How do functionalists view the role of policies in relation to the family?
For podcast on Functionalism [and other Sociological Perspectives] from Steve Bassett [Park Sociology] NEW Link September 2017 – Click Here Show For podcast on Functionalism, Marxism and the Family from Esher Sociology NEW Link September 2017 – Click Here For podcast on Functionalism and the Family from Precooked Sociology New link added October 2016 – Click Here Click here for Introducing Families and Households NEW document added October 1st 2012 – Click Here For introductory PowerPoint on G. P. Murdock , Functionalism and the Family. NEW document added October 8th 2012 – Click Here To Download For assignment on comparison of Functionalist and Marxist analyses of socialisation within “the” family – Click Here
For assignment on comparison of Functionalist – Click Here (create exercisefamperspect page and link back) Marxist and Feminist perspectives on Families and Households – Click Here (create exercisefamperspect page as above and link back) For Feminism and “the” Family – Click Here (create https://earlhamsociologypages.co.uk/Feminism%20and%20the%20Family.htm page and link back) For Marxism and “the” Family – Click Here (vreate https://earlhamsociologypages.co.uk/marxismfamily.html page and link back) For the New Right and “the” Family – Click Here (create https://earlhamsociologypages.co.uk/newrightfamily.html page and link back) Document Contents
Introduction Functionalism was the dominant branch of western Sociology until the 1960s since when it has been increasingly criticised by sociologists favouring different sociological perspectives. Functionalists argue that societies consist of inter-related social institutions such as schools, mass media, political systems, the Church and the family each of which contribute positively to the maintenance of stability of society as a whole. That is: these institutions are said to be functional for societies as a whole.. Broadly speaking it is assumed by functionalists that societies operate in the interests of all of their members so that there is no reason for fundamental conflict in society. Instead there is a high degree of consensus that societies are organised efficiently and relatively fairly. The main Functionalist theorists of the family are G P Murdock and Talcott Parsons. Murdock argued on the basis of his studies that the nuclear family was a universal social institution and that it existed universally because it fulfilled four basic functions for society : the sexual, reproductive, economic and education functions. Other non-Functionalist sociologists have argued, however, that the existence of the Nayar, the single matrifocal families common among Afro- Caribbeans and increasingly common more generally and of gay and lesbian families all suggest that the nuclear family is not in fact universal which in turn suggests that Functionalist theories of the family focus excessively on the nuclear family form and insufficiently on other family forms. For some fairly detailed information about the Nayar which you can discuss with your teachers – Click Here The Functionalist perspective on the family has been further developed by Talcott Parsons whose theories focus heavily on nuclear, heterosexual families to the exclusion of other family forms. The main aspects of Parsons’ theory as developed in the USA in the 1950s were as follows:
Ronald Fletcher also analyses the family from a Functionalist perspective but he denies that the modern nuclear family has lost functions to the extent suggested By Talcott Parsons. Thus Fletcher argues that even if the family is no longer a unit of production , it is a unit of consumption which can be appealed to by advertisers keen to sell a wide range of household appliances so as to maintain profits. Also parents do supplement school education by providing advice and help more effectively than in the past; greater understanding of diet and exercise may mean that the family can play a greater role in health maintenance; and also given the limitations of the Welfare State, the family, and especially women within the family may continue to play a major role in the care of elderly relatives some of whom may not wish to enter old peoples homes. The Community Care initiatives of Conservative Governments [1979-97] may have increased family responsibilities in this respect. as you will see when you study families and social policy later in the Families and Households module. Criticisms of Functionalist Theories of the Family Functionalist theories of the family have been strongly criticised in several respects:
