Functionalist perspective

  • Based on the idea of value consensus - shared norms and values

  • Capitalism profits by selling goods produced by workers.

  • Family is a key market for these goods:

  • Advertising encourages families to buy the latest products.

  • Media targets children, who use pester power to influence spending.

  • Children without trendy items face mockery and exclusion.

  • Family helps capitalism by generating profit, not by supporting its members.

  • Society is made up of different parts or sub systems that depend on each other. These different parts have their own functions and then put together they work smoothly

Murdock

  • 4 functions of the family:

  1. Sexual - stable satisfaction of the sex drive

  2. Reproductive - producing the next generation

  3. Educational / socialisation - socialising the young int society’s shared norms and values

  4. Economic - meeting the economic needs eg food and shelter

AO3

  • Rose tinted harmonious consensus view

  • Neglects conflict and exploitation

  • Marxism - serves the needs of capitalism

  • Feminism - serves the needs of men

Parsons

  • functional fit theory

  • Functions of the family depend on the society it is found in

  • 2 kinds of family structure:

    1. nuclear family - parents of different gender and dependent children

    2. Extended family - three generations living under one roof or extremely near