Using information from the items and elsewhere, assess the view that the nuclear family constitutes an ideal living arrangement for individuals and society?
Using information from the items and elsewhere, assess the view that the nuclear family constitutes an ideal living arrangement for individuals and society ? I will begin my essay by looking at the functionalist perspective and how they see the nuclear family to be a positive institution within society. Then I will be raising some arguments by critics of functionalism i.e. Marxists and feminists. I will then try to sum up the perspectives and I will be adding my response. Functionalists see the nuclear family as the universal social structure. The Nuclear family consists of a Husband, Wife and their immature offspring. A key researcher of families in Functionalism is George Peter Murdock. He studies a wide range of families with a sample size of 250 different societies. From his research he concluded that taking account of the differences between societies the family still performs four basic functions in all the different societies. These are sexual (behavior / activity), reproductive (creating members in society), economical (clothing and food) and educational (manners/socialization and culture). All of these functions are essential for social life according to Murdock. Critics of Murdock suggest that in his passion for his work he may have been caught up in the fact that there maybe other institutions within society which can perform various functions of the family
Using material from Item B and elsewhere, assess the usefulness of functionalism for an understanding of the family
Using material from Item B and elsewhere, assess the usefulness of functionalism for an understanding of the family The Functionalists see the family as an important and vital institution in society. They take a MACRO view and look at interdependence between the family and other organisations. Functionalists look at the positive parts to society but overlook the negatives. They emphasise on the value consensus and see the family as being universal. Other people's outlooks disagree with this view, such as the Marxists, the Marxist Feminists and the Radical Feminists. Item B describes the way in which functionalists view the functional pre-requisites or the essentials of societies if they are to survive. Functionalists' writers such as Murdock suggest that the nuclear family is such an important social institution, that it is found in some form in every single society. In other words, it is a universal institution. Murdock based his claims on the studies he completed on two hundred and fifty different cultures Murdock also suggests that functional pre-requisites must be met to ensure that society does not 'die out'. These four pre-requisites are; sexual, expressing sexuality in a socially approved context, reproduction, where the family provides some stability for the for the reproduction and rearing of children, socialisation, where by the family teaches their
The Trials and Tribulations of being a teenager
"The Trials and Tribulations of being a teenager" When I was a little boy I was asked many times 'what do you want to be when you grow up, Daniel?' I never knew how to respond to this, so to follow the crowd I just said I wanted to be a police officer. Nowadays I have a more mind-boggling answer, but I am still as confused. If I was asked today what do I want to do with my life, I'd say 'live it don't plan it'. The teenage years for me have brought with them the mishaps of mischief through to the traumas of tragedy. 'Being a teenager'. It sounded daunting when I was about ten, it was like your whole life was going to change and you were going to become this totally different person. It turns out that my views and my appearance have changed dramatically, but underneath the teenage exterior I am still the same boy struggling to fit in to a very modelled society, like I was five years ago. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that I don't enjoy life and the freedom and flexibility that being older and wiser gives you, (some might disagree about the 'wiser'). It's just that when others use that freedom to bring the credibility of your age group down, and there is nothing you personally can do, it is very frustrating. If you try to oppose without support you look stupid, nobody takes any notice and you haven't achieved anything. Whereas if you do find support for your
What is Sociology?
What is Sociology? It may be that you have an idea that sociology is 'about' people. And you would be right to think so. We might start then by noting that sociology is one of the human sciences and as such it is a subject to be distinguished from the so-called 'physical sciences'. Sociology is the study of humanity. However this description of sociology is only partially correct. To say that sociology is about people and humanity is not enough to distinguish it from the other subjects in the human sciences. For it is equally the case that Psychology, Social Policy, Economics and Social History, amongst others, are all in some sense about people and humanity. Thus the fact that sociology is about people and humanity gets us only part way along the road to a full definition of the subject. We might also suggest that sociology is 'about' society. This helps in so far as it adds another component to our full definition. But again it is not enough to fully define the subject. For all of the aforementioned human sciences are not only about people and humanity but about society too. Sociology is also concerned with human culture. A provisional definition of culture used by sociologists is that of ' a way of life'. Sociology has always concerned itself with the study of culture and this would fit in with what we already know about sociology; namely it the study of people in
What is sociology?
What is sociology? ________________ A lot of people ask the question- what is sociology? That is not an easy question to answer. It is easier to say what sociology is not. It is not social work, social policy, an easy option nor is it just common sense. Although some would argue that sociology is enjoyable, it is as intellectually demanding as any you will study. Sociology is built up of two strands- theoatrical and empirical. This theoatrical approach covers a range of views on why society is the way it is, how they influence the individuals and the groups that live within it and vice versa. In sociology there are different competing arguments about the key issues and can be impossible to define which of the two is ‘right’. Some theories are based on assumptions that people live together in societies to benefit from the advantages rather than fending for oneself. Other theories include that society since industrialisation is based on the conflict between the powerful and the powerless. Another view is focused on the power relationships between men and women and the fact that men usually have more power over women. Some sociologists have begun to suggest that we are moving into a period where grand ideas are challenged and found undermanned. Empirical sociology refers to real research done on what is actually happening in society or what has happened in the past.
What Is Terrorism?
TERRORISM WHAT IS TERRORISM? It is a process of creating terror (horror) in an individual or in a nation about a particular thing or to achieve an illegal thing by force. FACTORS INVOLVE IN TERRORISM There are many different factors, which cause terrorism - Frustration 2- Extremist Nature 3- Corrupt Judiciary 4- Uneven Society - FRUSTRATION A single person or a group of people who are frustrated are always read to take any kind of chance to fulfill their mental desire or to achieve their goal by hook or by crook Such frustration is one of the greatest factors in causing and promoting terrorism. 2- EXTREMIST NATURE People with extremist nature are the key factor for terrorism. Extremist nature in a person is and abnormality whose cure is very tactful and polite, but a person in that kind of situation got a destructive company then he may be tamed in any direction such a process is known as brain washing. This technique is mostly applicable on young people and a person washed never knows whether he is doing right or wrong. 3- CORRUPT JUDICIARY In a society where law and order is only applicable on poor and rich or a resource full person can easily get rid of any trouble by using his money or resource. Such a society also gave rise to terrorism. People who are frustrated from courts decision and police stations they start thinking to make laws of their own,
What is Crime?
Jamal Al-Sarraf May 21, 2002 Sociology Mr. Finlay Crime is one of the aspects of human society that can't be changed. Since the dawn of time man has always committed crimes against society. Crime is what shows what a culture's values beliefs are, and how they react to certain "deviants" to their society. In order to fully understand how people live and work together, one must also examine the "deviants" of a particular society. Crime is what makes us human, without it there would be no such thing as a "society" because every person within in a society is somewhat of a "deviant". To fully understand what crime is and how it affects society one must examine why people commit crimes and for what reasons and how they can affect the society in which they live. Without crime, no society could exist, because all societies have deviants. Crime can relate to sociology in many ways. If one would look crime as a function it would clearly be labeled as a dysfunction because it goes against what society has branded as "good". Looking at crime from a conflict point of view would label crime as a conflict between the working class against the upper class, who are trying to keep things the same. This is stated in the Communist Manifesto "The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles" (Socioweb.com, Karl Marx). There would be an infinite amount of ways
