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Assess The Impact Of Industrialisation On Family Life In Britain

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The idea of 'family life' in society has changed frequently throughout history in Britain, this has lead to the many differing opinions and arguments raised by sociologists. In this essay I aim to evaluate and analyse the arguments put forward by Functionalist, Marxist and Feminist theories by discussing the impact of industrialisation on 'family life' and society in general. The vast changes in women's rights, the impact of war, and the enfranchisement of women are some factors in which have influenced the structure of families throughout britain over a period of time. Each of these factors could be seen as the reason society has pushed further away from the idea of normality which is seen as the 'nuclear' family. However, In this essay I will be looking at the impact of industrialisation and how it effected family structure in …show more content…

The main idea of functionalism considers each family members purpose and the how they can contribute to the family structure, as well as this it further considers how this maintains the social system by the boundaries set upon by the family structure. (Reuben H. and Donald A. (1960).
The first main functionalist G P Murdock found there to be 4 main functions in family life; Sexual, Reproduction, Economy and Education which meant socialising young people. Following on from Murdock another functionalist Talcott Parsons with a more modern edge, believed that industrialisation meant the shift from nuclear families as society was pushed into becoming more mobile, both geographically and socially, this in turn would have altered the family structure as families moved to where work opportunities were for example instead of all the family working collectively under the one roof, women would leave the family home and pursue career in places such as schools and hospitals and men would travel to wherever had the most working opportunities. Parsons T. and Bales R.

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