Functionalist View Of The Family: Critically Evaluating The Work Of A Child
ssay on Family
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The question is to outline and critically evaluate the functionalist view that the typical family unit is nuclear. The other part of the question is to critically evaluate the work of Willmott and Young that suggests that the family is becoming increasingly symmetrical.
In defining the symmetrical family according to Willmott and Young, males and females are becoming equal within the family. Willmott and Young also stated that there are three stages in becoming a symmetrical family.
The first stage is the pre-industrial family, which is a unit of production consisting of a husband, wife and unmarried children. The family worked for themselves on the land as a unit of production. This is …show more content…
Factory production replaced the domestic system and such families ceased to be a unit of production and focused more on the individuals employed as wage earners.
During the nineteenth century there was high unemployment and widespread poverty amongst the working class.
Stage three families began in the early 1970’s. This is a new emerging family called the symmetrical family. It is egalitarian and democratic. The conjugal bond between husband and wife is strong and they share their work and time around the home. The nuclear family has become a large self-containing and self-reliant unit. Wives still have the main responsibility of raising the children with a little help from their husbands.
Women started a network of support in order to help each other and their children during hard times. This extension of network was done to cope with poverty by creating an insurance policy and support. The bond between married daughter and mother became closer and the conjugal bond between husband and wife became weaker.
A survey carried out by Willmott and Young in the 1950’s showed that stage two families still exists in Bethnal Green. There is still a strong bond between mothers and daughters. (Haralambos and Holborn,
Yesterday, 22:02 in: Essay samples
The question is to outline and critically evaluate the functionalist view that the typical family unit is nuclear. The other part of the question is to critically evaluate the work of Willmott and Young that suggests that the family is becoming increasingly symmetrical.
In defining the symmetrical family according to Willmott and Young, males and females are becoming equal within the family. Willmott and Young also stated that there are three stages in becoming a symmetrical family.
The first stage is the pre-industrial family, which is a unit of production consisting of a husband, wife and unmarried children. The family worked for themselves on the land as a unit of production. This is …show more content…
Factory production replaced the domestic system and such families ceased to be a unit of production and focused more on the individuals employed as wage earners.
During the nineteenth century there was high unemployment and widespread poverty amongst the working class.
Stage three families began in the early 1970’s. This is a new emerging family called the symmetrical family. It is egalitarian and democratic. The conjugal bond between husband and wife is strong and they share their work and time around the home. The nuclear family has become a large self-containing and self-reliant unit. Wives still have the main responsibility of raising the children with a little help from their husbands.
Women started a network of support in order to help each other and their children during hard times. This extension of network was done to cope with poverty by creating an insurance policy and support. The bond between married daughter and mother became closer and the conjugal bond between husband and wife became weaker.
A survey carried out by Willmott and Young in the 1950’s showed that stage two families still exists in Bethnal Green. There is still a strong bond between mothers and daughters. (Haralambos and Holborn,