TopicObjective Functionalist Views of the Family Starter Activity
Topic/Objective: Functionalist Views of the Family Starter Activity: Say What you see. LEARNING OUTCOMES/ KEY QUESTIONS ALL E-D Outline Functionalist Views of the Family – Using Key Words MOST B-C SOME A-A* Compare and Contrast Murdock, Parsons and the New Right Critically evaluate these perspectives KEY WORDS Value consensus Socialisation Functions Organism Industrialisation
What word does this picture describe? What does it mean?
Functionalist • Argue that society is based on a value consensus: – Set of shared norms and values – Allows individuals to cooperate harmoniously to meet societies needs and achieve shared goals • Society is made up of parts that depend on each other e. g. the family, education system and the economy • Often compared to a biological organism
What similarities can you see between society and an organism such as the human body? What differences are there between the two?
• Look out of the window • Describe the view from an ENVIRONMENTAL point of view • Describe it from an ARCHITECTURAL point of view • Describe it from a FUNCTIONAL point of view
Functionalist View http: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=k. IKs. Q 127 BWM http: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=ls. KDdk. D_ 1 GY
Point to discuss: Is there such a thing as an ‘ideal’ family type?
Summary Activity – Use Key Words below to summarise the Functionalist view Murdock - Four Basic Functions Parsons -Functional Fit Industrialisation – Nuclear Family Geographical Mobility Social Mobility Expressive and Instrumental Roles Two Irreducible Functions Specialised functions.
If these are the answers – what was the question? Murdock 4 functions Parsons Functional Fit Pre-industrial society Industrial society Socialisation Instrumental Role Expressive Role Warm bath theory Value Consensus Social Mobility Geographical Mobility
Critique of Parson’s – Quick Questions • Can primary socialisation be provided by anyone other than family? • Are families always a warm bath? • Can one-parent families fulfill these functions?
Recaps 1. What were Murdock’s four functions of the nuclear family? 2. What are the two irreducible functions of the nuclear family according to Parsons? 3. What does Parsons mean by theory or ‘functional fit’? 4. Why did Parsons believe that the geographical mobility, required by industrialisation, broke apart the extended family? 5. Why did Laslett criticise Parson’s ideas about the pre-industrial extended family?
1. Sexual, reproductive, economic, educational 2. Stabilisation of adult personalities and primary socialisation of children 3. That the dominant family type of the pre-industrial (extended) and post-industrial (nuclear) periods are the best suited to meet the needs of society. 4. Because it made sense that only immediate family members went – space was often limited. 5. Laslett said the nuclear family was actually dominant before industrialisation, because people had children later, and died earlier, so grandparents were rarer.
• The pre-industrial family was multifunctional • The post-industrial family was more specialised
Strengths • 1. This approach shows how a part of society can work at two different levels - both fulfilling the needs of each________ and meeting the needs of the whole ______ at the same time. • 2. It provides a very ________ view of society. • 3. Functionalists show each of the parts of society are ________ , each contributing to the ________of the whole. • 4. This approach stresses the great ________ of the family as the basic of society. • 5. The family is seen as very important in passing on the _______ • and _________which are universal in society.
Weaknesses • 1. The approach is too _________. It suggests that family life is always good and happy. • 2. It therefore tends to ignore the ________ and _________ stressed by Marxists. • 3. By stressing the idea that the _________ family is universal, this approach ignores other types of household and seems to assume that they are _______. • 4. It does not consider the ways in which functions may be performed by other • _________, rather than by the family. • 5. Feminists are critical of this approach because it assumes that gender ______ are fixed, ignoring the _________ that have taken place.
Word • • • nuclear society institutions inadequate conflict positive well-being importance values roles harmonious • • • individual exploitation interrelated changes norms unit
New Right (1980 s – Onwards) Conservative Commentators. Similar to Functionalists Critical of Single Parents Children need a male and female role model. Men should be breadwinners and women homemakers. Single parents cost too much in welfare benefits.
New Right – The Underclass • Includes long term unemployed, welfare dependents and single parents. • They fail to socialise their children properly.
- Family Diversity Is family diversity good for society?
Modernism or Post-Modernism? Write what you think the difference is on a post-it and stick it to the door.
Modernist Theories • Functionalism & The New Right Q) What do we know about their opinions of the nuclear family and gender roles? Modernist theorists take a structural view, seeing society as a structure! - Macro Sociology
The traditional nuclear family is best where man and wife have clear roles. The break-down of the family and the rise of family diversity is the cause of many social problems such as high crime rates and educational failure.
“Quite frankly, I don’t think that mothers have the same right to go out to work as fathers do. ” - Conservative MP Pat Jenkins
Activ ity What would a New Right writer say about: Same-sex couples Lone Parents Cohabiting Parents Increase in divorce Gay or Lesbian couples adopting / IVF Family Diversity
Activ ity Create a political poster from a ‘New Right’ perspective highlighting the dangers of increasing family diversity.
However! • Oakley – Nuclear Family maintain patriarchal oppression! (Family Diversity is GOOD!) • No evidence of the ‘dependency culture’. • Family breakdown can be good!
Neo-Conventional Family Chester – what do we already know? Activity – Draw you and your family in 15 years time, label with names and ages. Most people still aspire to the nuclear family. People live in other family types as part of the ‘life course’.
The Rapoports (1982) – 5 types of Family Diversity Society has become very diverse. Many people now live in one of five diverse family types. Organisational Cultural Social Class Life stage Generational
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