Outline and Evaluate the view that nuclear families benefit individuals and society

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Outline and Evaluate the view that nuclear families benefit individuals and society.

There are various, contrasting views about nuclear families, one being how it could benefit individuals and society. A nuclear family consists of a father, mother and at least on child. Some sociologists, such as; Murdoch (1949) had claimed that family was a 'universal institution' this is a functionalist view, however Marxists feminists believe they meet the need of capitalists. I will explore different ways in which nuclear families benefit individuals and society itself.

Sociologists have been divided upon the issue regarding nuclear families; Functionalists stress the positive aspect of family. In particular, they focus on the positive role of one particular family type: the nuclear family. Murdoch (1949) claimed the family was a universal institution. He studied 250 societies and found the family, in some form, was present in all of them. This suggests that families are necessary in some way, whether it be for societies to survive, for individual well-being, or indeed both. Functionalists view a society as a set of inter-connected, interrelated institutions all working together and contributing to society. However, in functioning for society functionalists maintain that the family is also