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Essay On The Role Of The Family

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changed historically and internally. Family is a socially recognised group affiliated by kinship, blood, marriage, cohabiting, adoption or a combination of these for the purpose of the socialisation of children or the formation of an economically productive household. Members of the immediate family may include spouses, parents, children and siblings whilst members of the extended family may include grandparents, uncles, aunties, cousins, nieces and nephews. According to George Murdock (1949) the family is a universal institution. Marriage is a legally recognised union between two people that establishes rights and responsibilities between the spouses as well as between them and any resulting biological or adopted children and …show more content…

Also the change in legislation at government level has given women more choice and freedom. “Changes in the law over the last century have made divorce easier and cheaper to get and have given men and women equal rights in divorce” (Browne, 2011, p 124). Functionalist believe that society is based on a set of shared values and norms which socialise its members enabling them to cooperate with each other to meets the needs of society creating social order. George Peter Murdock (1949) argued that the family keeps society together and also believed that everyone in the family has a role to play. Murdock also carried out a study on 250 families and concluded that the family provides four main functions for society - sexual, social, reproductive and educational.

It is also the primary point for the socialisation of children with norms and values, stabilises adult personalities and provides emotional security. However many of Murdock’s theories were written in the 1950’s making them irrelevant to today’s family. Also Murdock did not take into consideration the negative aspects of the nuclear family such as domestic violence, child abuse, rape, divorce and ignored non-nuclear

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