marxist and functionalist perspective on the family Flashcards
who are the key figures looked at in the functionalist perspective of the family?
Parsons
Murdock
Murray
what is Murdock’s view on the family?
he argued that there are four main functions of the family: sexual, reproduction, socialisation, economic.
what is the functionalist view on the family?
society (including family) functions successfully - the family is essential for socialising its members and teaches children the norms and values of society, which enables them to meet the needs of society.
family is the heart of society and a unit of stability.
what is the marxist view on the family?
marxists view the family as a tool of capitalism.
what do marxist believe the primary functions of the family are?
- to ensure wealth is passed down generations.
- to ensure there is a pool of labour who are socialised into accepting that inequality is natural.
- to ensure they act as a unit of consumption to support the capitalist economy and produce profits for the rich.
what are the criticisms of Murdock’s views on the family?
- marxists and feminists argue that functionalism neglects conflict and exploitation.
- he argues that the nuclear family is the practicality of meeting the four needs.
what is Parson’s view on the family?
he argues that the particular structures and functions of a given type of family will ‘fit’ the needs of the society in which it is found.
he thinks there are two types of society: modern industrial and traditional pre-industrial society - he argues that the nuclear family fits the needs of the industrial society and is the dominant family type, while the extended family fits the needs of pre-industrial society.
what does Parson’s say about the family types for society?
pre-industrial: the best family type that was ‘functionally fit’ for society was the extended type as all family members ‘chipped in’ to look after children, work etc.
industrial: nuclear family is now the most ‘functionally fit’ for society as people were more successful if they could move to cities for jobs.
whats the warm bath theory?
when the family helps its members to relax and destress after a long hard day - specifically women do so e.g when a man comes home from work, the kids are taken care of and food is served.
what two essential needs does Parsons see industrial society as having?
- a geographically mobile workforce
- a socially mobile workforce
explain the concept of a geographically mobile workforce.
the ability for families to be able to move areas, regions or countries to where work is - in pre-industrial society people spent their whole lives living in the same village, working on the same farm whereas in modern society people are required to move to where the jobs are.
the nuclear family is better fitted to the need of geographically mobile workforce.
explain the concept of a socially mobile workforce.
in modern society an individuals status is achieved by their own efforts and ability, not ascribed by their social background and this makes social mobility a real possibility - for this reason parsons argues that the nuclear family is better equipped to meet the needs of the industrial society.
what were parsons two functions of the nuclear family?
primary socialisation of children - to equip them with basic skills and society’s values, to enable them to cooperate with others and integrate them into society.
stabilisation of adult personalities - the family is a place where adults can release tensions, enabling them to return to their workplace refreshed and ready to meet demands.
what is primary socialisation?
the early stages of socialisation within the family, teaching children the values and norms within society.
what caused relative isolation?
geographical mobility
what is Parsons functionally fit theory?
as society changes so does the type of family that fits society.
what did Parsons believe about social mobility within pre industrial society?
Parsons believed that there was no social mobility in this type of society as our social status was ascribed to us from birth.
what effect do Marxists believe monogamy had on women’s status?
it was the defeat of the female sex - women’s sexuality was now under men’s control, and they were reduced to tools of reproduction.
what are the criticisms of Parsons theory?
- fails to explore possible differences between different social classes and ethnic minority groups.
what are the criticisms of functionalists?
feminists see the family as serving the needs of men and oppressing women.
marxists argue that it meets the needs of capitalism and not those of the family or society as a whole.
what are the criticisms of marxists?
- its too deterministic, it assumes people passively accept socialisation and family life and that the future is pre-determined.
- ignores family diversity in capitalist society and that many women now work full time as well.
- feminists argue that the marxist focus on class and ignores the inequalities between men and women.
what is Zaretsky’s view?
he argues that family is a prop to the capitalist system:
- families do hard work of training the workers.
- women produce workers, feed and clothe them.
- family consumes the products produced by the bourgeoise which helps them make profit.
