Outline and discuss the view that the nuclear family is the ideal family

The New Right are keen on the nuclear family they believe that a nuclear family should be based on heterosexual adults being married and becoming parents. They feel that the nuclear family is the building block of society. They believe that the nuclear family is the ideal family because it teaches morality and discipline to the children. They also feel that it is ideal as separate roles are performed by men and women and are determined by biology. They believe that all other arrangements are deviant and a threat to society.

Feminists however disagree with the new right view as Abbott and Wallace 1992 see the New Right as a form of patriarchy. Attacks on single parent families imply that a women’s place is within the home. Other views against the nuclear family being the ideal family is that single mothers and homosexuals are portrayed as dangerous to normal society in the perspective of the New Right. Many conservative polices have harmed the family, rather than helped them e.g. cuts in education and in the provision of council housing.

Murdock also believed in the nuclear family being an ideal family. He believed this as his study focused on 250 societies and he found the nuclear family represented in every culture. Murdock 1949 claimed that the nuclear family is so useful to society that it is inevitable and universal. The family is universal fulfils essential functions for society. There are sexual which controls sexuality and provides stability for adults. There is reproductive which provides new members for society. There is also economic where the family provides for its members. The final one is educational where the family socialises the young into societies norms and values. However this is failing to consider the validity of other family structures. Interpretative sociologists tend to argue that Functionalists concentrate too much on the importance of the family to society and ignore the importance and meanings of family that individuals perceive. Murdock’s study is also very outdated and cannot contrast with today.    

Talcott Parsons stated that the nuclear family was the ideal family structure. He said that there were to irreducible functions of the family. These are the primary socialisation of the family and the stabilisation of adult personalities. The primary socialisation of the children is where children learn to accept the value the norms and value the norms and values of society and gender roles. Gender roles are taught to the daughter by the mother who shows an expressive role suited to the emotional and caring aspect of the family. The father teaches the sons discipline and to become a breadwinner this is known as the instrumental role. The stabilisation of adult personalities is where the family gives adults the emotional support necessary to cope with stresses of everyday life. However this study was carried out in the 1950s so is now rather outdated and cannot be applied to the structure of society today as there are so many varied family types.    

Feminists do not find the studies into the nuclear family representative as the two Functionalist views above were compiled by men and this seems that there is male stream view on the family. The studies are male dominated which is criticised by feminists.

Chester 1985 has accepted that women were increasingly making a contribution to household finances by taking paid employment. Robert Chester offers a more contemporary view that is supportive of the nuclear family. He said “most adults still marry and have children; most children are reared by their natural parents. Most people live in a household headed by a married couple. Most marriages continue until parted by death. No great change seems currently in prospect”. However diversity theorists like the Rapoports argue that the variety of family forms is much greater than Chester suggests. They see a new era of choice and diversity and argue that it is increasingly acceptable to form alternative households and families.

William Goode added to the functionalist view in a study of family trends throughout the world entitled World Revolution and Family Patterns, 1963. His basic thesis was that there is a worldwide trend towards a monogamous nuclear family structure. Goode argued that there was a universal trend towards the Western model of the nuclear family because like Parsons, he saw this is an integral part of the global expansion of industrialisation.

Ronald Fletcher was broadly in agreement with the Functionalist approach, disagreed with the view that the functions of the family in advanced societies had diminished. He listed the modern functions of the family such as a regular sexual behaviour and caring for dependent members, whether young or old.

The functionalists do however only look at the good points of the family and dismiss the dark side of the family. Child abuse is a factor of the dark side if the family 7% of children experience serious physical abuse at the hands of their parents or carers another 3% by another relative. This shows that the nuclear family is abusing its members and is not working out. 11% of children experience sexual abuse known and related to them. This shows that the sexual function in Murdock’s work is not staying between the Mother and Father and is being moved to the children to reach the Father’s sexual desires. Domestic violence is also present in the nuclear family which is now breaking this type of family and forming the lone parent families and re-constituted families. 1 in 4 women experience domestic violence in their lifetime according to Elizabeth Stanko. This also shows that the nuclear family is not ideal as there are arguments between parents and this does not teach appropriate norms and values to the children through socialisation.

Overall the Functionalists believe that nuclear family is ideal in terms of the older more traditional nuclear family such as the studies above e.g. Murdock and Parsons. However there are other views such as Chester that understands that over time there is change and the women can take a more active role within the family. The Marxists and Feminists however believe that it is not an ideal family as it doesn’t include other forms of family that are now more recognised in the contemporary UK. In the nuclear family the women are seen as workers for the men and do not have much control which is not accepted by Feminists as they believe that there should be equal roles within the families. They believe that that family is based on patriarchy and that the family is one of the main sites in which men oppress women.