Functionalism

Question 1

Murdock: Four Functions

Answer 1

• Nuclear family is a building block and performs 4 essential functions to meet the needs of society
• Sexual Regulation - adults can satisfy their needs in a socially approved way (marriage)
• Reproduction - give birth to the next generation
• Socialisation - perform primary socialisation (children taught the norms and values of society)
• Economic - provide food and shelter for family members

AO3 - fails to consider family diversity (other family structures are able to successfully carry out the 4 functions he outlined)

Question 2

Parsons: Two Functions (Primary Socialisation)

Answer 2

• Primary Socialisation of Children:
  • Children are first exposed to and learn about society’s shared norms and values in the family
  • Parents teach their children how to hold cutlery, manners, and how to be respectful

AO3 - assume all children have a happy childhood and are effectively socialised, ignores issues such as child abuse and child poverty (parents occupied by financial concerns and are out working, children have less time with their parents to build a relationship and do activities)

Question 3

Parsons: Two Functions (2/2)

Answer 3

• Stabilisation of Adult Personalities (SOAP) AKA Warm Bath Theory
  • The family is where adults can relax, enables them to return to the workplace refreshed
  • Marital partners provide each other with emotional support, parenting allows them to indulge their ‘childish’ sides when spending time with their child(ren)
  • Ensures the economy is running smoothly - adult workers are happy and satisfied, work to the best of their ability

AO3 - ignores the dark side of the family (conflict, domestic violence) - Lockdown led to unemployment and increased stress on relationships = rising rates of domestic violence cases

Question 4

Parsons: Two Adult Roles

Answer 4

• Identified two adult roles he believed helped the economy run efficiently
• Instrumental role - male breadwinner, provides for the family, works to earn money
• Expressive role - housewife, childcare, care for elderly relatives, emotion work (make sure everyone in the family is happy)

AO3 - ignores same-sex couples that are not based on biological differences, adult roles are flexible and fluid, decided by the couples rather than their biology

Question 5

Parsons: The Family and Social Change

Answer 5

• Argues the role of the family adapts to the society they are found in
• Functional Fit Theory - if the society’s economy changes, then the family has to change accordingly
• Pre-industrial family compared to the industrial family
• Pre-industrial Family -> Extended, units of production, not socially or geographically mobile, education and healthcare provided by the family, agriculture based jobs, passed on to their children
• Industrial Family - Nuclear, units of consumption (earn a wage to buy necessities and services), geographically mobile to find work
  • Structural Differentiation - family lost many functions to other institutions (education to schools, healthcare to hospitals) and became specialised (only kept 2 functions)

AO3 - Anderson argues the opposite happened, extended families were common in industrial society
Studied industrial Preston and found that many WC families were extended (grandparents cared for the children and provided financial support during the harsh conditions of industrialisation)