However, Murdock did not consider that the family may have a detrimental affect on members of the family as he seemed to assume that all families are harmonious and do not have any arguments or problems. He also overlooked alternatives to the family and how they might be better at some of the functions than the family itself and therefore minimise the importance of the family.
The Functionalist theory does not consider that the modern situation and success of institutions other than the family has decreased the importance of the family and the functions it performs. For example, the role of education is now limited to only children under the age of five, as schools provide the majority of education for the younger members of the family from that age to adulthood. Reproductive functions of the family have also been limited because it is no longer necessary for a family to have both parents to create a child. This could be because of promiscuity or artificial insemination. Finally, economic support within the family has also been reduced because the government provides benefits for Old Age Pensioners, the unemployed and pregnant mothers, meaning that a family does not need to support itself financially to survive as there are other options.
Talcott Parsons considered how industrialisation and advances in technology and social morals have changed the functions of the family and he claimed the families functions were now limited to just two functions. Firstly is ‘primary socialisation’, he believed that parents taught their children from an early age what was socially accepted and normal behaviour in public. Primary socialisation also includes teaching the foundations of language. The second function is to stabilise adult personalities, children often have similar personalities to their parents so it is safe to assume that they learn these personalities. An example of children learning to behave as they have observed from a young age is a young boy called Horst, who was left alone in the care of a female dog who had recently had a litter of puppies taken from her. His alcoholic parents eventually realised that he behaved more like a dog than a human.
Ronald Fletcher disagreed with the view that the functions of the family are minimal, he claims that the families functions have only become more detailed and specified than before. Parents are expected to encourage and tutor their children from a young age to give them a better chance at the start of life and therefore help them to get better occupations. Although the family is no longer solely responsible for the health of its members, Fletcher stated that institutions have served to provide information for parents that make them preoccupied with their children’s health. Finally, he suggested that a family no longer produced goods t sell and support itself with, but it is an important consumer that helps the economy in general.
In conclusion we can see that the family no longer has the same importance as an individual unit in society as it did before industrialisation, but it is still essential in the nurture of young children and an important institution in preserving the economy instead of an individual to rely solely on the government.