Functionalism and the New Right

• Modernist Family: clear cut predictable structure
• Parsons: Family is a functional fit to society surrounding it - Nuclear family is uniquely suited to the needs of industrialised society
• Functionalist: Thus if the Nuclear family is uniquely able to perform society's essential functions - we can therefore generalise on the type of family
• Nuclear Family is natural and based on fundamental biological differences. Family is cornerstone of society performing as refuge, contentment and harmony
• New Right perspective on lone-parent families:

  1. lone mothers unable to discipline
  2. boys have no male role model meaning they are delinquents with educational failure and socially unstable
  3. lone parent families are poorer and thus a burden on the welfare state and taxpayers