The social stigma that is still sometimes attached to loan parents may be the cause of the functionalist view, which defines certain social institutions such as the Nuclear family as ‘normal’ and others ‘deviant. Functionalists believed that the family unit had many functions. They believe that the nuclear family with two parents and dependent children living together in a home in relative isolation is ‘the’ family form in western societies therefore they are against single parent families and think that they are a matter of public concern
Crow and Harley are two sociologists who studied lone parents. They believe that even though lone parents share certain material and social disadvantages they are not a collective group therefore they have no effect on society as a whole. This has been criticised as to say a lone parent family has material and social disadvantages means that they are a matter for concern.
Charles Murray a new right thinker, believes that the over generous welfare states are the catalyst for the large number of lone parents. He believes that the lone parent family would have been scarcely a viable economic unit if it were not for the welfare state and that the numbers of lone parent families have contributed to the emergence of the underclass. Criticisms have been made of Murray’s theories, it has been said that Murray should have been more careful in utilising official statistics.
In a study carried out by Mack and Lansley titled “Poor Britain”, it found that there are certain factors which can predict the risk at which a person or family is, from poverty. It found that couples are 10% likely to be in poverty, couples with children are 19% likely to be in poverty, but an astounding 50% of lone parents are at risk of poverty. As mentioned previously, women are much more likely than men to be lone parents and therefore more likely to be in poverty than men. This is because married women are less likely than married men to be working, therefore if the marriage breaks up, the lone parent is left with no source of income. This gives evidence that lone parent families have become a matter for public concern.
In conclusion, I think that in no modern society has the lone parent family replaced the nuclear family, and even though the numbers of lone parent families have increased over the last ten years they are not becoming a concern for the public as the government is helping them and this type of family as most types of families is a clearly functional unit.
