This
theory deals with the family as a social institution which perform important
functions in society. The structural – functionalism perspective sees the family
doing its part by preparing its members in a way that will benefit the society.
These are: good behaviour, attitudes, beliefs, values and norms. This however,
will vary according to the family type. The family is like a body or system and
each member performs a function and each function performed is different and
vitally important. The members in a family typically the nuclear family are
interdependent everyone depends on each other for the proper functioning of the
system. Example the heart is dependent on the lungs and brain for the body to
function properly. With the structural –functionalism perspective if one part or a
person is not doing its or his/her part then it is said to be dysfunctional.
The family is said to be not functioning as a whole and something is wrong with
that family. The family performs four main functions namely: sex,
socialization, promotes economic support and procreation.
In the nuclear family according to the
structural –functionalism perspective the father has the instrumental function as
the breadwinner and the wife or mother plays the expressive functions example
the homemaker. I can a test to this as growing up in my family of origin that
is the family I was born in, my father would go out and work and my mother
would stay at home wash, cook, clean and be there to talk to us when my brother
and I had a bad day. This theory was developed back in the days when the man
should be providing for the household and as such they did not see the gender
inequalities and other issues such as freedom of choice. However, today all of
this has changed as we now have mothers going out to work and fathers being the
stay at home dad. This I see in my community as my neighbour is the stay at
home dad where he takes care of the house and the baby whiles his wife goes out
each morning to work.
The Structure Functional Perspective
ReplyDeleteThe family in my view does not perform certain essential functions for society. I think that the family performs all necessary essential functions of the society. Every society does not function the same but, Institutions in different societies will perform all the necessary functions to keep the survival of that society based on the beliefs, values, attitudes and norms that are accepted by each individual society.eg in the American society both male and female can walk with their swimwear in our society we can only wear them on the beach.
The needs of each society are met based on its structural form and the way in which it is organized. However I think the organization of each structure may not expose every family to the needs provided and so we see an imbalance in the way of life of different families when we compare them.
W Goode (1965) gives his disposition as is. “In order for the Pre-Industrial Societies to function essentially the whole kinship group had to come together to perform most social and economic functions” this is true because most jobs were performed manually.
With the growing rate of the world’s population, innovation and technology was the only answer to provide mans basic needs of food clothing and shelter. Although the many functions formally performed by the Traditional Extended Family no longer exist, different family members can be seen working in factories, shops etc. performing the same jobs the whole kinship family perform during the pre industrial days.
Hence it is evident that the industrial/ modern society is superb because its structure has caused decentralization in families, as compared to the preindustrial society which was centralized and as a result there was monotony and boredom.