The family a place of instability Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

The family a place of instability - Essay Example   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   A functionalist approach to the family sees this group of people as necessary to meet the wider needs of society, functioning to create a stable and harmonious climate that enables the wider community to function effectively and efficiently. In this way, the family is considered also a haven for its members, as the positive influences this institution has on its members is able to extend outward to the external society. 20th century interactionist theory, which seeks to investigate family relations at a micro-level, echoes this focus on the family unit’s ability to protect and buffer its members form external social sphere.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Parsons describes the benefits of the family as being the socialisation of children into social norms and community values; and for the stabilisation of adult psyches that hold positions of power in Western society. The family’s stabilising influence, according to Parson’s, is due t o the division of labour within the family that enables there to be a primary wage-earner and a social sphere primary home-maker that function to reduce conflict and competition that may span into wider society. Hence, the activities and purpose of each family member serves to support and motivate the activities and purpose of other family members. Parson maintained that the changes to family structure in modern times have served as an advantage to the family.... Macionis and Plummer (2002) define a family as a social institution that can be found to exist in all societies. The function of the institution being to unite people into a cooperative group, to enable survival and raising of children, socialization of children and a regulation of the sexual activity of the people within the group. The family unit being a social group of two or more people who may be related through blood or marriage, or through adoption or by virtue of cohabitation or family by choice, and so share in the economic and social responsibilities (Macionis & Plummer, 2002).A functionalist approach to the family sees this group of people as necessary to meet the wider needs of society, functioning to create a stable and harmonious climate that enables the wider community to function effectively and efficiently (). In this way, the family is considered also a haven for its members, as the positive influences this institution has on its members is able to extend outward to the external society. 20th century interactionist theory, which seeks to investigate family relations at a micro-level, echoes this focus on the family unit's ability to protect and buffer its members form external social sphere.Parsons ( ) describes the benefits of the family as being the socialisation of children into social norms and community values; and for the stabilisation of adult psyches that hold positions of power in Western society (). The family's stabilising influence, according to Parson's, is due to the division of labour within the family that enables there to be a primary wage-earner and a primary home-maker that function to