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Outline and Evaluate the Functionalist View of the Role of the Family in Society (33 Marks).

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Outline and evaluate the functionalist view of the role of the family in society (33 marks).
Murdock, a functionalist, describes the family as a universal institution based on the nuclear family model. The functionalist view of the role of the family in society is that it maintains social order. The family is a tool for socialisation and a key social institution in sustaining the value that society works by consensus.

Murdock identified four main functions of the family: sexual, reproductive, economic and educational. These four functions cover the role of the family in society. The sexual and reproductive functions are what keep society populated. If they became dysfunctional then society would not have the people inhabiting it. The economic function is the parent’s responsibility to take care of their family financially, usually through the division of labour where the man will take on the instrumental role of financial provider for the family while the woman will adopt the expressive role and take care of the home and family members. Marxists would contest this viewpoint arguing that the division of labour is capitalist dogma used to control the labour force and stop them from developing consciousness. The final function identified by Murdock was the educational functional, this is function where the family learns how to be socialised. It is this function that maintains the value consensus which allows society to remain functional. This is a key role of the family to functionalists if this function is not carried out appropriately then society will become dysfunctional. The weakness in this argument is that it can be seen that functionalists adopt too much of an idyllic view of the family and that while some hindrances may occur it may not necessarily result in a dysfunctional society.

Another functionalist, Parsons, agreed with Murdock’s educational function. He stated that one of the main functions of the family was the primary socialisation of the children this is to equip them with the norms and values they need to succeed in society. If they are not successfully socialised they will not fit the value consensus and will not be able to function in the society. Parson’s view of socialisation is focused only on the education of children, this could be criticised because he ignores the two-way interaction between parent and child. Parson also identified one other function of the family, this was to stabilise the personalities of its adult members, providing them emotional security.
March of progress theory is a theory identified by the functionalist Fletcher. It is the theory that the role of the extended family has become less important. Those extended families broke off into their own isolated nuclear families because they are more mobile and could move to the new opportunities offered from industrialisation. Also, that the need for the extended family has become less apparent because of state provisions such as education and healthcare.

Overall, the functionalist view of the family in society is that of maintaining the harmonious society of the day. A key factor in that is socialisation this is important in creating the value consensus that is needed to keep society functioning. The role of the family can also be seen to be populating society and being the guideline for sexual relationships of its adult members. Although they are a criticisms and weaknesses to the functionalist view of the family it can be seen that the family does operate under the functions identified by functionalist thinkers and therefore the view can be seen as accurate.

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