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Functionalism
Functionalist views of the family
SRO 2011
Learning Objectives
To understand the view that functionalists
have of the family
To evaluate the view of functionalists
Important Sociologists:
Key terms/concepts:
George Peter Murdock
Talcott Parsons
Emile Durkheim
Functionalism
Nuclear family
Socialisation
Extended family
Pre-industrial society
Industrial society
SRO 2011
Starter
Mini-whiteboards:
As I read out a part of the human body you
need to write on the mini-whiteboard the
function that the organ carries out
What function does the family have for
society?
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How do Functionalists view the family?
Just like an organ in the human body, functionalists
believe that the family enables society to function.
Society, according to functionalists, is made up of
sub-systems that depend on each other and help
society to work. The family is the basic building
block of society which helps to maintain social
order and social cohesion.
SRO 2011
George Peter Murdock (1949)
The family performs four essential functions to meet the
needs of society and its members:

Stable satisfaction of the sex drive
 Reproduction of the next generation
 Socialisation of the young
 Meeting its members’ economic needs
Murdock recognises that other institutions could perform these
functions but argues that the nuclear family is universal (in the
250 societies he studied) because of its ‘sheer practicality’ in
performing the four essential functions.
SRO 2011
Criticisms of Murdock

Other institutions and family types can carry
out the functions
 Murdock has a ‘rose tinted’ harmonious
consensus view
 Feminists: the family serves the need of men
and oppresses women
 Marxists: the family meets the needs of
capitalism, not the needs to family members
and society as a whole
SRO 2011
Which of the following statements are
functionalist, Marxist or both?
1.It fulfils the needs of its individual members
2.It is important in socializing children
3.Its structure is determined by economic
factors
4.It provides consumers to buy goods
5.It provides a safety valve away from work
6.It fulfils its functions for society
7.It is universal and necessary everywhere
8.I has an important reproductive role
9.It keeps women under patriarchal control
10.It performs its functions
Two main functions
a. Socialisation: The family is an
integrating mechanism in society:
b. Social Order: The family as a unit of
stability:
SRO 2011
Talcott Parsons (1955)
The family can perform many functions. The functions that
it performs will depend on the needs of society. This is
known as the ‘functional fit’ theory
Pre-industrial society = extended family
Industrial society = nuclear family
As society changed, the ‘type’ of family that was required to
help society function changed. Industrial society has two
essential needs which requires a nuclear family to work:
1. A geographically mobile workforce
2. A socially mobile workforce
SRO 2011
Loss of functions
Parsons also argues that the family in modern
society has lost many of its functions as it has
become a unit of consumption only (rather
than also being a unit of production)
This means that in modern society the nuclear
family has just two essential or ‘irreducible’
functions:
 Primary socialisation of children
 Stabilisation of adult personalities
SRO 2011
Talcott Parsons

His theory has often been branded the
‘warm bath theory’ – why do you think
this is?
Criticisms of Parsons
Other sociologists and historians have produced evidence that
contradicts Parsons’ claim of the ‘functional’ fit between the
extended family in pre-industrial society and the nuclear family in
industrial society.



Young and Willmott (1973) & Laslett (1972): the pre-industrial
family was nuclear, not extended
Young and Willmott: hardship of the early industrial period gave
rise to a ‘mum-centred’ working-class extended family
 Hareven (1999): extended family not the nuclear was the
structure best equipped to meet the needs of early industrial
society
There is some support for the claim that the nuclear family has
become dominant but the extended family has not disappeared
SRO 2011
Emile Durkheim
“it is the idea that the family has varied
infinitely since the origin of
humanity…”
 The family is a moral not just
biological association
 Society places moral demands of
parents to ensure that they accept the
child into the family
 The family contributes to social
Fletcher
a. Procreation and Child-Rearing:
 The family structure provides a legitimate
arena for the bearing and raising of
children. Given the relative helplessness
of children at birth, parental nurture and
care is seen as vital - and the family
provides a solid basis for such care and
support in the early years of a child's
social development.
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Fletcher

b. Regulation of Sexual Behaviour:

Family structure serves to limit and contain "petty"
sexual jealousies and by defining the limits of sexual
freedom, the family structure limits the chances of
potentially damaging sexual relationships developing.
The family is a primary institution for the provision of
love, care and emotional support for both children and
adults. In short, it provides a sense of belonging and
serves to clearly-define role relationships between
men and women.

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Fletcher
C) Provision of a Home:

This idea expresses the assumption that
people find comfort and security within primary
social and sexual relationships. The "home"
not only provides physical shelter, it also
serves as the focal point of family existence clearly demarcating the division between
various wider-social roles, for example
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Robert Merton
Functional alternatives:
Institutions like religion and the
family can be replaced with
alternatives such as ideologies like
communism and he argued
that they would still be able to
perform the same functions in
society.
Write a paragraph explaining…
- Collective
conscience
- Social solidarity
- Value consensus
SRO 2011