Functionalism nuclear family. Sociological Perspectives on Family 2019-01-10
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Functionalist views on the Nuclear family in contemporary society Flashcards by Sophie Mia
In other words, he saw a general trend towards the centralization of power as leading to stagnation and ultimately, pressures to decentralize. As a result of challenges in the 1970s, structural functionalism fell into disfavour in the study of sociology. Politically, it fit the cold war liberal and pluralist political approach that became dominant in American universities during this period. However, this limited role has increasingly been called into question. Differences in education level also change the amount of single parents.
These serve the function of allowing the system to survive and provide the goods and services required for society to operate. Following ' population principles, Spencer concluded that society is constantly facing s internal and external that force it to adapt its internal structure through differentiation. By this Parsons means that family members can easily move to new centres of production. Conflict approaches also developed, partly in reaction to the consensus view of functionalists, and partly because functionalism was not able to explain the new social movements and developments in North America and the rest of the world. This is an consensus model, one which can be used to support the social order. Some roles are bound up in and social structures economic, educational, legal and even gender-based. Third, even though it may provide and inadequate model of explanation, it may be useful as a model for description.
Examples of systems are the social, cultural, and personality systems Wallace and Wolf, p. It is simplistic to equate the perspective directly with political. The recognition of instrumental and expressive roles is a useful one, and if it is possible for these to be combined in the same person, with each individual carrying out different combinations of these, these concepts might be considered more acceptable. These tensions were a source of their strength according to Parsons rather than the opposite. This removes the determinism criticized above. The first function is sexual, Murdock believes that sexual intercourse with the same marital partner can prevent social disruption and can strengthen the tie between husband and wife.
Since the family is the first socialization agent, it depends on the families' background how they rear up the children. A further criticism directed at functionalism is that it contains no sense of , that individuals are seen as puppets, acting as their role requires. Functionalists found signs of social control through: - Positive and negative sanctions being used to reward and punish conformity, e. In traditional societies, most of these functions would have been centred in family and kinship structures, and in local communities. However, it is still an important model in a number of ways. The producer role generally became part of the economic structures of society and were detached from the household. The Family Symbolic interactionists also explore the changing meanings attached to family.
Functionalism and sociology Parsons and the functionalist approach to sociology occupy an intermediate position between classical and contemporary sociology. In these societies, marriages are arranged by parents and other kin for economic reasons or to build alliances, and young people are simply expected to marry whoever is chosen for them. Even though these exist they may not be readily apparent and thus are latent. Feminist criticise the functionalist view on the nuclear family by arguing that the nuclear family doesn't suit everyone within the family unit and is more damaging than it is beneficial. The invention of primitive society : transformations of an illusion. In addition, some of the ideas of Parsons have proved to be useful to the study of the contemporary social world.
Note that these statuses need not be hierarchical as in the stratification model. Education acts as a bridge between family and society, passing on universalistic values; these are the value of achievement and value of equality of opportunity. In the following sections I shall introduce other perspectives on the family and show how they differ from the Functionalist perspective. Later, some of the socialization function became detached from the family and moved to educational institutions — or the socialization and education functions became separated. For Parsons, the role of women was key here, as will be seen in the following section on the family. Moreover, in this African context territorial divisions were aligned with lineages; descent theory therefore synthesized both blood and soil as the same. Although the functional perspective assumes the family provides its members emotional comfort and support, many families do just the opposite and are far from the harmonious, happy groups depicted in the 1950s television shows.
Further, the family gives individuals property rights and also affords the assignment and maintenance of kinship order. Note that it is a separate system, and one that cannot be reduced to aspects of the social system. Socialization is important because it is the mechanism for transferring the accepted norms and values of society to the individuals within the system. Another function in his theory is that family is there to reproduce the next generation because without this society will not be able to continue. Functionalists see society as being similar to a biological organism for example the human body. Thus functionalism is either undefinable or it can be defined by the teleological arguments which functionalist theorists normatively produced before Merton.
Critically examine the Functionalist idea that the nuclear family exists for the benefit of everyone.
In doing this, her role is also to provide for internal maintenance of the family unit. The idea is that human bodies are composed of organs and related parts, such as the heart, the brain, the skeleton, the nervous system, etc. This began with and the ideas of , , and Rousseau. At the time social order was crucial, and this is reflected in Parsons' tendency to promote equilibrium and social order rather than social change. The family is said to be not functioning as a whole and something is wrong with that family. In the process of adaptation, the environment is also affected and may be adapted to the society.
Although a liberal within the American context, Parsons used concepts and models from Weber and Durkheim to establish a sociological approach which countered the Marxian view. Where the adaptation process cannot adjust, due to sharp shocks or immediate radical change, structural dissolution occurs and either new structures or therefore a new system are formed, or society dies. Merton believed that any social structure probably has many functions, some more obvious than others. It may have held some truth in the 1950s but today, with the majority of women in paid work, and the blurring of gender roles, it seems that both partners are more likely to take on both expressive and instrumental roles 3. There have been studies done that shows a difference in the number of children wanted per household according to where they live. He proposed that such societies tend to be segmented, with equivalent parts held together by shared values, common symbols or, as his nephew Marcel Mauss held, systems of exchanges. 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.
