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Using Material from 1b and Elsewhere, Assess the View That Marriage Remains a Patriarchal Institution. (24 Marks)

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Examining the functions of the family

(a) Consensus is a general agreement for example the functionalists sociologists see society as based on value consensus; that is, harmony and agreement among its members about basic values. (b) Two essential functions that Parsons sees the nuclear family performing is a geographically mobile workforce which is when people often spent their whole lives living in the same village and a socially mobile workforce which is constantly evolving science and technology. (c) Three functions that the family might perform are promoting social mobility to meet the needs of industrial society, promoting geographical mobility as they are better fitted to the need that modern industry has and also providing a reserve of army of female labour that can be taken on when extra workers are needed.

Essay : Using material from item A and elsewhere, assess the contribution of functionalism to our understanding of families and households.

In this essay, i will be focusing on the functionalist perspective of families and households. Functionalist believe that society is based on a value consensus which are a set of shared norms and values into which society socialises its members. I will look at both the strengths and limitations as well as the different perspectives such as Parsons and Murdock to examine the essay. Murdock argues that the sheer practicality of the nuclear family is a way of meeting four needs whereas Parsons says the family may meet more needs too for example political or religious functions. Also, the overall patterns and changes in the families and households over time according to factors such as the geographical workforce and the social workforce.

Functionalists visualise society as a system made up of different parts or sub-systems that depend on each other such as the education system, the family and the

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