Functionalists have always talked about the idea of the typical nuclear family, with two parents who are involved in a heterosexual relationship and their children and it has always been believed that this is to be society's ideal norm family for the general benefit of all involved. Murdock defined the family as "A social group characterised by common residence, economic co-operation & reproduction. Murdock argued that the family performs 4 basic functions these are sexual, reproduction, economic and socialisation. He believed that without these functions society would breakdown. He suggested that the nuclear family is such an important social institution, playing such vital functions in maintaining society that it is found in some form in every society. However although most societies in the world have some established arrangements for the production, rearing and socialisation of children this does not mean that these arrangements always involve the prime responsibility resting on the family.
However there have been criticisms of Murdock suggesting that in his passion for his work he may have been caught up in the fact that there may have been other institutions within society, which can perform various functions of the family that he describes as being indispensable
Parsons stated that the nuclear family performs two core functions; the primary socialization of children, and the stabilization of adult personalities. Parsons argues that the women's role in the family is 'expressive', providing warmth, security and emotional support to the husband and children, and the males’ role is 'instrumental', as the breadwinner. This view of the family and gender roles for men and women is quite old fashioned. Nowadays-conjugal roles are more symmetrical. Women can now be wage earners and it no longer seems deviant for men to take a role in childcare and the domestic chores.
However there have been many criticisms of Parsons. One is the fact that he idealised the nuclear family. He portrays this image of the family as having well adjusted children and sympathic spouses who care for each other's needs. Whereas functionalists say that the family meets the needs of society by socialising children into shared norms and values, which lead to social harmony and stability.
One of the developments of that has come out of society is the single parent family which has doubled over the last 20 years. There is evidence to show that there is higher rate of divorce in Britain today than there used to be. The reason in postmodern perspective of the rise of divorce could be that the people have more choices about their life, as well as more choices to choose their job due to the increase of production and application of advanced technologies. Children from lone parent families tend to grow up quicker as they have more adult responsibility, which can cause problems when defining their role in life. In feminist view, it is because today the women are more equal to men, as their life is no longer dependent so much on men and they can divorce more freely.
In conclusion it seems as though functionalists see the family as a crucial institution for maintaining the smooth running of society. However the nuclear family still remains the norm in British society but not in the conventional way that it used to. Many nuclear families today have symmetrical conjugal roles with both the man and women going out to work. The conventional nuclear family seems to have almost disappeared with only 24% still remaining in the old ways while the symmetrical nuclear family of the modern society still seems to be the norm with over 50% of the population living within one. Though the nuclear family is no longer as powerful as it used to be. Is this because now divorce is easier, than it used to be in industrial times and women are no longer as depended on men so no longer need to stay in loveless marriages. However the single parent families are becoming a larger part of society today after doubling over the last 20 years and one main reason for this is supposedly that women now have control and our able to divorce more easily. The government now provides single parents with benefits and even houses so are actually making it easier for people to separate. This raises the question, should divorce be so easy or is it better that people live in loveless nuclear families?