Assess the view that the family performs vital, positive functions for society and individual members.

The family was once described as a social group that shared common residence, consisted of at least two adults of each sex that maintained a socially approved sexual relationship and had one or more children, their own or adopted. This is a nuclear family, described by George Murdoch to be a universal family type. Although it is correct to say that nuclear families reside universally, family types now vary from single-parent families to gay headed families. Despite the variety, they contribute to…

and see diversity as having a positive impact on society. For example women no longer aspire exclusively to romantic love, marriage and children. Premarital sex, serial monogamy, cohabitation, economic independence, single sex relationships and childlessness are now acceptable alternative lifestyles. Men’s roles too are no longer clear cut in postmodern society resulting in a ‘crises of masculinity’ and this has led to men redefining both their sexuality and family commitments. Therefore Beck…

result of society identifying and labelling a phase of life. No child experiences exactly the same childhood at exactly the same period of time in their life. In turn childhood should be distinguished from biological life stages. How we treat children, expect them to behave, look and develop all vary depending on the time and place in which the society lies, therefore childhood is a social construction. One view sociologists take on childhood, is the march of progress view. This view argues that…

Assess the view that the nuclear family functions to benefit all its members and society as a whole. A nuclear family is universal and is defined as a two generational grouping; consisting of a father, mother and their children, all living in the same household. The idea of the nuclear family was first noticed in Western Europe in 17th century. The concept that narrowly defines a nuclear family is essential to the stability in modern society and has been promoted by modern social conservatives in…

PROJECT-SOCIOLOGY CHANGING STRUCTURE AND FUNCTIONS OF FAMILY: A STUDY OF INDIAN SOCIETY Submitted by Prarthna Table of Contents * Acknowledgements…………………………………………………………

Evaluate Functionalists views on the role and functions of religion today. Functionalism is a macro theory, which is based on society as a whole, rather than just that of the individual. It is argued that functionalism generates many things for society. Religion, from a functionalist point of view, socialises people, teaching them norms and values of society, which are the basis for social unity. Religion further is a structure within functionalism which aids in influencing individuals lives. Functionalism…

The Positive Effects of Families for the Society There are several different ways in which you could describe a family because there are so many different kinds. Sociologists describe a family as 'a group of people who live together (or have lived together) who are generally related by blood or marriage ties and support each other economically and emotionally' Examples of different types of families are: Ø Nuclear Families - families with two generations (usually…

Functionalist views of the role of the family in society. [33 marks] Functionalism is a structuralist theory; this meaning that it sees social structure (the social organisation of society) as more important than individuals. Functionalist sociologists believe that people have a range of basic needs that must be met if society is to run smoothly. Different groups and individuals in society are important because they perform certain functions which meet society's needs. Functionalism supports the family in…

Outline & discuss the function of families in contemporary UK society The definition of the term ‘family’ has somewhat gone through radical changes over the past few decades in the UK, some 30 years ago a family was defined as being father, mother and children. Some referred to this as the “cereal box family” as this was typically the type of family to be shown on television commercials for cereal. This stereotype is more correctly known as the nuclear family, however changes over the years has…

The nuclear family is a term used to define a family group consisting of aheterosexual pair of adults; wife and husband, and their children. It can also be known as a ‘beanpole family’ and it can be, especially in middle-class families, child-centered; child-centered is defined as being actively involved by spending lots of time together as the child's needs and wishes are the most important thing. Only 17% of families in the UK are nuclear families, and this statistic is on the decrease as it is…