Functionalist

• Advocates of functionalism believe that the nuclear family structure is the most capable of executing adequate primary socialisation
• Functionalists believe that society is harmonious when all its institutions perform their roles and promote solidarity, to maintain stability in society
• Murdock’s 4 functions of the family

  • Educational; children are taught shared norms & values, and how to differentiate between right and wrong
  • Economic; family provides an economic role to its members by pooling resources and ensuring they are provided for
  • Reproductive; nuclear families are comprised of a heterosexual couple, who allow for procreation and the continuation of future generations to occur
  • Sexual; the family ensures that adult sexual relationships are controlled and stable, through the practise of monogamy
• Parsons- Functional Fit theory

  • believes that family structures change overtime to fit the state of society at that moment in time
  • in essence, as society progresses, the functions performed by the family do not stay the same, but change
• Parsons

  • In pre-industrial society, the extended families were most common, as manual labour was distributed between its various member for ease
  • the extended family performed functions such as manual labour, taking care of the sick, and educating children
  • however, in industrial society, the nuclear family became a more suitable structure, as it performed different functions in a complex and new society
• how industrialisation changed the family (Parsons);

  • Structural Differentiation; functions of the family in a pre-industrial society are taken over by the state, eg. policing, healthcare (NHS)
  • the nuclear family is left with only 2 functions; primary socialisation and stabilisation of adult personalities
  • a division of labour developed between men and women
  • status has shifted from ascribed to achieved, this facilitates social mobility
  • extended family has largely disappeared, the privatised nuclear family becomes an independent unit
• structural differentiation

  When new and more specialised institutions take over a range of functions once performed by a single institution
• stabilisation of adult personalities

  • adults support and meet each other’s emotional needs, thus preventing dysfunction and instability in their lives
  • this also prevents disruptive behaviours, such as adultery
  • Warm Bath Theory; Parsons suggests that when a man returns home from work, his family provides him with stress relief and relaxation, ensuring the emotional needs of the breadwinner are met
• Functionalist view on divorce

  • creates anomie for adults as well as children
  • they believe that if the family as an institution is threatened or unstable due to divorce, children will be deprived of adequate primary socialisation