Func & NR

• What do modernist perspectives such as functionalism and the new right think about society?

  It has a fixed, clear-cut and predictable structure.
• How does the family fit into this 'clear-cut' structure of society according to modernists?

  It maintains this structure, performing key functions, and different family types to the one they consider to be the 'best' (nuclear family) can be considered deviant as they're less likely to perform these functions.
• Parsons states the nuclear family is uniquely suited to meet the needs of modern society, for a geographically and socially mobile workforce. It also performs two 'irreducible functions' of primary socialisation and stabilisation of the adult personality.
• The New Right argue that the decline of the traditional nuclear family and the growth of family diversity are the cause of many social problems, such as higher crime rates and educational failure. They see lone-parent families as 'unnatural" and harmful to children because they cannot discipline their children properly and are a burden on the welfare state.
• They Disapprove of working mothers; and believe marriage is essential for stability.
• Benson found that family breakdown in married couples is 6% compared to 20% for cohabiting The New Right oppose many of the recent trends in the family for economic and political reasons.
• Weakness 😭: While Benson points out family breakdown is higher in cohabiting households, Carol Smart points out that cohabitation rates are higher among poorer social groups. Poverty breaks down families, not cohabitation itself.
• Weakness😭: Critics argue there is no evidence to suggest that lone parent families are part of dependency culture or that their children are more likely to be a delinquent than the child of a two-parent household in the same social class.
• Weakness😭: Oakley states that gender is a social construct, not biologically determined and this is backed up by cross cultural studies. Globally, women perform different roles.
• Weakness😭: Feminists argue that the nuclear family is favoured by the New Right based on the oppression of women.