Talcott Parsons Functionalist Perspective On The Family

Outline and evaluate Functionalist views of the role of the family in society. [33 marks]

Families can be referred to as complex units linked by strong emotional bonding. The way the family members interact and the way the whole family group relate is known as family dynamics. The dynamics among the family members are influenced by the family’s traditions, emotional interdependence, communication style and behavioral patterns. There are different types of families, and different family structures. Examples of families include, nuclear families which have, a father, mother and children and extended family which have the nuclear family, and other family members living together, for

to of have ignored that in a number of families (this tends to be a

Family Structure has a monumental impact on identity, both on a personal and social level. The traditionalist family structure, being that of a nuclear family has proved to stand the test of time and continues being the most common family structure. The continuity of this structure

Talcott Parsons’ (1956, pg. 309) believed that “the nuclear family is a social system” which consists of a straight married couple and around two to five children, “can be distinguished, and does function as a significant group” (1956, pg.308). Parsons believed that the family benefitted society in ways such as the teachings of gender roles and the overall structure of society: the male going to work and being the breadwinner, while the wife stays at home and cooks and nurtures the children. After the Second World War, the nuclear family was the most common type of family making the structure easily “distinguishable”. However, when we look at the postmodern society, we can see that there are many different types of families nowadays such

First, according to Macionis (2004) the term family is defined as a social institution found in all societies that unite people in cooperative groups to oversee the bearing and raising of children. Same author also discusses several theoretical approaches have been identified that identifies the family as a form of social institution and how the family unit interconnect with other social institutions within any given society. According to the Structural-Functional Analysis for example, the family serves as a unit that perform many vital tasks

The Usefulness of Functionalism for an Understanding of the Family The Functionalists see the family as an important and vital institution in society. They take a MACRO view and look at interdependence between the family and other organisations. Functionalists look at the positive parts to society but overlook the negatives. They emphasise on the value consensus and see the family as being universal.

The functional perspective of the family by Murdock and parsons, the functionalist perspective has focused on the functions of the family in society, it looks at how the family, as a whole, help in maintaining order and stability in society, and the significance of the family for its individual members. Two well-known functionalists who have written about the family are George. P. Murdock and Talcott Parsons.

Eveyone's family is shaped diffeent, and functions differently The first major one is marital arrangements of a family, that is the number of persons each sex is allowed to marry. This includes monogamy, which is one marriage, and polygamy which is two marriages. There are also sub catergories that includes polygyny, which includes multiple wives, polyandry, which include multiple husbands, and cenogamy, which is a group marriage. the household arrangements of a family is the expected household composition including marital units and blood. There are two major houseold arrangements of a family that most of us fit into. The first arrangemnet would be a nuclear familty. A nuclear family coud either be intact, childless or incomplete. In an intact family the memebers of the family include a husband, wife, and children. In a childless family this includes a couple without children. In a incompletee family, for example this would be a widower with a child. some would say that the nuclesr family is more intimate then a compounded family because nuclear family are more monagomous and conjugal, but that is not always the case. But it is safe to say that the nuclear family is the norm in all societies today, because family comes in all different shapes and sizes. The other type of household arrangement is a compounded family arrangement. This

Every family is different and the same in their own way. Everyone functions with different roles and plays a part in how it functions on the day to day. While some people don’t put much thought into it, Dr. Murray Bowen has. ‘Dr. Murray Bowen suggests that individuals cannot be understood in isolation from one another, but rather as part of their family.’ (GenoPro) Eight concepts are

There are many types of families; the most common family group is a nuclear family consisting of two adults of both sexes whom are in a sexual relationship, with children either biological or adopted. They must cohabitate in the same house hold and share income or domestic tasks to some extent. Then there are extended families, an extended form of the nuclear family. The extended family consists of kin and other various relatives. Another version of the extended family is the local extended family

In society family is regarded as an important social institution and the foundation of an individual's social interaction. When anthropologists and sociologists talk about family they refer to two concepts: structure and function. Structure refers to the number of individuals in a family and their position such as mother, father, son, daughter, grandmother, uncles and cousins. An example of a structure is the nuclear family which is made up of two generations, the parents and the children. While the extended family is made up of a least three generations, the grandparents, the parents and the children including members from both sides of the family.

There are many forms of families around the world. The structure of these families are influenced by the culture around them. Family is defined as "two or more people related by blood, marriage or adoption. The family may take many forms, ranging from a single parent with one or more children, to a married couple or polygamist spouses with or without offspring, to several generations of parents and their children” (226). There are many functions of the family unit around the world.

A family is the single most influential factor in the life of an individual. Being in a family brings with it support, relationships, connections, and love that is rarely found anywhere else in a person’s life. However, families are not all the same. Each individual family structure is unique when compared to the next. When looked at from a general perspective there are two main groups of which families fall into.

Functionalist looks at society on a macro level. It is a consensus theory and structuralists prefer to use functionalism as it agrees with their ideals and models and they prefer to look at society as a whole. Functionalists are interested in studying what family is most functional.