♥Sociological Perspectives On The Functions Of The Family| Functionalism♥

There are three main types of sociologists that we talk about when studying the society. These are Marxists, Feminists and Functionalists; all of whom have different perspectives and also similarities between them.

So lets start with Functionalism.

Functionalists are a branch of Consensus sociologists (they are of the belief that the family is a positive function that is benefiting everyone in that sector, Marxists and Feminists would disagree)
Liken the Human Body the family plays a function in society which helps it to run smoothly, for example lets say that the Family is the heart in our bodies without our heart we would not be able to live so it is an essential part of that system. This is the functionalist theory of Organic Analogy of the family.

Another theory that is created by Functionalists is the Warm Bath theory which is often rejected by other sociologists as functionalists believe that every family is the same loving and nurturing family where as this is not the case, not all families are nurturing and loving to one another which could sometimes result in the  involvement with the care system etc..

When speaking about functionalism there are two main researchers we refer to and they are Murdock and Parson.

Murdock(1949) believed that the family performed four essential functions in the society these are:

♥Stable satisfaction of the sex drive (being with the same partner allows the individual to feel a sense of belonging and also prevents social disruption that is caused by the 'sex is free for all' ideas
♥Reproduction of the next generation (without being able to reproduce children the society would not be able to continue)
♥Socialisation of the young (allows children to understand the norms and values of society and pass them on through each generation and shows them what is expected from them by their society)
♥Meeting its' members economic needs (allows members to have essentials of life such as food and shelter)

Criticisms of Murdock
♥ some sociologists would argue that the families function can be performed by other functions in society such as the care system.
♥Marxists and Feminists would reject Parsons rose tinted view and say that functionalists fail to see (neglect) conflict and exploitation. Feminists would argue that the family is unequal and oppresses women who serve the needs of men. Marxists would argue that the family is beneficial for the capitalist and not of  those who are the members of family or society as a whole.


Parsons(1955) believed that the functions of the family are based on  its structure and in particular the pre-industrial (extended) family and the Modern (nuclear) Family.

Quick recap of the structures, An Extended family is where you can have 3 generations living together this can be extended vertically or horizontally. A vertically extended family is one where grandparents live with their children and their grandchildren, where as a horizontally extended family is one where your aunties/uncles live with their brothers and sisters and their nieces and nephews. The vertically extended family was one that was most popular pre industry(you can just refer to this as the extended family in your essays and exams.) A nuclear family is one where the parents and children live together. This family became more common since the industrialisation due to two reasons parson believed it was a better function.

♥Geographically Mobile Workforce. As before the industrialisation the family size was large (extended family) the structure of the family developed into a nuclear one. This became beneficial not only to the members of the family so if a job comes up its easier to move a smaller family thus creating a geographically mobile workforce.

♥Socially Mobile Workforce, As the society and its technology is constantly evolving and with the change in family structure where as before status was ascribed ( you were born into it) it is now achieved ( you work hard to get you where you need to be) which means that the younger generations or shall i say any generation at all will be able to achieve the status they want .

So Parson believed that the family over has 2 main functions due to the change in family type.
♥ The primary socialisation of children. this where the family equips children with the basic skills and values expected from them by the surrounding society in order to help them co-operate with others.
♥The stabilisation of adult personalities. The family is an environment where adults can remove and relax with the tension created by work and comeback to work he next day feeling refreshed and ready to work

Criticisms
♥Extended family is quite beneficial in the modern society as it allows both parents to work and also be relived of childcare which would suggest that the nuclear family isn't the best functional fit.

Tip: for extra marking points suggest reasons as to how the items can be criticised instead of just quoting research as this shows the examiner your understanding of the topic.
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Thank you for reading and hope you found this helpful. These blogs will be based around the AQA AS Sociology specification and for more information on this go to their website. The next blog will include The Feminist perspective of the family along with Key terms. Anything important will be made bold so you know what are the key bits that you will need to revise. For any more help or questions dont hesitate to leave comments, message me on twitter @MissSweetlyNat or on facebook Miss Sweetly Nat. Thank You.