Functionalist views of family

• Organ analogy


  Society has parts which all rely on each other so if one stops functioning properly the rest stops
• Functional fit theory:


  Family structure changes and adapts based on which society in which it is found
• Primary Socialisation


  Norms and values are taught to children at a young age by family members eg parents
• Stabilisation of adult personalities

  Gives a place for adults to release tensions and return to work relaxed
• Warm bath theory


  The family is a safe Haven where the father can come home to relax and release tensions
• Role allocation


  In society people are allocated to a role which they are fit for eg required qualifications
• consensus approach


  People agreeing on the same norms and values. Family plays a vital role in maintaining norms and values and keeping society stable
• social solidarity


  Independence between individuals in society
• Murdock 1949


  The family performs these functions to meet needs of its members and society

  He argues that the nuclear family is the best design fro carrying out these functions which is why the nuclear family is universal

  He argues that the nuclear family is the best design for carrying out these functions which is why the nuclear family is universal
• 4 functions identified by Murdock


  Family provides four functions:

  1 . Stable satisfaction of the adult sex drive needs are satisfied

  Sexual monogamy prevents a 'sex free-for-all' which could cause disruptions

  
  

  2. Reproduction of the next generation families can have kids of their own to carry on their legacies etc.

  Society needs children to survive

  
  

  3. Socialisation of the young they learn to fit into the society

  Society's norms and values are shared so no disruptions

  
  

  4 . Meetings members economic needs: given food and shelter

  Meaning an individual can live comfortably

  Stable society, no need for stealing etc
• Evaluation


  Other sociologist would argue that non-nuclear families can carry out these functions as effectively as th nuclear family
• Parsons


  - Believed that extended families were common on pre-industrial society

  - Nuclear families are more common in modern industrial society
• Functional Fit Theory


  Building on Murdock's work, Parsons (1951) stressed the importance of the nuclear family with his functional fit theory. Unlike Murdock, Parsons believed that family structures change along with society and that each type of family is created to 'fit' society at the time.
• Parsons - modern industrial family

  - More nuclear families

  - Performs only two essential functions

  - Geographically and socially mobile

  - More independence from parents (grandparents)

  - Home is a place to relax from work

  - Status is achieved
• Parsons pre-industrial family


  - Large and extended families

  - Murdock identifies 4 functions

  - Individuals and couples are dominated by the wider family

  - Work and home are not separated
• Parsons sees industrial society as having 2 essential needs:

  1. A geographically mobile workforce

  2. Socially mobile workforce
• 1. A geographically mobile workforce

  - In feudal society, people would most often stay within the same village, and work on the same farm

  - In modern society, industries will develop in different parts of the country requiring people to be able to move to the jobs

  - Parsons argued its easier for the two generations of nuclear family to move compared to three generational extended family

  - Nuclear family is the better 'fit' for modern society's need for a geographically mobile workforce
• 2. Socially mobile workforce

  - Modern society requires a skilled, technically competent workforce due to the rapid and constant evolving nature of science and technology

  - This means the most talented people need to do the most important jobs, regardless of background

  - Modern society - status is not described but achieved - social mobility is possible

  - Therefore a son may achieve a higher status than his father this will lead to conflict, son would leave when he's married to create his own nuclear family

  - Resulting in mobile nuclear family being 'structurally isolated' from its intended kin and has no obligation towards them
• Loss of Function


  - The development of industrial Britain from the late 18th century resulted in the extended family being replaced

  - Extended family was a multifunctional unit eg family members would work together

  - The industrialisation of society resulted in the functions of the family being lost. Only two essential functions:

  1. Primary socialisation - teach children basic skills to begin their integration into society

  2. stabilisation of adult personalities - provide a place where adults can relax and release tension - return to work refreshed
• Evaluation


  - Overly optimistic view of the family (SOAP). The nuclear family is not always a safe and supportive environment for everyone

  - Parsons view on the decline of the nuclear family Is culturally relative - extended families are the norm in many cultures

  - Other sociologist and historians have pointed out that the extended family was not the dominant family structure in pre-industrial; society (young and wilmott)

  - Marxist would argue that industrialisation has not led to greater social mobility - meritocracy does not exist and people are exploited by the ruling class

  - Overestimates the role of the family in primary socialisation - can be argued that other agents of socialisation have a greater influence (the media, school, religion etc)
• Was the extended family dominant in pre-industrial society?

