How does the family relate to wider social change, and what do different perspectives say it is for?
The relationship of the family to the social structure and social change, including functionalist, Marxist, feminist, New Right and personal-life perspectives on the family and industrialisation.
A focused answer to the AQA A-Level Sociology Families topic on family and social change, covering functionalist, Marxist, feminist, New Right and personal-life perspectives, and the relationship between family structure and industrialisation.
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What this dot point is asking
AQA wants you to compare perspectives on the family (functionalist, Marxist, feminist, New Right and personal-life) and explain the relationship between family structure and social change, especially industrialisation. A strong answer sets the perspectives against one another rather than describing each in isolation.
Functionalist perspective
Murdock, studying many societies, argued the family is universal because it performs four essential functions: sexual (regulating sexual behaviour), reproductive (the next generation), economic (meeting needs such as food and shelter) and educational (primary socialisation into shared norms). Parsons argues that as society industrialised the family "lost" functions to specialised institutions, leaving two "irreducible functions": the primary socialisation of children and the stabilisation of adult personalities (the family as a "warm bath" that relieves the stresses of work).
Marxist and feminist perspectives
- Marxists see the family serving capitalism. Engels linked the rise of the monogamous nuclear family to the need to securely inherit private property (men needed to be sure of paternity). Zaretsky argues the family cushions workers (the "warm bath") and is a key unit of consumption that absorbs the goods capitalism produces. The family also reproduces labour power at no cost to capitalism.
- Feminists argue the family serves patriarchy and benefits men. Liberal feminists see gradual progress towards equality; Marxist feminists see women reproducing and servicing labour power (and absorbing men's anger, Ansley's "takers of shit"); radical feminists (Delphy and Leonard) see the family as a site of direct male exploitation; difference feminists stress that women's experiences vary by class and ethnicity.
New Right and personal-life perspectives
The New Right (Murray) defends the traditional nuclear family with a male breadwinner and clear gender roles, treating it as the natural and best family form. It blames lone parenthood, divorce and welfare dependency for crime and underachievement. Critics call this a moral panic that ignores diversity and the realities of poverty.
The personal-life perspective (Smart) takes a "bottom up" approach, rejecting the grand theories' assumption of a single family type and studying the relationships and connections people actually find meaningful.
Industrialisation and family structure
Functionalists argue industrialisation caused a shift from the extended family (useful in pre-industrial farming) to the isolated nuclear family (mobile and suited to industry). Young and Willmott describe stages from the pre-industrial family through the early-industrial extended family to the modern privatised, symmetrical family. However, Laslett found nuclear families were already common in England before industrialisation, and Anderson found the extended family remained useful during early industrialisation (in Preston, for mutual support), both complicating the neat functionalist story.
Exam-style practice questions
Practice questions written in the style of AQA exam questions on this dot point, with worked answer explainers. The year tag is the paper they imitate, not the source.
AQA 201820 marksApplying material from Item B and your knowledge, evaluate the functionalist view of the role of the family in society.Show worked answer →
A Paper 2 (Families) 20 mark essay across AO1, AO2 and AO3.
Outline the functionalist view: Murdock's four functions, Parsons' two irreducible functions (primary socialisation, stabilisation of adult personalities) and the fit thesis. Apply the item.
Evaluate: strengths (explains why the family is universal and what it does for society and the individual) against Marxists (the family serves capitalism), feminists (it serves patriarchy and men), and the criticism that it is rose-tinted, assumes one nuclear family type, ignores diversity and the "dark side" of family life.
Markers reward a clear account, multiple perspectives and a justified conclusion.
AQA 202110 marksOutline and explain two ways in which the family may benefit capitalism.Show worked answer →
Two developed paragraphs, no item (Marxist).
Way one: reproducing and maintaining labour power. The family reproduces the next generation of workers and, through unpaid domestic labour (Zaretsky's "warm bath"), restores workers each day so they can return to exploitation, at no cost to capitalism.
Way two: a unit of consumption and inheritance. The family is encouraged to consume the goods capitalism produces (keeping up appearances), and the monogamous nuclear family secures the inheritance of private property (Engels), passing wealth down the ruling class.
Markers reward two distinct, developed ways with named Marxists.
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Sources & how we know this
- AQA A-level Sociology (7192) specification — AQA (2015)