The Functionalist Perspective Flashcards
How do they see the family?
See is as a vital ‘organ’ in maintaining the ‘body’ of society.
What are the functions it performs in society?
A number of responsibilities placed upon the family.
What is the family’s role?
Preparing children to fit into adult society, and with contributing to satisfying the functional prerequisites, or basic needs which enable society to survive.
What are Murdock’s 4 main functions of the family?
Sexual - expressing sexuality in a socially approved context.
Reproduction - the family providing some stability for the reproduction and rearing of children.
Socialisation - the family is an important unit of primary socialisation of children, where children learn socially acceptable behaviour and culture of their society. This helps build value consensus.
Economic - the family provides food and shelter for family members.
Murdock’s view…
Regards functions as necessary in any society, and the nuclear family is found in every society to carry them out.
What is functionalism?
A consensus theory that emphasises integration and harmony between different parts of society.
Who was Parson’s?
An American functionalist writer who examined family life in the 1950s.
He argue 2 basic functions that are found in every society: the primary socialisation of children and the stabilisation of human personalities.
The primary socialisation of children…
Involves the learning and internalisation of society’s culture. Argues society would seize to exist if the new generation were not socialised into accepting society’s basic norms and values.
Parson’s argues that families are factories producing human personalities, and only the family can provide the emotional warmth and security to achieve this.
The stabilisation of human personalities…
In industrial societies, the need for work and money, the lack of power, the pressure to achieve success all threaten to destabilise personalities.
Parsons suggests the family helps stabilise personalities by the sexual division of labour.
Women have the expressive role - providing warmth and security.
Men have the instrumental role - the family breadwinner, which leads to stress, threatening to destabilise personalities. Wife’s expressive role relieves this tension by providing love.
What are the 6 main reasons for the decline in extended family life?
The need for geographical mobility.
The higher rate of social mobility in contemporary societies.
The growth in people’s wealth and income as society has got richer and the welfare state has developed.
The growth in meritocracy in contemporary societies.
The need to avoid the possibility of economic and status differences in an extended family unit causing conflict and family instability.
The need to protect family stability by strengthening the bonds between married or cohabiting partners
Criticisms and evaluation of the functionalist perspective
Downplaying conflict - pictures family life as harmonious but ignores the ‘darker side’ of family life.
Being out of date - Parsons sexual division of labour is old fashioned. Most women now are wage-earning bread-winners. Today, both partners are likely to carry out both roles.
Ignoring the exploitation of women - ignore the way women suffer, with housework and childcare undermining their position in paid employment e.g restricted work hours to take children to school, prepare meals etc.