. On the basis of an analysis of parish records between 1564 and 1821 Peter Laslett and his associates concluded that in pre-industrial England only 10% of households contained extra- nuclear kin—i.e. that the nuclear family was very common in pre-industrial England. People married later; they tended to set up independent households when they married and higher mortality rates meant that grandparents would often die relatively soon after grandchildren were born, all suggesting that extended families would be relatively uncommon at this time. Laslett argued further that nuclear families were common in most of pre- industrial western Europe and that their existence helps to explain why the industrialisation process developed first there rather than say in eastern Europe, Russia and Japan where extended families were more common. Thus, for Laslett the nuclear family helped to bring about industrialisation rather than the other way around although of course many other factors help to explain the industrialisation process. However, Laslett’s findings have been criticised. It has been claimed that even if most people lived in nuclear households, extended family ties may nevertheless have been strong. suggesting that there may have been many modified extended families in pre-industrial times. Also according to Michael Anderson, extended families were common well into the mid 19th century. Anderson pointed out that on the basis of the 1851 Census of Preston 23% of households at this time contained extra-nuclear kin. Kinship networks could provide a base for newcomers to the city and in the absence of a developed Welfare State, they could provide support for ageing parents, the unemployed, the sick and the orphaned. Extended family residence would enable ageing grandparents to supervise children while parents worked; they would enable rent costs to be shared and extended family ties would also be useful in the search for work. Thus Anderson concluded that industrialisation actually strengthened extended family ties especially among the poor. Further information on the continued existence of extended family ties in the late 20th and early 21st Centuries will be provided in a future document.
In making comparisons between small scale , pre-industrial societies and large scale industrial ones, the anthropologist Edmund Leach claims that the decline of the extended family has isolated the nuclear family and placed emotional demands upon it which are unbearable. The inevitable result is conflict both within the nuclear family and within societies as a whole as the nuclear family creates barriers between it and the wider society breeding suspicion, fear and social conflict. Leach concludes, “Far from being the basis of the good society, the family with its narrow privacy and tawdry secrets is the source of all our discontents.” Rather similar arguments were advanced by radical psychiatrist R.D. Laing (based on his studies of families in which at least one member has been described as schizophrenic) claiming that the nuclear family grievously restricts the process of self-development and “generates both an unthinking respect for authority and an us-them mentality which contributes to harmful and dangerous distinctions between Gentile and Jew and Black and White.” David Cooper concludes (again from studies of families in which one member has been defined as schizophrenic) that the family inhibits the development of the self and conditions its members not to accept the shared norms and values of an harmonious society but to submit to the dictates of an authoritarian, repressive capitalist one. For Cooper, writing from a Marxist perspective, “The family prepares the individual for his/her induction into the role s/he is to play in an exploitative society: the role of endlessly obedient citizen.”
The studies of Leach, Laing and Cooper have, however, been criticised for several reasons which means that the conclusions of these studies should not be assumed to discredit the functionalist theories totally.
For a Times article on the actual life and times of R. D Laing – Click Here In the following sections I shall introduce other perspectives on the family and show how they differ from the Functionalist perspective. In each case only summary information on each perspective is given and I hope to extend this information in further documents devoted to more detailed consideration and criticisms of each of the perspectives introduced here.
There are important divisions within feminism , most notably as between liberal, radical and Marxist feminism but all feminists are critical in various respects of functionalist theories of the family. Thus feminist argue that:
Although liberal feminists argue that many female disadvantages can be alleviated by sensitive education and gradual economic and social reform, this is not a view that would be accepted by radical and Marxist feminists. Radical feminists argue that societies in general and families in particular are deeply patriarchal, that patriarchy is based ultimately on male physical violence and that women’s interests are best served by the rejection of family life and ,indeed, rejection of relationships with men. Marxist feminists have accepted the general Marxist analysis of the family in which families support the continuation of the capitalist system in ways which result in the exploitation of women.
