Children are born into their parents’ social class, race and ethnicity, religion, and so forth. One reason for this is to ensure that infants have adequate emotional and practical care when they are born.įourth, the family provides its members with a social identity. The family is the major unit for teaching these norms and the major unit through which sexual reproduction occurs. All societies have norms governing with whom and how often a person should have sex. Third, the family helps regulate sexual activity and sexual reproduction. It provides them food, clothing, shelter, and other essentials, and it also provides them love, comfort, and help in times of emotional distress, and other types of support. Second, the family is ideally a major source of practical and emotional support for its members. Parents, siblings, and, if the family is extended rather than nuclear, other relatives all help socialize children from the time they are born. In most societies, the family is the major unit in which socialization happens. No society is possible without adequate socialization of its young. As such, the family performs several important functions.įirst, the family is the primary unit for socializing children. A functional understanding of the family thus stresses the ways in which the family as a social institution helps make society possible. Recall that the functional perspective emphasizes that social institutions perform several important functions to help preserve social stability and otherwise keep a society working. Family problems stem from different understandings and expectations that spouses have of their marriage. Wives and husbands have different styles of communication, and social class affects the expectations that spouses have of their marriages and of each other. The interaction of family members and intimate couples involves shared understandings of their situations. The family can also be a source of conflict, including physical violence and emotional cruelty, for its own members. Family problems stem from economic inequality and from patriarchal ideology. The family contributes to social inequality by reinforcing economic inequality and by reinforcing patriarchy. Family problems stem from sudden or far-reaching changes in the family’s structure or processes these problems threaten the family’s stability and weaken society. It socializes children, it provides emotional and practical support for its members, it helps regulate sexual activity and sexual reproduction, and it provides its members with a social identity. The family performs several essential functions for society. Table 10.1 Theory Snapshot Theoretical perspective
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