Structural Functionalist Marriage

Structural Functionalism aims to understand society in an objective way. It views society as an entity that is “objectively real”. It emphasizes the unity of society, and how individuals perform roles and how these roles are vital in meeting the needs of the collective whole. For instance, because every society has stratification, stratification must have certain functions and these functions can contribute to the survival of the social system as a whole. Furthermore, structural

These ideas are an interpretation of what society views as concepts of marriage. One of the things I found to be interesting in the above list was the absence of the word love.

One of the strengths of Functional-structural perspective is positive about society. The theorists believe that the family

Moreover, Societies are held together by both consensus with values and coercion. The functionalist view is that the balance of harmony among the society is held up by societal institutions. For example, schools, church and family are seen as the most significant foundation for an adequately functional society.

As the movie begins, a structural functionalist would identify the social institutions involved. One of the first institutions introduced is family. The spouse of Chris Gardner is not satisfied with the amount of income coming he is earning. It is clear that the institution of family is not meeting the needs of happiness and financial stability because of the low income. The institution of family interrelates with many others, such as the education institution and especially economic institution.

The Structural functional theory is focused on the gender roles of a family. The female is the homemaker

‘The family performs important tasks that contribute to society’s basic needs and helps perpetuate social order.’ (Anthony Giddens 2006 - Page 238) Functionalists believe a family’s paramount purpose is to raise and support their children within society.

Functionalists view social policies as generally positive if they support the traditional nuclear family. They say that the Welfare State takes the pressure off the family in ways such as, education and healthcare, which allows them to focus on the key functions of the family such as, primary socialization and childcare. Feminists would disagree with Functionalists, as they argue that some social

Another concept views the Family as a Component of Society, this structural-functional theory addresses the family on a broader scale in terms of their contributions, needs and successes like other social systems (eg., educational and healthcare system (p.90, 2003).

Functionalism looks at society in aspects of how it contributes to the steadiness/cohesion of the whole society (Anderson, Taylor, & Logio, P. 18). There are many institutions that are looked at that include the economic system, government, education, religion, health care, and family. All of which have different roles and perform different functions to ensure that society operates in a well-ordered manner. An example of this would be how family reproduces, takes care of children, exposes children to culture and heritage, supports other family members, and shares life experiences. Shared values and social stability are keys to this perspective. When this system breaks down it is because people’s needs are not being covered and shared values are deteriorating. When this occurs, it affects all parts of functionalism and the society must achieve

In the topic of divorce, it seems as if the functionalist perspective explains it well. Most of the people get a divorce because they are unhappy within the marriage. If the couple continued to be married it could cause more problems such as affairs, theft, depression, etc., therefore ruining the society’s stability. Both individuals would be happier and there would be fewer dysfunctional families. Through the functionalist perspective, the idea of divorce is

The simplest and most basic foundation of a sociological civilization or group begins at the core center of sociology; which is marriage and the inner-fabric creation of a family. It is said that matches are made in heaven, however finding and defining your “soul mate” differs from one social group to the next. The social institution of marriage changes and adapts consistently through time, religious practice, and national beliefs. Many people believe they lead happy and satisfying lives without a marital partner, as others highly value and desire a life-long marital partner as the pinnacle achievement of their life.

The functionalist’s perspective does not pay attention on agency, it covers macro social analysis. It does not take into consideration the individual’s feelings, it just assumes that lovers settle and fit in their positions as expected in the societal norms.

Structural functionalism is a macro level approach to study sociology (Browning, 2015). Structural functionalists believe social consensus is what holds society together; social consensus being a condition in which most members of the society agree on what would be good for everyone. Structural functionalists view society as a web of social structures, each structure being functional to fulfill it’s own needs, but dependent on all other structures for survival (Vago, 2012).

As a functionalist view, they believed that the family had to teach the norms and values so they believed that the ‘Traditional Nuclear Family’ was the best type of family. Functionalists believed that the husband and wife have segregated