P2 Families and Households - Functionalism and the Family

Question 1

What do functionalists believe is the main function of families?

Answer 1

1. Reprduction
   - Procreation
   2, Sexual
   - Regulated sex
   - Emotional bonds
   Social order
2. Educational
   - Primary
   Norms and Values
3. Economic
   - Productive workers in society - Income
   - Division of labour

Question 2

What do Interpretevists believe about the family?

Answer 2

Educational functions of the family will differ due to a product of culture and not biology.

Question 3

What is Parsons Functional Fit Theory?

Answer 3

Families play different functions depending on the society in which they are in.

Parsons believed that the newly evolved Nuclear Family specialised in socialising children. He said that a child could only become a sociable adult by internalising the norms and values of the society.

In this sense the family acts as a bridge between children and the wider society. He therefore saw nuclear families as personality factories.

Question 4

What is family socialisation according to Parsons?

Answer 4

That it is a primary source of socialisation and the mother is the more expressive (nurturing) vs the father whose more instrumental (breadwinner).
- Families maintain order in society with new members
- Families are factories producing human personalities and are able to do this with the love and security it provides.

Question 5

What is Parsons Warm Bath Theory?

Answer 5

• This theory claims that family life stabilises adult personalities.
• At the same time the socialisation and supervision of children give parents a sense of stability and responsibility
• Parsons viewed the family as a positive and beneficial place for all its members
• Steel and Kidd note the family do this by providing a loving and stable environment in the home

Question 6

What is gender role socialisation?

Answer 6

Children learn the cultural patterns of behaviour expected of their gender from an early age; people are trained by their parents child rearing practices to conform to social expectations of how men and women should behave.

In this sense the gender differences are not biological or natural but socially constructed by society.

Question 7

What does Chapman argue about gender socialisation?

Answer 7

Chapman argues that through play, children learn their gender identity - social construct.

Question 8

What is the evaluation of Murdock and Parsons views?

Answer 8

1. Murdock/Parson see the family through rose tinted glasses + functionalists ignore issues such as domestic violence, neglect and child abuse
2. Feminists argue that the family is not beneficial for all members but on men (patriarchal)
3. Marxists argue that the family benefits Capitalism not society as a whole