Functionalist view society as having many parts, which must work together efficiently in order to maintain social harmony and coherence. There are two main functionalist writers who examined the family and derived different functions that each believed the family perform for society's stability. These two writers are George Peter Murdock (1949) and Talcott Parsons (1959).
George Peter Murdock was an American sociologist who studied over two hundred and fifty different societies worldwide. By researching into these societies, Murdock was able to compile the following definition for family:
"The family is a social group characterised by common residence, economic cooperation and reproduction. It includes adults of both sexes, at least two of whom maintain a socially approved sexual relationship, and one or more children, owned or adopted, of the sexually cohabited adults".
From his research, Murdock was able to come to the conclusion that the family is inevitable and is bound to exist in every society. Murdock was able to conclude that the best and most common family form was the nuclear family.
Functionalist favour the nuclear family and oppose single parent and same sex families. Functionalist believe that one parent cannot possible provide for children the same as two parents can. The new right also back this idea and state that children from single parent families are more likely to end up in crime then children with both parents. They fail, however to see that there are many successful single parent families. It is not fair to say that all children from single parent families will stray towards crime.
Nuclear family is a unit composed of a father, mother and at least one child. There are specifics roles in the nuclear family which each member must perform. The woman takes on an expressive role, of nurturing and caring for the family members, while the male takes on the instrumental role as the breadwinner. Functionalists favoured these family roles as they ensure children have role models and figures to look up to and aspire to be like.
Feminists however, despise these family roles as they believe that both males and females should have equal share in domestic responsibilities and feel that the family benefits males more than females. Women are left to stay at home and carry out numerous domestic jobs during the day. Women are expected to raise the kids and look after her husband when he arrives home from work. Marxists also argue that women serve the capitalist society through serving their husband and making them capable of going to work.
In some families, it may be possible that the mother and father are not good roles models. Patriarchy exists in many families. Many male have drug or drink related issues which can result from their day to day jobs. This can lead them to take their anger out on their wives or even their children. They would not be setting a good example for their children to live by. This can lead to the children also growing up to follow in their footsteps. Functionalist ignores these negative aspects and the 'dark side' of the family.
Murdock submitted that all families must perform four vital functions in order to help society function. These include; sexual, reproductive, economic and educational.
The sexual function allows the married couple to enjoy a stable sexual relationship and to avoid affairs. This will help ensure that the family unit remains intact and children can receive the love of both parents during their upbringing. This function can be criticised by stating that a stable sexual relationship does not always prevent affairs from occurring. It is also possible that despite living in a nuclear family, children do not receive the love of both parents.
According to Murdock, family allows reproduction to take place which provides the society with the next members of society. Murdock failed to realise that not all people may want or can have children.
The third function that Murdock constructed is the means of providing food and shelter for all family members. It is ideally seen as the males' job to go out and earn the money and the females' job to care for her husband, kids and house, which is widely criticised by feminists.
The fourth and final function that Murdock proposed was that family must provide the correct education for the children in order to ensure that they grow to become socially accepted and successful. Failure to do so could result in the children growing up to be socially excluded and possibly turning towards crime. Murdock ignored the fact that it is not only the family's job to ensure the right education, but the child's job to act upon it. If they decide to go against what they have been taught, then this cannot be blamed on the family as a whole.
Talcott Parsons was also an American sociologist who held a functionalist approach to family. He's studies involved American families only. Unlike Murdock, he's approach is not as accurate as he's studies are limited. Talcott's theory cannot be universal as he only focused on American families.
Talcott determined that the family provides two vital functions for society, primary socialisation and stabilisation. This apposes to Murdock's approach as he stated four vital functions.
Primary socialisation is the act of teaching children the norms and values of society. It is the parent's responsibility to ensure that their children are brought up the right way and to prevent them from becoming corrupt. Like Murdock, Parsons also failed to recognise the child's responsibility towards education.
