Functionalist
Nuclear family - most efficient form of family in meeting society's functional
prerequisites (needs)
Two children
Heterosexual, married couple
2 generations living in the same household
Man = instrumental (wage earner)
Woman = expressive (emotional support)
GP Murdock -
'The nuclear family is universal human social grouping'
'Either as the sole prevailing form of the family or as the basic unit from which more
complex forms compounded'
'exists as a distinct and strongly functional group in every society'
He is saying that the nuclear family is the basis of all families
Strongly favours the nuclear family
Argues that it is universal - based this on his study of 250 societies
4 Functional prerequisites -
o Stable satisfaction of the sex drive - preventing the social disruption caused by
a sexual 'free for all'
o Reproduction - without this, society could not continue
o Primary socialisation - makes sure that the next generation hold societies
norms and values - value consensus
o Economic security - meets its members economic needs e.g. Food and shelter
Functionalists argue that the traditional nuclear family is best suited to meet these
functional prerequisites of society - its a stable form of family and stable families
underpin social order and economic stability
Parsons -
Updated Murdock's theory - in modern, western societies, the state provides education
and performs an economic function (welfare provision)
The family still has two irreducible functions -
Primary socialisation -
o Families specifically teach children the norms and values associated with the
family
o Other institutions e.g. School, the media, religion - teach children the universal
norms and values - wider society
o Primary socialisation and secondary socialisation
Stabilisation of adult personalities -
o Families help prevent adults from behaving in disruptive or dysfunctional
ways - encourages them to conform to social norms
o The family also provides emotional support for its members
o Warm bath theory - when a man comes home from work he can relax into his
family like a warm bath - take away the stress and refresh him
Segregated conjugal roles (marriage roles) -
, o Male - instrumental role - breadwinning
o Female - expressive role - nurturing
o Gendered division of labour - biologically based
o E.g. Women give birth - expressive role
Functional fit theory (1955) -
o The kinds and range of functions a family performs depends on the type of
society in which it is found
o Also determines what sort of structure it will have -
The extended family - 3 generational - found in pre- industrial societies
The nuclear family - 2 generational - found in modern industrial
society
Why the extended family has given way to the nuclear family as society has become
industrialised -
o A geographically mobile workforce -
o In traditional pre industrial society people often lived their whole lives in the
same village
o In modern society - industries constantly spring up and decline in different
parts of the country - people must move where their job is
o Its easier for the compact nuclear family to move than the three generation
extended family
o A socially mobile workforce -
o Modern society required a skilled and technically competent workforce -
essential that the most talented people take on the most important jobs
o In modern society - status is gained not ascribed - makes social mobility
possible
o Parsons argues - the nuclear family is better equipped to meet the needs of
industrial society - if sons leave home then there wont be tension between his
father (the head of the household) and him if he has a higher achieved status at
work
o The nuclear family has no binding obligations to support the extended family
Loss of functions -
o The pre industrial family was a multi functional unit
o Both a unit of production (family members worked together) and a unit of
consumption (feeding and clothing its members)
o More self sufficient than the nuclear family - health and welfare and meeting
most individual and social needs
o Parsons - when society industrialises - family loses many of its functions
o Ceases to be a unit of production - work moves into the factories - unit of
consumption only
o Loses many of its functions to education and the health service
o These loss of functions means that the family specialises in two irreducible
functions - primary socialisation of children and the stabilisation of adult
personalities
Evidence against Parsons -
o Young and Willmott - the pre industrial family was nuclear - parents and
children working together - late childbearing and low life expectancy meant
that grandparents were unlikely to be alive very long after the birth of their
grandchild
, o Parsons - industrialisation brought the nuclear family - Young and Willmott
argue that the hardship of the early industrial period gave rise to 'mum-centred'
working class extended family - mothers and their married daughters
Evaluation of functionalism -
Very rosy picture of the family
Dated - lacks temporal validity
Ignores suppressive and destructive sides of the family - dysfunction
Marxist - Leach (1967) -
The nuclear family has become so isolated that it is a very destructive institution
which supresses individuality and teaches blind obedience
Postmodernists - functionalists ignore family diversity and the fact that other forms of
family can carry out all of the functions that Murdock and Parsons argue are only
suited to the nuclear family - not necessarily universal
Radical Psychiatrists - families smother individuality - leads to an increase of mental
health problems in later life
Liberal feminists - nuclear family is oppressive for women - lack of choice and
gendered roles diminishes the development of women's rights and female
empowerment
Marxist feminists - expressive role only benefits capitalism - women reproduce the
workforce
Radical feminists - there can never be equality in the home if men and women live
together - patriarchy ensures male dominance
New Right
Intro -
Similar to functionalists - more of a political movement than a sociological theory
Conservative government - back to basics campaign - reaction to the changes of the
1960s and 1970s - social attitudes more relaxed
Want a return to traditional values - family, education, law and order
See anything that goes against these values as deviant
The New Right support a society like that imagined by functionalists
Support government policies that try to change society in that way e.g. Tax breaks
Overview -
Combines neo liberal economics with more traditional views on social issues
They believe that in the late 20th century, consensus broke down in many societies
The welfare state has undermined the traditional nuclear family - created a large
increase in lone parent families - inadequate socialisation - particularly for boys with
no father figure - underclass
Ideas highly influential on modern Conservatism in 1970's onwards - Thatcher and
Reagan - more of a political theory than a sociological theory
New Right views on family -
Supports very traditional values and institutions
