Sociological Perspectives On Family And Marriage
Family and Marriage
Family and marriage has very different meanings depending on where you live in the world and each group believes that the way that they look at marriage and family is the correct way. Marriage and family is viewed differently from all three sociological perspectives. Even though each group views family and marriage differently they still all agree that they are both needed in society (Henslin, 2014).
The functionalist perspective look marriage and family as a basic function and how does it meet the needs of society. “Functionalists identify a number of functions families typically perform: reproduction; socialization; care, protection, and emotional support; assignment of status; and regulation of sexual behavior through social norms” (Boundless, 2015). Every group in society has implemented an arrangement of marriage to carry out these six basic functions. Functionalists believe that the incest taboo was created so that family members have to look outside their families for mates. If they didn’t it would be too confusing for them because they would not know what their role was in the family. This also forces society to look elsewhere for a mate so that it …show more content…
“Conflict theory addresses the way in which people within a unit struggle for power, how they disagree and what actions they take to compete for resources” (Ray, 2015). Sometimes the conflict is minor over little things in the marriage but it can turn in to a major conflict. When two people live together day in and day out there has to eventually be a conflict. So it is the family’s responsibility to learn how to work on these conflicts to survive together. According to conflict theorists, it is not probable or even possible to live without conflict. Husband or wife, who is in control, it has traditionally been the man of the house but recently it is starting to be equal or swaying to the other side (Henslin,
Family and marriage has very different meanings depending on where you live in the world and each group believes that the way that they look at marriage and family is the correct way. Marriage and family is viewed differently from all three sociological perspectives. Even though each group views family and marriage differently they still all agree that they are both needed in society (Henslin, 2014).
The functionalist perspective look marriage and family as a basic function and how does it meet the needs of society. “Functionalists identify a number of functions families typically perform: reproduction; socialization; care, protection, and emotional support; assignment of status; and regulation of sexual behavior through social norms” (Boundless, 2015). Every group in society has implemented an arrangement of marriage to carry out these six basic functions. Functionalists believe that the incest taboo was created so that family members have to look outside their families for mates. If they didn’t it would be too confusing for them because they would not know what their role was in the family. This also forces society to look elsewhere for a mate so that it …show more content…
“Conflict theory addresses the way in which people within a unit struggle for power, how they disagree and what actions they take to compete for resources” (Ray, 2015). Sometimes the conflict is minor over little things in the marriage but it can turn in to a major conflict. When two people live together day in and day out there has to eventually be a conflict. So it is the family’s responsibility to learn how to work on these conflicts to survive together. According to conflict theorists, it is not probable or even possible to live without conflict. Husband or wife, who is in control, it has traditionally been the man of the house but recently it is starting to be equal or swaying to the other side (Henslin,