Functionalist theory of family

• Functionalist views of the family

  • Physical care
  • Emotional support
  • A place in society/identity
  • Reproduction
  • Economical support
  • Social control
  • Socialisation
  • Regulation of sex
• The March of Progress view of the family


  men are becoming more involved in housework and childcare just as women are becoming more involved in paid work outside the home
• value consensus


  shared agreement about how people should behave
• social solidarity


  the social ties that bring people together
• social integration


  the sense of belonging within society
• social conformity 


  encouraged to follow rules by reward systems and punishments
• skill transmission


  specialised labour jobs that teach about specific skills
• role allocation 


  people will be allocated a role within the family
• murdock (1949) - nuclear family

  • argued that the nuclear family existed in every known society
  • had 4 functions: reproduction, sexual, educational and economic
  • reproduction is fulfilled as gender socialisation prepares children to take on roles by promoting social behaviours
  • economic is fulfilled as the man works and provides for the family
  • sexual is fulfilled as they promote heterosexuality
  • education as children learn norms and values of society through being taught by their parents
• evaluation of murdock

  • (-) feminists says Murdock fails to acknowledge that the most universal unit is mother and children
  • (-) marxists say he ignores the influence of capitalism in reproducing the next generation of workers
  • (-) outdated as gender roles have changed and there is greater diversity
• Parsons - extended family

  • Nuclear family has two basic functions in comparison with extended kinship networks of early and pre-industrial era
  • Domestic division of labour – with males and females taking on specific roles based upon biological characteristics
  • emergence of specialised agencies (structural differentiation)
  • two functions: primary socialisation children and the stabilisation of adult personality
• primary socialisation

  • Early socialisation of children into norms and values of society
  • Appropriated behaviours in social situations, core values of society, pro-social behaviours
  • Parents reinforce behaviours that are positive and sanction socially undesirable behaviours so that children will ‘fit into’ wider society
• stabilisation of adult personalities

  • Often referred to as ‘warm bath theory’
  • Family life provides emotional security for adult members
  • Adults are also able to indulge childish tendencies through interacting with their children
  • Actions stabilise personalities and provide a sense of fulfilment
• Parsons 'functional fit' theory

  • Parsons suggested the nuclear family formed as an adaption to industrialisation
  • Functions of extended family needed to be replaced as nuclear family became socially and geographically mobile
  • Nuclear family is a better fit for modern society as people move for work
• evaluation of parsons

  • Feminists criticise Parsons for stereotypical views of female roles and expectations of females towards males
  • Nuclear family argued not to have evolved due to industrialisation
  • Outdated view – criticised by more contemporary research that states a decline in the functions of the family
  • Ethnocentric view based on American ideals and theoretical in nature rather than based on research
• a geographically mobile workforce

  • Modern society - industry is always changing.
  • People have to move to where the jobs are.
  • Parsons argues that the nuclear family is easier to move than the the extended family.
• A socially mobile workforce

  • Modern society - science and tech is always evolving.
  • Requires skilled workers.
  • People gain their status through their own efforts and ability NOT their background.
  • Nuclear family is better as avoids tension and conflict as a result of differences in statuses in generations.