Component 1 Section B (Families and households): functionalist perspectives on the family, including Murdock's four functions, Parsons's functional fit and the irreducible functions, and New Right views of the family, with their criticisms.

What this dot point is asking

This statement is the functionalist (and New Right) view of the family: the idea that the family exists because it performs vital functions for society and the individual. You need Murdock's four functions, Parsons's "functional fit" and two irreducible functions, the New Right defence of the traditional nuclear family, and the criticisms that Marxists, feminists and others make. It is the consensus starting point against which every other perspective on the family is judged.

The answer

Murdock and the four functions

Murdock studied 250 societies and claimed to find the nuclear family in all of them, concluding it is universal because no other institution performs its four functions so efficiently. Critics note he assumed the nuclear family rather than allowing for the diversity of family forms actually found across cultures.

Parsons: functional fit and the irreducible functions

Parsons developed the functional fit thesis: the type of family that exists fits the needs of the society around it.

• In pre-industrial society, the extended family (multiple generations together) fitted an economy based on the land, providing labour and welfare.
• In modern industrial society, the isolated nuclear family fits an economy that needs a geographically mobile workforce (free to move for jobs) and a socially mobile one (status achieved, not ascribed).

As other institutions (the state, schools, workplaces) took over many of the family's old jobs, Parsons argued the modern family was left with two irreducible functions it alone performs:

• The primary socialisation of children, embedding the shared norms and values (the value consensus) of society.
• The stabilisation of adult personalities, giving adults emotional security and release: the warm bath theory, in which the family soothes away the stresses of work.

The New Right and the criticisms

The New Right broadly agrees with functionalism but adds a political edge: the traditional nuclear family, based on a married heterosexual couple with a clear division of labour, is the best environment for raising children and a foundation of social order. The New Right is critical of the decline of marriage, the rise of lone-parent families (which they link to welfare dependency and poor socialisation) and family diversity.

The functionalist and New Right view is heavily criticised:

• It idealises the family and ignores its dark side (domestic violence, abuse).
• Murdock's claim that the nuclear family is universal is challenged by cross-cultural and historical diversity.
• It assumes a consensus and ignores conflict and power within families.
• Marxists argue the family serves capitalism, not society as a whole, and feminists argue it serves men and reproduces patriarchy.

Examples in context

A strong answer states the functions precisely (especially Parsons's two irreducible ones), distinguishes functionalism from the New Right, and uses Marxist and feminist criticisms to build the evaluation.

Try this

Q1. Explain what Murdock meant by the four functions of the family. [6 marks]

• What the marker wants. The four functions named and briefly developed (AO1): sexual, reproductive, economic and educational (socialisation), with the point that Murdock argued the nuclear family is universal because it performs them.

Q2. Analyse two reasons why Parsons argued the nuclear family fits modern industrial society. [12 marks]

• Cue. Two developed points: industrial society needs a geographically mobile workforce free to move for jobs, and a socially mobile one where status is achieved not ascribed, each explained and linked to the functional fit thesis and the isolated nuclear family.