  - Young and wilmott:

  pre-industrial family was nuclear not extended - parents and children worked together in cottage industries

  
  

  - laslett (1564-1821):

  English households mostly nuclear, low life expectancy and late child bearing resulted in shortage of extended families
• Is the extended family no longer important in modern society?

  - partial support

  Young and wilmott from 1900, the nuclear family was the dominant family type - due to higher living standards, married women working, the welfare state + better housing

  - but the extended family continues to exist
• Did the family became nuclear in early industries society?

  - parsons:

  Nuclear families were create alongside industrialisation

  
  

  - young and wilmott:

  The hardship of industrial life led to the mum-centred working class extended families

  Female kin relied on one another for finical, practical and emotional support

  
  

  - exchange theory:

  Anderson mid 19th century Preston

  Families did not cut ties with extended kinds. The benefits of maintaining contact over weighed the costs eg absence of welfare state, poverty, sickness v support with children and rent
• Is the extended family no longer important in modern society?

  - partial support

  Young and wilmott from 1900, the nuclear family was the dominant family type - due to higher living standards, married women working, the welfare state + better housing

  - but the extended family continues to exist
• Criticisms


  1 . Downplaying conflict:

  Presents family as harmonious, dark side of the family is ignored exploitation of workers - Marxist

  2. Being out of date:

  Instrumental and expressive roles are old fashioned ideas women working more means that partners and more likely to do both roles

  3. Ignoring exploitation of women

  Women offer suffer from sexual division of labour, women are primary child carers, gender roles led to a disadvantage for women

  4. Functionalism is too deterministic

  Children actively create their own personalities, personality isn't predetermined
• The March of Progress - Young and Willmott


  Symmetrical families refer to those that are equally balanced and flexible and where partners share both the instrumental and expressive roles.

  Young and Willmott support the 'march of progress' view of modern families, in that families are becoming less patriarchal and more symmetrical.
• Stage One: The pre-industrial family


  The family works as a unit of economic production. There is no separation between work and home. Families live with or close to other family members and work together.
• Stage Two: The early industrial family


  Families move into towns and cities and home and work are separated as men go out to work. Women perform a domestic role. While pre-industrial extended families have broken up as a result of this, kinship networks remain very important and women especially rely on support from other female relations. Wilmott and Young suggested that while female relatives bonded, men were excluded from the home and spent time in the pub instead.
• Stage Three: The symmetrical family

  The modern nuclear family has less gender segregation than the early industrial family with men and women both in employment and both contributing to domestic chores. Also the family has ceased to be a unit of production and has become a unit of consumption. Families tend to be smaller, because children remain dependents rather than becoming financial assets. The family has become more isolated from kinship networks and so families spend more time together and generally there are joint conjugal roles as opposed to segregated conjugal roles.
• Stage Four: The asymmetrical family


  Wilmott & Young suggested that the family would become asymmetrical, with men increasingly spending their leisure time outside the home and without their partners (for example spending long periods of time on the golf course). Wilmott & Young conceded that this fourth stage did not really occur.
• Stratified diffusion


  suggested that the sort of cultural changes in family life described here began initially among those with higher social status, and these practices diffused down the social strata and became the norm.

  This was why they predicted Stage Four, because they saw evidence of rich families becoming increasingly asymmetrical, with couples spending more time apart and particularly rich businessmen spending their leisure time apart from the family.

  not seem to be much evidence to suggest that stratified diffusion as occurred in this case.
• Evaluating the March of Progress


  Some sociologists dislike the value judgement inherent in the idea of a march of progress: that the family has got better as it has developed. In rural areas, some families still occupy "stage 1" and some would suggest this is just a different family form rather than a better or worse one.

  There is lots of feminist research to suggest that the "symmetrical family" is a myth, as we will discuss in the section on gender roles.

  The modern nuclear family is presented in an idealistic way, which runs counter to many people's experiences of family life.