This can lead to Parsons second function, stabilisation. The family provides an individual with the means of building a stable personality and relationships. The family also provides security which can help the individual cope with life in the wider society. The family is a place where the adult can relax after a hard and stressful day. The atmosphere that the family provides has been likened to a warm bath. This analogy is used to help illustrate the likeliness between family life and a bath. The family soaks away tension and stress of everyday life, the same way a hot bath provides the means of relaxation. It could be argued that the family is not necessarily like a warm bath. It is possible that the family may add to the stress of everyday life rather than free you from it.
Overall, functionalists are seen as drastically optimistic and inconsiderate of women. Murdock's definition of family is vague and cannot be applied to all family forms. Parson's theory also cannot be applied to all families as he only used American families in his studies. This means that his theory and concept are not universal or true for all family forms.
??
The family is a unique part of society, which is found in every country and culture in the world, however some sociologist may say it is impossible to define the family, as there many different forms of family across the world. According to the functionalist sociologist the family is key institution of society, as it performs vital functions for the maintenance of society as a whole and for the benefits of all the individual members, therefore the functionalist believe the society is a useful system made up of different part of sub system that depends on each other such as the family, the education system and the economy. Moreover Functionalists take a consensus view of the role of the family, as they see it as universal institution that performs essentials functions for the society as a whole. Functionalists see society as being like a living organism, made up of many different parts which all perform particular functions. In 1949, George Peter Murdock (functionalist) analysed societies across the world and came up with four basic functions, which he said all families in all societies performed
You May Also Find These Documents Helpful
-
Another way Functionalism suggests that the family supports society is the basic functions a family performs. Murdock (1949) said that there are four basic functions: Reproductive, Sexual, Socialisation and Economic. Another Functionalist Talcott Parsons said that the family had 2 main functions: Primary Socialisation and the Stabilisation of Adult Personalities. Both believed that for a family to perform Socialisation adequately there needed to be a male and a female role model. Men performed the instrumental role and provided for a family while women performed the expressive role and provided comfort and emotional support to the family. They also believed that marriage was a necessary institution for both a stable household and an acceptable expression of the libido. Functionalists think that the family that best performs these functions and therefore supports society is the nuclear family. However, this is a very traditional approach and can be outdated and criticised by other theories for not taking…
- 632 Words
- 3 Pages
Good Essays -
The functionalists think the role of the family is extremely important and that the nuclear family is the best form, they think the nuclear family runs more smoothly as they learn the correct norms and values so our society can live in a consensus. Families also provide primary socialisation, and functionalists believe this should be done in the correct environment. As all families teach their children the same norms and values this can ensure individuals experience solidarity. Also the family helps organic analogy, as the family aids society in supporting other institutions. Functionalists believe that individuals or families that are no in a consensus are in a state if anomie and are given sanctions for this. The family produces the next set of responsible individuals, workers and parents so they need to ensure that these people fit into the existing society appropriately.…
- 1423 Words
- 4 Pages
Better Essays -
Functionalism is a macro theory and so looks at things on a large scale they consist of structural theorists. They see society as being similar to a human body, in that the essential organs in the body perform specific functions. This is like society as one of the essential organs in society is the family, as it performs essential functions which serve the needs of the family. And that each part of the body works in harmony with all other parts just like society which works in harmony with all other parts. Over the course of time the family has changed and evolved and so has its functions this is known as ‘the March in Progress.’ Even though the functions may have changed slightly according to the functionalists the role of the family is still essential for society.…
- 1053 Words
- 5 Pages
Good Essays -
They believe that the nuclear family is a positive institution that is beneficial to society - they look at the functions that the nuclear family performs for the good of society as a whole. These functions include:…
- 811 Words
- 4 Pages
Satisfactory Essays -
