Functionalism and the family

Question 1

household

Answer 1

people who live together

Question 2

family

Answer 2

form of household where people who live together are related

Question 3

nuclear family

Answer 3

family involving a married (or unmarried) man and woman and usually about two children

Question 4

extended family

Answer 4

3+ generations living under one roof

Question 5

The New right (4 points)

Answer 5

-conservative party of the 1970s/80s
-traditional views
-similar views as functionalists (both believe family play an important role in society)
-trying to fix moral pluralism ( new untraditional change)

Question 6

Functionalism (3 points)

Answer 6

-believe in value consensus (shared agreement)
-organic analogy
-founded by Durkheim

Question 7

Parsons (4 points)

Answer 7

-1955
-developed Murdock’s ideas
-distinguished between industrial and pre-industrial
-believed family has 2 main functions (primary socialisation and stabilisation)

Question 8

Murdock (3 points)

Answer 8

-1949
-studied 250 societies of different cultures and saw that in every society he studied the nuclear family existed
-believed family served 4 main functions (sexual, reproductive, economic and educational)

Question 9

give 4 criticisms of the functionalist view of the family

Answer 9

-it is out of date
-it ignores family diversity
-it is deterministic (assumes family members will take on roles)
-it downplays the role of conflict in the family (it isn’t always a ‘warm bath’)