Modernist view

functionalist view - parsons:

• Nuclear family is suited to meet the needs of modern society.

• Allows for geographical and social mobility.

• Performs 2 functions of primary socialisation and stabilisation of adult personalities.

• Considers other family types as dysfunctional, abnormal or deviant due to their less effective ability to perform the functions required of a family.

New right:

• against family diversity - opposed to cohabitation, gay marriage and lone parents.

• Nuclear is the only correct family types.

• Believe in traditional family roles based on biological differences.

NR - Murry:

• lone parent families are harmful to children and are a cause of many social problems.

• Lone mothers cannot discipline their children properly - poor socialisation.

• Boys are left without a father figure to act as a role model - leads to educational failure, delinquency and social instability.

• Lone parent families are likely to be poorer and therefore more likely to depend on state benefits - being a burden on the welfare state and taxpayers.

NR - Benson:

• Main cause of lone parents is collapse of cohabiting couples.

• Benson found that over the first 3 years of a child’s life the rate of separation and family breakdowns was higher for cohabiting couples than for those married.

• New right believe this suggests only marriage can provide a stable environment to bring children up in.

• Benson argues couples are more stable when married as marriage requires a commitment to each other and a responsibility - rate of divorce lower than rate of breakup in cohabiting.

NR belief of broken society:

• only traditional values such as marriage can prevent social disintegration and damage to children.

• Laws such as easy access to divorce or gay marriage undermine the conventional family.

• Gov need to encourage couples to marry through policies.

Criticisms of New Right:

• Feminist Oakley - NR wrongly assumes that the roles of husbands and wives are biological. Cross cultural studies show variation in the roles men and women perform.

• Feminists argue the conventional family is based on the patriarchal oppression of women and is a cause of gender inequality.

• There is no evidence that lone parent children are more likely to be delinquent compared to those brought up in 2 parent households.

Chester - neo conventional family:

• there is increased family diversity - however he does not see it as a negative.

• The Neo-Con family is a dual-earner family where both partners go to work.

• Argues most people aren’t choosing to live in nuclear family alternatives long term.

• Most people not living in a nuclear family were either living in one previously or will live in one in the future.