Assess the Functionalist claim that the family benefits both individuals and society as a whole

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Assess the Functionalist claim that the family benefits both individuals and society as a whole.

Felicity Edholm (1992) claimed that the family was a social construction. It is an important social factor, forming a part of the structure of today’s society. The family can be said to create stability and focuses on the socialisation of the future society.

The family can often be criticised for its “rosy” appearance, meaning that it is often mistaken for being too perfect, and the dark side of the family is often not portrayed e.g. domestic violence. Marxists in general would disagree with the idea of the perfect, as they believe the family benefits Capitalism.

In 1949, Murdock claimed “The family is a social group characterised by common residence, economic cooperation and reproduction. It includes adults of both sexes, at least two of who maintain a socially approved relationship, and one or more children, own or adopted, of the sexually cohabiting adults.” This therefore meant that Murdock claimed the “Nuclear Family” was universal, and families constructed of anything other than this, were not infact families. He believes that the structure of the family benefits individuals and society in four main ways Sexual, Reproduction, Education, and Economic. As the family forbids relations outside of marriage, it stabilises the system, and prevents conflict for the individuals involved. He claims that the Reproduction factor is key in maintaining and continuing our society, as we would not exist without it. The Economic function of the family has furthered the family from being a unit of production to a unit of consumption; this supports society’s economy as opposed to self-sufficiency. Lastly, the Education function performs the primary socialisation of young individuals, and adjusts the family to the norms and values of society’s culture. Parsons also agrees with this idea.

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Parsons claims that the two main functions of the family are Primary Socialisation, and Stabilisation of the adult personality. He believes that we must learn the shared norms and values of society, and without it society would not function, as there would be no consensus (alike the Organic analogy). Stabilisation of the adult personality explores the idea that the family provides adults with a release from the stress of life, and creates a supportive home life. However this can question unstable personalities which may cause a threat to the stability of society. Parson’s argues that there should be a ...

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There are random uses of capital letters for certain words in this essay, such as “Capitalism” and “Stabilisation” which is inaccurate. I think the writer just feels that these terms are crucially important to the essay, and so feels the need to differentiate them somehow. However this importance could be best portrayed by using quotation marks where appropriate instead. A few minor grammatical issues could be rectified by adding an extra word, for example, “Marxists in general would disagree with the idea of the perfect, as they believe the family benefits Capitalism”, would make more sense if the writer had proceeded to write the word “family” after writing “perfect”. On the whole spelling, punctuation and grammar are very good, especially for a GCSE candidate.

The writer explains sociological theory in detail, and includes a range of sociologists, which shows the great extent of their knowledge. The writer also provides strengths of the Functionalist claim (for example by referring to the New Right) rather than just its weaknesses, which most candidates tend to forget to include. Marxism and feminism are also well explained as a Functionalist critique, which is impressive at GCSE level. Functionalist and Marxist key terms are used particularly well in context, “capitalist” and “organic analogy”, as well as Functionalist key concepts such as “the stabilisation of adult personalities”. This clearly shows that they have an impressive knowledge of sociology as a whole. The only key term which I felt could be mentioned is the radical/Marxist feminist concept of patriarchy (as the family is patriarchal). However this is still a brilliant essay for GCSE, and this minor issue would not diminish the overall grade awarded to this academically sound essay. The use of the term would just improve the essay to an even higher standard.

This question has been answered extremely well for a GCSE candidate. The writer has a sound understanding of Functionalism, which is evident as the essay refers to key Functionalist sociologists, explaining their theories in great detail (Parsons, Murdock). As well as using external criticisms from other groups within sociology (such as the different realms within feminism - radical, liberal), the writer provides some internal evaluation. For example, by simply stating, “Parsons also agrees with this idea”, shows that the writer can reflect on similarities between Functionalist sociologists. It demonstrates that they understand the main sociological theory that the question is addressing. However, the conclusion, although detailed in terms of Functionalism, lacks summative statements regarding opposing theories. Most candidates do tend to forget to address its critiques in this crucial section of the essay, but by referring to more theories in the conclusion than the question asks for, really would set this candidate apart from the rest of their peer group.