Criticisms of the family

Overview

Loss of functions and Fletcher's reply, isolation from kin, dysfunctional families, Laing and Leach, Oakley on housework, marital breakdown, domestic abuse and Dobash and Dobash, and Chester on family decline.

What you need to know

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Questions from this subtopic

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1. 1

   What is meant by the family's loss of functions?

   Model answer

   Parsons argued that specialist institutions, such as schools and the NHS, took over many functions families once performed. Families lost roles such as production, education and health care, keeping only their core functions.

2. 2

   How did Fletcher (1966) challenge the idea that the family has lost its functions?

   Model answer

   Fletcher, a functionalist, argued the family's functions have grown in importance rather than disappeared. Parents now take more responsibility for children's health, education and wellbeing, alongside the welfare state.

3. 3

   Why is the nuclear family said to lack contact with the wider kinship network?

   Model answer

   Geographical mobility for work and education moves nuclear families away from their extended kin. Willmott and Young (1957) found families moving from Bethnal Green to a new estate became more isolated.

4. 4

   What evidence suggests families still keep in touch with wider kin?

   Model answer

   Willmott (1988) described a ‘dispersed extended family’ that stays in contact despite living apart. Phones, video calls and cars let relatives offer help without sharing a household.

5. 5

   Define a dysfunctional family.

   Model answer

   A dysfunctional family is one that fails to meet its members' needs, for example through conflict, neglect or abuse. Critics of functionalism argue such families show the family does not always benefit its members.

6. 6

   What did Laing (1971) argue about family life?

   Model answer

   Laing, a Scottish psychiatrist, argued that families can damage their members through manipulation and emotional pressure. Laing claimed some mental illness can arise from harmful patterns of family interaction. Laing's evidence came from families of people diagnosed with schizophrenia, so it may not apply to most families.

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