Families - Functionalism And The Family - George Murdock And Parsons Flashcards
How many societies did George Murdock study and what did he find in all of them?
He studied 250 societies and found some form on nuclear family in all of them
How many significant functions did Murdock find in these families
4
What were the names of the 4 functions
Sexual , economic , reproductive and educational
Sexual function meaning - Murdock
Stable sex drive will prevents sexual jealousy
Economic function meaning - Murdock
Providing shelter and food at home
Reproductive function - Murdock
Produces the next generation of society
Educational function - Murdock
Children are taught the norms and values of society
Criticisms of Murdock
Sociologists- criticised his ideas to be outdated
Feminists- argue that women are at a disadvantage in his idea of the family
Marxists- argue that the family is a tool of capitalism and it main function is to keep social inequalities
Household
people who live together who may
not be family.
Family
a type of household where the people living together are related
Kinship
being related by birth or blood.
Talcott Parsons - functionalism and social change
-As society changes family structures and relationships do too
-each individual has a distinct role to fill
Industrial revolution brought 4 changes:
- Geographically mobile workforce
- social mobility
- emerged of specialised agencies
- change of functions for family
Geographically mobile workforce - Parsons
People are required to move where their jobs are. Parsons argues that the nuclear family fits better in todays society
Social mobility - Parsons
The movement of individuals between social classes
Emerge of specialised agencies - Parsons
Families don’t need to provide much because of NHS, free school
Change of functions of family - Parsons
Parsons believed that family structures change along with society and that each type of family is created to ‘fit’ society at the time.
Criticism of Parsons
He was criticised for idealizing the nuclear family, ignoring dysfunction such as domestic abuse, child abuse and gender inequality
Primary socialisation
equip them with basic skius and society’s valves.
The Stabilisation of adult personalities (warm bath theory)
family is a place where adults can relax and release tensions and able them to return to work refreshed.
Roles within the Family
-The men have a more ‘instrumental role’ and are the breadwinners
-The women are have more of the ‘expressive role’ and supposed to stay at home with the children
Evaluation of Functionalism
-is too optimistic in its assumption that all institutional functions are beneficial.
-Marxists argue that social stratification is harmful and exploitative of lower social classes.
-Feminists argue that the family can be dysfunctional and exploitative of women.
