Evaluate Murdocks view that the nuclear family is universal

by jaimeanne2005gmailcom (student)

Evaluate Murdock’s view that the nuclear family is universal

According to Murdock, the nuclear family is the basic, universal form of family and is defined as “a social group characterised by common residence, economic cooperation and reproduction. It includes adults of both sexes, at least two of whom maintain a socially approved sexual relationship, and one or more children, own or adopted, of the cohabiting adults”.

In most western societies, the nuclear family has been found to be a common family type. Murdock studied 250 societies, with varying cultures and social class and found a wide range of family types, yet found that the nuclear family, with a husband, wife and one or more children, was most seen. At the end of the study, Murdock concluded that the nuclear family is a “universal social grouping” and was a key feature of almost all societies.

However, in non-western societies like the Nayar in southern India, Gough found the nuclear family to be more uncommon. In most families, men and women are polygamous, and families are matrifocal, as the men are mercenary warriors who don’t partake in raising children. Offspring of one common ancestress live under a single roof, including the families of the offspring. Each woman has her own room in the house and husbands would visit one at a time at night and leave in the morning. Compared to Murdock’s definition of the nuclear family, the typical family in the Nayar is very different, with cohabiting parents and common residence not being a part of the societal norms for families. This shows that the nuclear family is not completely universal.

In another non-western society called the ...

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In another non-western society called the Ik, families are also different to the nuclear family. The Ik are a society in the mountains of North-East Uganda, on the border of Kenya. During a 1955-56 study, research found that the Ik were people forced into individualism to survive, due to severe famine and drought. They were found to have a disregard for familial bonds, which often lead to the death of children and elderly people who were too weak to survive. Whilst the Ik still have socially approved sexual relationships, they also lack other qualities from Murdock’s definition of a nuclear family, namely economic cooperation and common residence, meaning that the nuclear family is not common here.

In the UK, the nuclear family is much more common. In a 2020 government census, it was found that there were 19.4 million families living in the UK. In the UK, nuclear families remain the most common family type, but this is declining in the UK, as more people choose to live together before, or without, getting married. As well as this, the number of people living alone in the UK had increased by 4.0% over the previous decade. Beanpole and Extended families are the smallest percent of family type in the UK, yet are the fastest growing, having increased over the previous two decades by two-thirds to approximately 278,800 families in 2020. Therefore, whilst the nuclear family is more common, it still is not universal as there are other family types that are growing in popularity.

Despite Murdock’s belief that families are universally nuclear, research on the Ik and the Nayar show a different perspective. Whilst the nuclear family is common in western societies, other types of families are just as common in non-western societies. It is impossible to regard something as large scale and varying as family as universal, because family types will change drastically over time, as we evolve as a society, in both western and non-western societies.

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