FUNCTIONALISTS

• • Functionalists believe that family is an important instituation for the smooth running of society as it fulfills certain functions for the family members and wider society
  • Functionalists take a positive view on the benefits of family life as they suggest family is the heart of a society that functioned effectively
  • Functionalists focus on positives of a nuclear family that performs for indviduals and society
• Murdock (Functionalist 1949) identified 4 essential functions:

  • Sexual function - sexual activity
  • Reproductive function - society needs new members to survive overtime
  • Economic function - provide people with financial support
  • Educational function - society needs new members to learn their culture
• Parons (1956)

  • Parsons updated Murdocks theory and said in modern western societies the state provided education and can perform an economic function
  • He believed the family had 2 functions that cannot be performed by any other instituation
• Parsons functions

  • Nuclear family - primary socialisation: family is responsible for teaching the norms and values necessary to be part of society, mothers play expressive role (emotional) and fathers play instrumental role (breadwinners)
  • Nuclear family - personality stabilisation: family is always there to protect members from danger and stress, warm bath theory states family is a safe haven where one can feel secure
• Criticisms of the Functionalist perspective:

  • Critics see functionalist perspective as outdated, unrealistic and sexist
  • Parsons focuses on American middle class families and ignores social class, religious and ethnic diversity
  • Parsons ignores alternatives to the nuclear family that can still fulfill the 2 functions, he ignores dysfunctional families where there is conflict, emotional stress, child abuse and domestic violence
• Marxists and Feminists criticisms of Functionalists perspective:

  • Marxists are critical of nuclear family as they see it as only functional for capitalist society and that family serves interests of capitalism
  • Feminists see family as a way of female oppression, they criticise warm bath theory that it implies that stress men feel from work are more important than stress of women labour