Functionalist perspective on family

Functionalist perspective on family

1. Murdoch

   • Four functions of the family
     • Stable satisfaction of the sex drive
     • Reproduction of the next generation
     • Socialisation of the young
     • Economic provision for members
   • Criticisms
     • Argue that other institutions could meet these needs
     • Feminists: see the family as serving men and oppressing women
     • Marxists: meets the needs of capitalism, not members or wider society

2. Society based on a value consensus

   • Consists of sub-systems that depend on each other
     • Body analogy

3. Parsons 'functional fit' theory

   • Identifies two different types of family structure
     • Nuclear family
       • 'Structurally isolated' from extended kin
     • Extended family
   • Family structure willchange to 'fit' society
   • Two basic types of society
     • Pre-industrial society
       • Extended family best suited
     • Modern industrial society
       • Nuclear family best suited
       • Has two essential needs
         • A geographically mobile workforce
           • Requires people to move to where their job is
           • Easier in the nuclear family
         • A socially mobile workforce
           • Status no longer ascribed as birth - people can achieve based on how hard they work
           • Easier in nuclear family as there will not be tension between the two males of the household
   • Criticisms
     • Y&W argue pre-industrial family was nuclear, not extended
       • Laslett's study of households in 1821 supported this
       • Late child bearing and short life expectancy
     • Exchange theory - breaking off/maintaining family ties because of the benefits/costs involved
     • Y&W: nuclear family no longer dominant

4. Loss of functions

   • Parsons says that family lost many of it's functions to other institutions
   • Modern nuclear family performs two essential functions
     • Primary socialisation of children
     • Stabilisation of adult personalities
       • Family is a place to release tensions to enable them to return to the workplace refreshed