Parsons 'Functional Fit'

Question 1

What does Parsons argue?

Answer 1

the functions that the family performs will depend on the kind of society in which it is found and the functions that the family has to perform will affect its shape or structure

Question 2

Parsons distinguishes between two kinds of family structure

Answer 2

• the nuclear family of just parents and their dependent children
• the extended family of three generations living under one roof

Question 3

Which type of society does the nuclear family fit?

Answer 3

• the needs of industrial society

- dominant family type in society

Question 4

Which type of society does the extended family type fit?

Answer 4

-the needs of pre-industrial society

Question 5

What happened when Britain began to industrialise?

Answer 5

• the extended family began to give way to the nuclear
• because the emerging industrial society had different needs from pre industrial society and the family had to adapt to meet these needs

Question 6

What are the two essential needs for essential society?

Answer 6

• a geographically mobile workforce

- a socially mobile workforce

Question 7

compare traditional pre-industrial society to modern society

Answer 7

• in traditional pre-industrial society people spent their whole lives in the same village working on the same village
• in modern society, industries constantly spring up and decline in different parts of the world and this requires people to move where the jobs are

Question 8

Which type of family is easier to move?

Answer 8

• parsons argue that it is easier for the nuclear family to move, than the extended family
• nuclear family is better fitted to the needs that modern industry has for a geographically mobile workforce

Question 9

What is modern society based on?

Answer 9

• constantly evolving since and technology
• so it requires talented and skilled workers
• therefore essential that talented people gain promotions and take the most important jobs(even if they come from humble backgrounds)

Question 10

How is social mobility possible?

Answer 10

• an individuals status is achieved by their own efforts and ability
• not ascribed by their social and family background
• e.g. the son of a labourer can become a doctor/lawyer

Question 11

why is the extended family not fitted to the needs of industrial society?

Answer 11

• in the extended family, adult sons live at home in their fathers house (where the fathers has a higher ascribed status)
• but at work, the son may have higher achieved status than his father
• inevitably, this would cause tensions and conflict if they both lived under the same roof
• solution: adult sons to leave home and create their own nuclear family
• nuclear family thus encourages social mobility as well as geographically mobility-
• unlike pre-industrial extended family, where relatives had an overriding duty to help one another e.g. harvest or in times of crisis

Question 12

When society industrialises, how does the family lose its functions?

Answer 12

• the family cease to be a unit of production: work moves into the factories and the family becomes a unit of consumption only
• and loses its other functions to other institutions such as schools and health service

Question 13

What two essential functions does the nuclear family come to specialise In as a result of loss of functions?

Answer 13

• the primary socialisation of children to equip them with basic skills and society values, to enable them to cooperate with others and begin to integrate them into society
• the stabilisation of adult personalities: the family is a place where adults can relax and release tensions, enabling them to return to the workplace refreshed and meet its demands - this is functional for the efficiency of the economy