Structural Functionalist Influence On The Family

the grandfather and the father and mother. The father and mother disapprove of the language he uses around their children. A structural-functionalist might question how the members of the family are performing their specified functions. They may look at each member’s values, beliefs, and social norms and see how they relate to one another. By doing this, a structural-functionalist will be able to identify why conflict or despair is occurring within a family unit. For example, if the mother’s belief system tells her it is correct to inform her children of prominent issues such as mental health and homosexuality at a young age, but the father’s belief system tells him it is wrong to subject young children to these issues, conflict will arise. There will be a strain in the relationship between the mother and father as their parenting styles differ. A structural-functionalist may also investigate how the son’s new decision to speak and the grandfather’s death impacted the family. It seemed as if once the son decided to break his vow of silence and once the grandfather passed away, the family was able to communicate and rely on one another more efficiently. A structural-functionalist
For example, the uncle did not speak much and was not good at expressing his feelings, which may have impacted the son’s decision to take a vow of silence and suppress his emotions. Furthermore, the grandfather was extremely crude and did not teach the son and daughter that being promiscuous was wrong. Since the grandfather taught the daughter her dance moves, she internalized it and gave it her own meaning. Although the dance moves she performed at the beauty pageant were provocative to others, Olive did not see it in the same way. In fact, she believed that she was an excellent dancer as that is what her grandfather taught her to