Nuclear family - most efficient form of family in meeting society's functional
prerequisites (needs)
Two children
Heterosexual, married couple
2 generations living in the same household
Man = instrumental (wage earner)
Woman = expressive (emotional support)
GP Murdock -
'The nuclear family is universal human social grouping'
'Either as the sole prevailing form of the family or as the basic unit from which more
complex forms compounded'
'exists as a distinct and strongly functional group in every society'
He is saying that the nuclear family is the basis of all families
Strongly favours the nuclear family
Argues that it is universal - based this on his study of 250 societies
4 Functional prerequisites -
o Stable satisfaction of the sex drive - preventing the social disruption caused by
a sexual 'free for all'
o Reproduction - without this, society could not continue
o Primary socialisation - makes sure that the next generation hold societies
norms and values - value consensus
o Economic security - meets its members economic needs e.g. Food and shelter
Functionalists argue that the traditional nuclear family is best suited to meet these
functional prerequisites of society - its a stable form of family and stable families
underpin social order and economic stability
Parsons -
Updated Murdock's theory - in modern, western societies, the state provides education
and performs an economic function (welfare provision)
The family still has two irreducible functions -
Primary socialisation -
o Families specifically teach children the norms and values associated with the
family
o Other institutions e.g. School, the media, religion - teach children the universal
norms and values - wider society
o Primary socialisation and secondary socialisation
Stabilisation of adult personalities -
o Families help prevent adults from behaving in disruptive or dysfunctional
ways - encourages them to conform to social norms
o The family also provides emotional support for its members
o Warm bath theory - when a man comes home from work he can relax into his
family like a warm bath - take away the stress and refresh him
Segregated conjugal roles (marriage roles) -
, o Male - instrumental role - breadwinning
o Female - expressive role - nurturing
o Gendered division of labour - biologically based
o E.g. Women give birth - expressive role
Functional fit theory (1955) -
o The kinds and range of functions a family performs depends on the type of
society in which it is found
o Also determines what sort of structure it will have -
The extended family - 3 generational - found in pre- industrial societies
The nuclear family - 2 generational - found in modern industrial
society
Why the extended family has given way to the nuclear family as society has become
industrialised -
o A geographically mobile workforce -
o In traditional pre industrial society people often lived their whole lives in the
same village
o In modern society - industries constantly spring up and decline in different
parts of the country - people must move where their job is
o Its easier for the compact nuclear family to move than the three generation
extended family
o A socially mobile workforce -
o Modern society required a skilled and technically competent workforce -
essential that the most talented people take on the most important jobs
o In modern society - status is gained not ascribed - makes social mobility
possible
o Parsons argues - the nuclear family is better equipped to meet the needs of
industrial society - if sons leave home then there wont be tension between his
father (the head of the household) and him if he has a higher achieved status at
work
o The nuclear family has no binding obligations to support the extended family
Loss of functions -
o The pre industrial family was a multi functional unit
o Both a unit of production (family members worked together) and a unit of
consumption (feeding and clothing its members)
o More self sufficient than the nuclear family - health and welfare and meeting
most individual and social needs
o Parsons - when society industrialises - family loses many of its functions
o Ceases to be a unit of production - work moves into the factories - unit of
consumption only
o Loses many of its functions to education and the health service
o These loss of functions means that the family specialises in two irreducible
functions - primary socialisation of children and the stabilisation of adult
personalities
Evidence against Parsons -
o Young and Willmott - the pre industrial family was nuclear - parents and
children working together - late childbearing and low life expectancy meant
that grandparents were unlikely to be alive very long after the birth of their
grandchild
, o Parsons - industrialisation brought the nuclear family - Young and Willmott
argue that the hardship of the early industrial period gave rise to 'mum-centred'
working class extended family - mothers and their married daughters
Evaluation of functionalism -
Very rosy picture of the family
Dated - lacks temporal validity
Ignores suppressive and destructive sides of the family - dysfunction
Marxist - Leach (1967) -
The nuclear family has become so isolated that it is a very destructive institution
which supresses individuality and teaches blind obedience
Postmodernists - functionalists ignore family diversity and the fact that other forms of
family can carry out all of the functions that Murdock and Parsons argue are only
suited to the nuclear family - not necessarily universal
Radical Psychiatrists - families smother individuality - leads to an increase of mental
health problems in later life
Liberal feminists - nuclear family is oppressive for women - lack of choice and
gendered roles diminishes the development of women's rights and female
empowerment
Marxist feminists - expressive role only benefits capitalism - women reproduce the
workforce
Radical feminists - there can never be equality in the home if men and women live
together - patriarchy ensures male dominance
New Right
Intro -
Similar to functionalists - more of a political movement than a sociological theory
Conservative government - back to basics campaign - reaction to the changes of the
1960s and 1970s - social attitudes more relaxed
Want a return to traditional values - family, education, law and order
See anything that goes against these values as deviant
The New Right support a society like that imagined by functionalists
Support government policies that try to change society in that way e.g. Tax breaks
Overview -
Combines neo liberal economics with more traditional views on social issues
They believe that in the late 20th century, consensus broke down in many societies
The welfare state has undermined the traditional nuclear family - created a large
increase in lone parent families - inadequate socialisation - particularly for boys with
no father figure - underclass
Ideas highly influential on modern Conservatism in 1970's onwards - Thatcher and
Reagan - more of a political theory than a sociological theory
New Right views on family -
Supports very traditional values and institutions