Functionalists believe that society is based on a shared value consensus, this is a set of shared norms and values into which society socialises its members, This enables society to work without any disagreements and meet society’s goals and needs. Functionalists believe that the family is regarded as a basic building block of society. George Murdock (1949) argues that the family performs four functions to meet the needs of society and its members. These functions are; economic needs, reproduction, primary socialisation and sex. Economic function is providing shelter and food for all family members. Sexual function is allowing the sex drive to be satisfied with one partner and therefore preventing conflict. Reproductive function means to produce next generation; have kids. Socialisation function is teaching the norms and values of society to offsprings.…
- 605 Words
- 3 Pages
Good Essays -
Functionalists see the family as providing many important values to society. They believe behaviour is constructed by social forces, the government and the individual is made and controlled by society therefore according to this approach every individual is a product of society. Society essentially makes the person, but not solely. Family and other contributing factors heavily shape a personality along with their actions. Also they believe society is like the human body, that if one aspect is removed such as the family, it will not function properly or at all.…
- 607 Words
- 2 Pages
Good Essays -
George Murdock (an American anthropologist 1897-1985) was another well known Functionalist, who said that the family have four universal functions, Sexual, Reproductive, Economic and Educational.…
- 1075 Words
- 5 Pages
Good Essays -
Functionalists stress the positive aspect of family. In particular, they force on the positive role of one particular family type: the nuclear family.…
- 690 Words
- 2 Pages
Good Essays -
Functionalists are classed as modernists when it comes to their opinions on family diversity in post-modern UK. But they also see modern society as clear-cut, fixed and predictable. They think that the best and strongest family type is the nuclear family. The main functionalist who is focused on is Parsons. He came up with the functional fit, which is where pre-industrial society and the extended family changed into industrial society and the nuclear family. He also believes that the nuclear family meets all of society’s needs the best unlike any of the other diverse family types which society has to offer. Functionalists see all other family types as inadequate, abnormal or deviant. This shows that they don’t think that any other family type other than the nuclear family will benefit society and help to achieve the best it can. Functionalists also believe that there is no need for family diversity on society. They also feel that families such as single parent or same-sex families are inadequate or abnormal because they are only able to provide one side of the learning structure which a child needs when it comes to socialization because they don’t have the influence of a mother and a farther and they will only know how to fit in with either men or women…
- 850 Words
- 4 Pages
Good Essays -
From the functionalist perspective on the role of the nuclear family, this is thought to benefit society and its members according to functionalists such as Talcott Parsons and Ronald Fletcher that such families help to keep society together by teaching the new generation its values like its language and history. The two researchers identify that in caring nuclear families the children are brought up according to parental expectation.…
- 1541 Words
- 7 Pages
Good Essays -
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…
- 1562 Words
- 7 Pages
Powerful Essays -
Murdock argues that the family is a universal institution (it exists everywhere) that performs four major functions:…
- 16746 Words
- 67 Pages
Good Essays -
On the other hand, the premodern era in the British society was greatly dominated by the traditionally recognized nuclear family as the main definition of a family unit. Acknowledged the perfect nuclear family, the 'cereal packet family' is where the whole family gather at the breakfast table in the morning. Structurally, the husband is the bread winner and the wife's duties include housework and childcare.(Browne K). Return to the modern era, rapidly changing times and social standards mean we must reconsider Murdock's ideology of a 'family'. Argumentatively, individuals declaring…
- 456 Words
- 2 Pages
Good Essays -
Functionalists are criticised because of their very positive approach, functionalism has been accused of ignoring the possible conflicts and negative effects of family life. Feminists argue that functionalist don’t look at what could be happening, if there is domestic violence or abuse going on inside the house, families are not always happy.…
- 699 Words
- 3 Pages
Good Essays -
The image people have of a family is still the so called Nuclear family (1) popularised by sociologist such as George Murdoch(2) with parents of both sexes and one or more children with the father usually being the primary finical provider. This is no longer as common as it once was (3) and has lead to the rise of other family archetypes.…
- 1243 Words
- 5 Pages
Powerful Essays