Examine the view that 'successful families need two loving heterosexual parents'.

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Examine the view that  ‘successful families need two loving heterosexual parents’

This statement represents the view that the typical family is a nuclear family; that is: 2 generations of parents & children living together in 1 household, & legally married, and that the nuclear family is the ideal.

Murdock claimed that the nuclear family is universal and for any society to exist four basic functions [functional requisites] must be fulfilled. These are

  • Reproduction – to produce the next generation.
  • Sexual – to control sexual behaviour, to prevent conflict between adult males over women.
  • Socialisation – to prepare children for their wider social roles.
  • Economic – to survive economically the male acts as breadwinner & the female as carer.
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Functionalists would say these are essential for social life, since without the sexual and reproductive functions, there would be no members of society, without the economic function, life would cease, and without education [socialisation] there would be no culture. Human society without culture could not function.

       

Not all families fit Murdock’s definition of family. There are examples of ‘social arrangements’ or ‘families’ that contradict Murdock’s definition.

One example being the ‘new world black family’. Generally these families are Matrifocal and mother-centred and consist of a woman and her dependant children and do not include an adult ...

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