Assess the Usefulness of Functionalism for an Understanding of the Family.

Parsons believed that the nuclear family is functional to society.  It is beneficial to individuals because it provides a stable environment for children to construct loving relationships.  

Historians such as Peter Laslett (1977) and Michael Anderson (1971) suggest that parsons failed to acknowledge that industrialisation may follow different patterns in different industrial societies.  Laslett’s survey of English parish records revealed that most pre-industrial societies were nuclear, not extended.  This was due to early death and late marriage.  It may have also been because children were sent away from home to become apprentices or servants.  

Margaret Benson (1972), who was a marxist-feminist, argued that the nuclear family provides the basic service required by capitalism – labour powers – by:

1. Maintaining the present workforce’s physical and emotional fitness through the wife’s domestic labour.  
2. Reproducing the future workforce at little cost to capitalist class.

She argued that capitalism essentially has two labour powers (husband and wife) for one wage.  The nuclear family acts as a stabilising force in capitalist societies, because workers find it difficult to withdraw their labour power if they have families to support.  In 1976, Fran Ashley suggested that men may attempt to compensate for the lack of power and control in the workplace by exerting control within the family through domestic violence.  

Kate Millet (1970), a radical feminist, argued that men originally acquired power over women because of biological factors.  Women who were frequently pregnant could not make the same contribution to the workplace as men.  She suggested that modern technology has now taken away this power from men, by introducing things such as contraception.  However, patriarchy remains in place because of ideology.  Both men and women conform to their stereotypical gender roles, with the man being the breadwinner, and women being the housewife.  This ensures men’s domination in the workplace.  However, some people would say that this idea is dated and does not take into account the recent rise of feminism in the workplace.