(step parents/children). Within this idea of a nuclear family, Murdock stated there were four family functions that if society ignored would lead to a breakdown of society. The four functions he stated were sexual, reproduction, education and economy, Talcott Parsons, another functionalist had a similiar view stating that there were two roles within the nuclear family, expressive and
instrumental. The expressive role was taken by the mother, as she was in charge of the emotional well-being, nurturing side of the family, and taught the children the norms and values of society whereas the fathers role , seen as instrumental as he went out to work and provided financial stability for the family. The functionalist view of the family is not without criticism though, with some liking it to a fairytale view as they tend to ignore the darker side of families such as abuse, domestic violence and neglect.
Functionalist sociologists explain the existence of social institutions and that they fulfil functions essential for the harmonious existence of society. Therefore institutions such as schools, banks and factories exist solely to fulfil economic and financial functions and hospitals, or the NHS safeguard our health. All these institutions are functional for society and contribute to providing social stability and harmony.

Marxism, or the conflict theory was first developed in the mid 19th century by Karl Marx. The Marxist methodology was using historic materialism to look at and critique the development of capitalism and to look at how class struggles affected economic change. Historically speaking, in primitive times there was a sexual division of labour with men being the hunters and gatherers, and women took on the role of cooking, looking after the children but also the medical side of things as most if not all clans had a medicine woman or shaman. These clan people were unaffected by class and were organised through blood relations. There was no industry, police or government yet everything ran smoothly. According to Engels the nuclear family only emerged with the birth of capitalism in the 18th century. Capitalism is based on the wealthy investing what they have in order to make a profit, instead of spreading there wealth to help everyone. With this wealth and property the bourgeoisie wanted a way to keep their wealth in the family and that is where the monogamous nuclear family was developed. The relationship would have to be monogamous, on the part of the wife mostly, to ensure any offspring were blood related. As it was the husband who owned the wealth, property and children the wife had no say. Ultimately this created a class divide as the children of the wealthy grew up wealthy and inherited wealth whereas the children of the poor grew up poor and had to work for the bourgeoisie in order to survive, thus expanding their wealth even more. This meant that the nuclear family benefits the bourgeois more then the proletariat. He believed that as industry changed from agriculture to industrial the concerns changed from meeting needs of the people to making a profit, which he saw as how the capitalist system worked. Marxists believe that for the human race to survive it must produce food and material objects, and by doing so produces conflict within society due to the differences between the bourgeoisie( private owners of industry) and the proletariat (the working class). Marxists believe that there is an infra structure, which would include factories etc. and a superstructure which is the government, police, NHS etc. . This meant according to Marx that the bourgeoisie used their power to control the institutions of society for their own benefit. The Marxist view on family life was to provide labour for industrialist companies influenced in a capitalist society. Marxists stated there were three functions that the family fulfilled for capitalism. Firstly was the inheritance of property. It is deemed that for property to be legally inherited by a legitimate heir sexual relationships would have to be monogamous so any children would be blood relations. In contemporary Marxism the nuclear family functions to promote values that help the maintenance of capitalism. This means that people are taught through socialisation to think in a way that allows inequality and encourages people to accept that the capitalist syytem is fair, natural and unchangeable and that this teaches children that there is always somebody in authority that they must listen to such as a teacher, police officer etc. This then mirrors the hierarchy of boss-worker in later life. (Revise sociology 2014)

The second function is the idealogical function where children are socialised from an early age by parents, families and schools that in a capitalist society there are always bosses and workers.