Families and Households - Functionalism

Question 1

The function of the family in Functionalist theory

Answer 1

• Socialisation as an institution / social structure
• Should work together in co-operation; should be cohesive, consensus of values, social solidarity - working with other institutions in the organic analogy
• Good, happy and useful organization - positive; focuses on how family functions for the greater good of society and how it contributes to social order along with maintaining it; how family is part of the social structures that shape and benefit individuals
• Sees the family as a vital organ in the maintenance of the body of society (specifically the heart) and the functionalists focus on the contribution of family with satisfying the basic needs which enable the survival of society
• They also focus on how family fits with other social institutions so that society functions effectively and harmoniously; look for the positive benefits and functions the family performs for society

Question 2

George Murdock (1949)

Answer 2

• Argued for the universal family; it is the most important part of society and the nuclear family structure is everywhere and the best type
• His argument was confirmed by his studies of over 250 societies and cultures ranging from primitive to modern where a nuclear family was present in all
• As a result, he argued it must be the best, most functioning family
• The family provides 4 functions for society and it carries out these functions more effectively than other social institutions
  The four functions -
  1. Economic function
  2. Sexual regulation
  3. Education
  4. Reproduction

Question 3

Nuclear family (the universal family)

Answer 3

A family made up of 2 parents and dependent children
This is favored by functionalists, who believe that children should be given male and female role models with which to be socialized with and to learn gender roles; this consequently suggests that single parent and same sex parent families are inherently dysfunctional.
Functionalists also dislike divorce and prefer the stability of marriage.

Question 4

The economic function

Answer 4

• Nuclear family fulfils the economic function through the mean working and providing for the family (breadwinner) with the man doing public work and the woman doing private work
• Basic needs such as food, clothing and shelter are earned through labour of the man
• Women provided a more domestic role that met economic needs - unpaid labour at home

Question 5

Sexual regulation function

Answer 5

• Sexual relationships between men and women within marriage controlled and regulated sexual urges so that babies are born in the right environment
• Promotion of heterosexuality ensured reproduction of the next generation of society
• Socialisation into gender-appropriate roles prepared children for adult life
• Sleeping around destabilizes society and maintains social structures

Question 6

Education function

Answer 6

• Primary socialisation by the family of the children to achieve value consensus and social solidarity; wants society to function cohesively
• Children learn the norms and values of society through being taught through their parents
• These include gendered norms and values and allow children to fit into society and ensuring they are contributing to the harmonious functioning of society

Question 7

Reproduction function

Answer 7

• To continue society, men and women reproduce the next generation
• Gender socialisation prepares children to take on these roles by promoting social behaviours to result in a stable heterosexual relationship
• Without the function of reproduction society stagnates placing strain on elder members of society
• Nuclear family unit is vital for this function

Question 8

Talcott Parsons

Answer 8

• Wrote in the 19th century and early 20th century in the US
• Observed a growing and changing industrial world
• He argues that the structure and function of a given family fits the needs of society
• He observed that the irreducible functions of family emerged after minor dissolution of the extended family, making the family unit of the nuclear family more streamlined and effective in contributing to the economy

Question 9

Parsons two irreducible family functions

Answer 9

1. Primary socialisation of children into consensus (socially accepted norms and values)
2. Stabilisation of adult personalities - family provides emotional, financial and physical support to adults and controlling sexual and conjugal behaviour through established gender roles

Question 10

Conjugal roles

Answer 10

The jobs men and women did in the family

conjugal ‘rights’ - rights to sex

Question 11

Functional ‘Fit’ Theory

Answer 11

The family unit has changed to best suit the needs of society (structural approach)

Question 12

Warm Bath Theory

Answer 12

The theory of family where the woman absorbs and soaks up the stresses of the man when he returns from work. It is the idea of the home being a comforting environment built to sustain the breadwinner with the expressive tasks of the women.

Question 13

Instrumental Roles

Answer 13

The role of the man to be the breadwinner - makes money, goes out to gain economic support for the family. Public

Question 14

Expressive Roles

Answer 14

The role of the woman to carry out nurturing, caring and staying at home and providing emotional support. Private

Question 15

Characteristics of a pre-industrial society (Before 1850’s)

Answer 15

Extended family - more people meant more labour, and the family was therefore a unit of economic production.

