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Assess the Contribution of Functionalism to Our Understanding of the Family

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Submitted By alice777
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Functionalist sociologists believe that the family is important; a key institution in society as it performs vital necessities for each member within it and maintains order and stability within the community. According to Murdock and his study of 250 societies, the family provides the reproduction of the future generations and passes down vital norms and beliefs learnt for the future however another Functionalist, Parsons, argues that the family is affected by industrialisation and demands a geographically mobile workforce. Parsons also claims that the family allows the socialisation of children and the stabilisation of adult personalities, therefore passing down these values and beliefs to be able to function within civilization.
Therefore, the young members of the family are taught to abide by the rules the family has and not consort to any delinquent behaviour. However, there are many criticisms towards the Functionalist view of the family. Marxists believe that, among families, there is no consensus and that society is based on inequality between the two classes, the bourgeois (ruling class) and the proletariat (working class). 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, contrasting the view of Functionalists. According to Marxists, Functionalists ignore the negative side of the family and only focuses on the positive effects. Although Murdock and Parsons believe the family to be a ‘ haven’ to return to after work, Marxists such as Engels and Zaretsky claim it to be an illusion and that the problems and stresses of the parents, grandparents and children alike are caused at home as well as the workplace and other institutions. The Functionalist view ignores this and fails

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