Functionalists View Of The Family (comp)

• Functionalists


  Believe the family is a vital 'organ' in the 'body' of society, just as the heart is an important organ in maintaining the human body
• Murdock - 1949


  • Family has four main functions:
  • Sexual - men and women must express their desire for sex in a socially approved context - the family is the most approved place
  • Reproduction - new members of society are needed. This is best achieved through the family
  • Socialisation - children learn norms and values of society. This creates value consensus
  • Economic - family provides food and shelter. Family used to work together in pre-industrial times. Now, it acts as a unit of consumption
• Parsons - 1955


  • Family has become more specialised: used to have more functions but most have been taken over by other institutions. E.g. looking after sick relatives, educating children.
  • Family has two basic, irreducible functions:
  • Primary socialisation - children internalise culture of society into their personality. Needed for society to continue.
  • Stabilisation of adult personalities - outside factors threaten to destabilise adult personalities. E.g. stress at work.
  • Warm bath theory: families acts to sooth away outside factors that may destabilise personalities.
  • Domestic division of labour into expressive and instrumental roles
• Criticism 1. Downplaying Conflict

  Both Murdock and Parsons paint a very rosy picture of family life, presenting it as a harmonious and integrated institution. However, they downplay conflict in the family, particularly the ‘darker side’ of family life, such as violence against women and child abuse.
• Criticism 2. Being out of Date

  Parson’s view of the instrumental and expressive roles of men and women is very old-fashioned. It may have held some truth in the 1950s but today, with the majority of women in paid work, and the blurring of gender roles, it seems that both partners are more likely to take on both expressive and instrumental roles
• 3. Ignoring the exploitation of women

  Functionalists tend to ignore the way women suffer from the sexual division of labour in the family. Even today, women still end up being the primary child carers in 90% of families, and suffer the burden of extra work that this responsibility carries compared to their male partners. Gender roles are socially constructed and usually involve the oppression of women.
• 4. Functionalism is too deterministic

  This means it ignores the fact that children actively create their own personalities. An individual’s personality isn’t pre-determined at birth. Functionalism incorrectly assumes an almost robotic adoption of society’s values via our parents; clearly there are many examples where this isn’t the case.