How do functionalist views contribute to our understanding of the family? Tjhis essay discusses the functionalist viewpoint of many sociologist shuch as Murdock’s four main functions of the family and Parsons’ ideas about primary socialisation and development of personalities.
As Item B stated, the functionalist viewpoint of the family is that the family is a vital ‘organ’ in maintaining the ‘body of society. Functionalists suggest that the family has several responsibilities placed on it; these are the functions it performs in society. These functions are mainly based around the family’s role in preparing children for the adult world, and with satisfying the family’s …show more content…
At its most basic, economic means providing food and shelter for the child. This shows commitment and the children depend on this for their health and wellbeing.By being workers, families help the economy. Reproduction referres to cildbearing occurring in a marital and family cotext in most cultures. Children hep to stabalise marital relationships and family life. Reproduction is a key function to help with the continuation of society. Sexual means that the family helps to regulate sexual behaviour within a socially approved, marital context. Socialisation is the transmission of culture to the next generation, It teaches children norms and values and acceptable …show more content…
He argues that society would cease to exist if the new generation were not socialised into accepting society’s basic norms and values. In his view, this socialisation in the family is so powerful that society’s culture actually becomes part of the individual’s personality, people are moulded in terms of the central values of the culture and act in terms of the central values of the culture and act in certain ways without thinking about it. Parsons argued that therefore, families are essentially like factories producing human personalities and only the family can provide the emotional warmth and security to achieve