• mainly living in rural areas, living off the land as income
• Hardly any welfare state
• Not geographically mobile
• Agricultural jobs / merchants / blacksmiths etc - small individual industry
• Poverty and deprivation
• Sparse population density
• Very religious
• Poor education - occupational skills were passed through family

Question 16

Characteristics of an industrial society (1850-Present)

Answer 16

Parsons and Murdock - Nuclear family, acting as a unit of economic consumption, employment outside the family redistributing money to society and so the size of the family had to shrink to move where the work was

• Many live in urban areas
• Dense population
• Welfare state is better
• Workhouses, factories, coal mines - large societal industry
• Education happens outside family
• Family roles are now societal roles
• Less poverty from more employment
• Industrialization and urbanization promoted a changed family structure, fragmentation securing better lives for the family
• Structured routine - better education
• Migration

Question 17

The changing function of family

Answer 17

• People had to rely on family in the past to provide many needs, including caring for the sick, economic support and education, with a larger family creating more opportunity this help would be available
• Today, these functions are taken over to a large extent by other institutions e.g. hospitals, schools, welfare state and so it is no longer necessary to have a large family that needs to fulfill all these functions
• Modern economies also require workers who are willing to move to where jobs are, something that geographically nuclear families can do
• The family needs to provide comfort and security to its members in a world of impersonal and bureaucratic institutions, as well as teaching children the norms and values of society

Question 18

Criticisms of functionalism

Answer 18

• More prevalent in the USA than Britain, and was weakened by changes to American society in the 1960’s; a time where a deep division in values was obvious with black liberation and women’s rights - this theory is therefore based on how privileged white men saw the world around them at the time (not modern or intersectional)

Question 19

Ronald Fletcher (1996)

Answer 19

The family has developed new functions such as acting as a unit of consumption as goods are brought for the whole family, whilst retaining important functions in education, health and supplementing and supporting jobs done by schools, hospitals and other social institutions.

Question 20

What is Functionalist theory?

Answer 20

Sees society as an integrated whole working like a human body (organic analogy) made up of integrated parts which contribute to or function for the maintenance of society. Just as parts of the body function in relation to each other and maintain the body, social institutions meet functional prerequisites (basic needs that must be met in order for society to survive) maintaining the social system and order and stability in society. Social institutions like family, education and work are all connected and function in relation to society as a whole to benefit society and the individual. It is a structural theory that believes the social structure of society made up of different institutions is responsible for shaping us as individuals and determining individual experience and life chances. It is a consensus theory

Question 21

Criticisms of the Functionalist view of family

Answer 21

• Murdock’s definition is seen as too narrow, excluding gay and single parent families
• The theory is too positive and optimistic, ignoring negative family aspects such as domestic violence (both Parsons and Murdock)
• Parsons view of the instrumental (male roles) and expressive (female) roles is old-fashioned, and although it held some truth when he was studying society in the 1950’s, it is not as applicable in a modern society, where men and women can play both expressive and instrumental roles at various times, and men take more responsibility for childcare and women are more likely to be earning a wage
• Focus too much on the positive aspects of the nuclear family, unfairly criticizing other successful family units
• Leach believes that modern industrial society has created a nuclear family very isolated from their kin and the wider community, and has become an inward looking institution where family members demand too much and expect too much from one another, creating familial conflict
• The nuclear family lacks support, both practical and psychologically, that an extended family could provide, resulting in increased emotional stress
• Laing believed individuals develop a sense of belonging in their family that restricts personal development, with the family values becoming their values, causing a loss in their autonomy as they think of themselves as part of the family and not as an individual; he perceived this phenomenon as psychologically damaging for the individual
• However, Laing and Leach are criticized for their narrow study of families, with neither conducting detailed fieldwork in contemporary society, and Laing’s work focusing on families with a schizophrenic member, with no reference being made to variations across social class and family structure

Question 22

Peter Laslett

Answer 22

Studied Historical documents, mainly Parish records, and concluded that many pre-industrial families were already nuclear - only 10% were extended. He therefore contradicts Parsons’ view of the family and suggests that the presence of nuclear families enabled industrialization, rather than industrialization causing the formation of nuclear family units.

Question 23

Industrialisation

Answer 23

A society that becomes more factory-based than agricultural

Question 24

Urbanisation

Answer 24

The expansion of urban areas due to the migration of people from rural areas to cities

Question 25

Modernisation

Answer 25

Improvements to society and existing technology, as well as the economy through the ‘March of Progress’ towards better lives