In the Marxist view the family is a part of the superstructure of capitalist society which operates not in the interests of society and all of its members equally but in the interests of the capitalist system and of the capitalist class within that system. Marxists argue :
Marxist Feminists have accepted the above general arguments and pointed to ways in which it is women specifically who are exploited in the capitalist family. They argue:
According to New Right theorists it would be very beneficial to society as a whole and to its members if in reality the nuclear family remained the dominant family form and if it fulfilled its functions more or less as described in the functionalist theory of the family. Thus , New Right theorists argue that effective nuclear family units are necessary if the young are to be socialised to respect traditional sources of authority. They also tend to support a traditional allocation of gender roles while recognising also that a dynamic market economy may require an increasing proportion of married women to take up employment, all of which points to some ambiguity within the New Right theory of the family. However , New Right theorists argue that in practice, as a result of increasing divorce, cohabitation, increasing numbers of lone parent families and the growth of homosexuality the nuclear family is far less secure nowadays than is implied in the functionalist theories of the 1950s and 60s. Also these alternative family forms may impose additional financial costs upon the state and undermine the stability of society as a whole ,for example via the creation of a welfare dependent, criminal underclass or via the implication that heterosexual and homosexual relationships are equally worthy of respect. Governments should therefore introduce policies which help to reverse the decline of the nuclear family. New Right theories of the family have themselves been heavily criticised from other sociological perspectives.
Social Action theorists argue that Functionalism is a structural consensus theory and that in general terms as a structural theory it therefore overstates the relative influence of social structure on individual behaviour and understates the freedom of individuals to decide upon their own behaviour for themselves. In relation to the family social action theorists would argue that the diversity of family structures [nuclear and based on marriage, nuclear and based on cohabitation, extended, lone parent and single sex families based upon civil partnership] and of behaviour within families [relatively asymmetrical or symmetrical etc.] shows that Functionalist theories of the family are “over-deterministic” and indeed, social action theorists would make similar criticisms of Marxist and Feminist theories of the family.
Postmodern sociologists are critical of all “modern” sociological perspectives including Functionalism, Marxism, Feminism and Social Action Sociology which they describe as “metanarratives” or “grand stories” whose scientific validity has been grossly overstated by their supporters. Postmodernists argue also that ,in conditions of postmodernity, traditional processes of socialisation have become much weaker, thus allowing individuals far greater freedom in the construction of their own identities. Postmodernists , therefore are likely to deny that individuals are easily indoctrinated to accept Functionalist norms and values [or patriarchal values as suggested by feminists or a ruling class ideology as suggested by Marxists.] Also the increasing diversity of family life and personal relationships suggests to Postmodernists that individuals are far less likely to choose to live in nuclear families and to adopt traditional gender roles than is suggested in Functionalist theories of the family.
Functionalist sociologists have claimed optimistically that modern capitalist societies are essentially democratic, meritocratic and based upon consensus and that nuclear families contribute both to the happiness of their individual members and to the continued stability of societies as a whole , for example via the socialisation of the young and the stabilisation in Parsons’ variant of the theory. However Functionalist theories have also been heavily criticised and even if we do not accept these criticisms in every single respect it does seem fair to conclude that Functionalists have overstated the extent of consensus in society and the significance of nuclear families relative to other family forms and understated the widespread existence of asymmetrical, patriarchal relationships within many nuclear families and the extent to which the existence of nuclear families helps to sustain capitalist and/or patriarchal power structures in the wider society. I have tried in the above notes to introduce the main criticisms of Functionalist theories of the family which have been suggested in other perspectives. It will now necessary to investigate the strengths and weaknesses of these other perspectives in more detail. How does structural functionalism relate to family?The structural-functionalist perspective, marriage and family are a basic building block of society. Marriage and family, are necessities for a stable society. Marriage and family perform a number of necessary functions, which provide a structure that children can be produced and raised.
What is the functionalist definition of a family?Generally, functionalists have argued that the family is a universal institution which performs certain specific functions essential to society's survival. Murdock, for instance, defined the family as a 'social group characterised by common residence, economic co-operation, and reproduction.
What are the conflict and functionalist views of families?Conflict theorists agree that the family serves the important functions just listed, but they also point to problems within the family that the functional perspective minimizes or overlooks altogether. First, the family as a social institution contributes to social inequality in several ways.
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