Preview

Is the Nuclear Family Universal

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
497 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Is the Nuclear Family Universal
Is the nuclear family universal?

The nuclear family is universal in the sense that it exists as the building block and so recognises the possibilities of family beyond the nuclear structure. Such as extended families which mean three generations living under one roof. Polygamous family is when a man is married to more than one wife and also has children with more than one wife.
Murdock’s claimed that the nuclear family was a social group characterised by common residence. In cross cultural societies they would prove this claim wrong for example in Mexico the husband does not lift with the wife and their children and have no social contact. Also in Kibbutz children live in dormitories and not with their parents at all. Also in modern society a family can be split up by many factors such as prison. Also a very common on e now is by immigration restrictions and work.
Murdock also claimed that the family is an economic co-operation. This implies that there is a division of labour between male and female partners based on male hunters and female are the home makers. In other societies this claim would be ruled out because in Mexico the husbands gave token gifts but had no obligation to provide maintenance. Also in the Kibbutz the community share property and children are the responsibility of the whole group. Now days this claim would be proved wrong as most women have a job and also there is a domination of economic resources can occur when one partner uses family for personal gain.
Murdock also insisted that for a nuclear family the parents should be reproducing. This means that every parent should be looking after their own child. In the Trobriand Islands they have no idea of how children are procreated, this means that they are not reproducing. Also in Nayar any one of the visiting warriors may father the child, this means that any man could be fathering a child that is not his. This also excludes families who have foster children and are created by

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Powerful Essays

    Dh3N 34

    • 1243 Words
    • 5 Pages

    The image people have of a family is still the so called Nuclear family (1) popularised by sociologist such as George Murdoch(2) with parents of both sexes and one or more children with the father usually being the primary finical provider. This is no longer as common as it once was (3) and has lead to the rise of other family archetypes.…

    • 1243 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Murdock was the first functionalist theorist who studied the family. He did this in 250 different societies of different cultures; this study was done in 1949. He claimed that the family is universal and inevitable and that families exist in every society. He saw that the family had four functions occurred in every society. These functions are sexual, reproductive, economic and educational. The sexual function of the family is to establish sexual relationships whereby people have one partner who meets their sexual needs. This reduces step-relations and the number of children born outside marriage and also reduces the number of STI/STD’s. Another function of the family that Murdock saw was reproductive, this is vital to keep the human race going as it continues to create new generations which in turn, provides new work forces. The third function that Murdock saw was that of economic. This is that families provide economic support to particularly the young but this is extending as parents are paying longer to keep children. This economic function allows the economy to function successfully by instilling attitudes and values…

    • 1053 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Marxists and Feminists have criticised Murdock’s theory. They say that Functionalism ignores negative aspects of nuclear family, such as domestic violence, cheating, etc. Feminists see the family as being patriarchal and only benefits men and Marxists see the family as meeting the needs of capitalism and not the needs of the family members.…

    • 605 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Sociologist Edmund Leech (1967) defined the nuclear family as the ‘cereal packet norm’ due to often appearing in advertisements for breakfast cereals. This type of family consisted of a male provider, enhancing the patriarchy with a female homemaker, along with their dependent children, originally assumed as the ideal family by Hilary Land.…

    • 953 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The nuclear family is usually imagined as a two-parent household with two-point one children, a dog, and a white picket fence surrounding the perfect home; but how perfect is a nuclear family? In recent history, different situations have arisen and the concept of a nuclear family have diminished from the thoughts of modern families as more opportunities have opened up to allow a variety of alternative lifestyles. With the variety of family situations arising in today's society, I feel the typical nuclear family should no longer be the ideal family concept. My reasons for this is because of the amount of diverse family living situations that have risen over the past few decades, nuclear families don't have to be labelled as "perfect". Families may now consist of only one parent or two mothers and two fathers, or the care of grandparents. The thought of being in a nuclear family…

    • 707 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Seeing as in today’s society there is plenty of access to contraception couples/married couples are not having children for various reasons which has impacted the number of children being born, and therefore the decline of the traditional nuclear family. There has been an increase in marriage of 9.2% between 2006 and 2011. George Murdock, an American anthropologist, argued on the basis of his studies that the nuclear family was a universal social institution and that it existed universally because it fulfilled four basic functions for society: the sexual, reproductive, economic and education functions.…

    • 816 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    The majority of society sees the Nuclear family as 2 parents (Mum and Dad) being married and with at least one child, with Dad being the main financial contributor and Mum being the home maker as popularised by sociologists such as George Murdoch (3). This is no longer seen as common place as it once was. Children within this family structure receive strength and stability from both parents and generally have more opportunities due to the financial ease of two parents who both contribute this way to the household.…

    • 1477 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Murdock suggests the family provides four main functions that help society and its individual members. Firstly he says the family provides the sexual function, this means married adults enjoy a healthy sex life preventing from social distributions such as rape. Society can run much more smoothly from this as this means less rape crime. Secondly he says the family provide the reproductive function, producing the next generation for society. Society can benefit from this as they can take the next generation and fit them into the jobs that need filling, without any children society couldn't survive at all. Everyone in society has a role to fulfil. Doing these makes society work effectively meaning…

    • 1558 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    He argued that “the nuclear family is a universal social grouping”. Murdock also stated that the nuclear family provided a stable, permanent, heterosexual relationship between couples, that there would be strong emotional bonds between children and parents thus meaning that the socialisation of the children would be more effective. Murdock along with Talcott Parsons was a great believer in gender division, the man was the breadwinner and provided financial stability while the mother was the home maker, and provided emotional and physical well being of the…

    • 1562 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Many sociologists see the family as the foundation of society, forming the basis for social organization. Each theorist will explain this in different ways, taking different factors into account such as gender, economics, reproduction and patriarchy. Some sociologists argue that patriarchy is dissolving and relationships between husband and wife are moving away from segregated conjugal roles and towards more joint conjugal roles. Others, particularly feminists, still firmly believe that patriarchy is the main barrier to women’s freedom. By looking at the different sociological perspectives of the family, this essay will attempt resolve the debate about whether or not the patriarchal power of the husband is disappearing and relationships between partners are becoming more equal.…

    • 1899 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The nuclear family if made up of a mother, father and their children all living in the same household. This is seen as the traditional family type. In recent years, family types have become more and more diverse.…

    • 449 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Family diversity is the idea of a range of multiple different family types, rather than one dominant family type, the nuclear family. The Nuclear family is a family which entails of a Mother a Father and two children which is portrayed in various different ways to be the most suitable family structure. However in today’s society there are various alternatives from the typical family type, most commonly lone-parent, cohabitation and reconstituted. There is also same-sex couples, single parent families and multi-cultural. There has been a decrease in the number of nuclear families in the UK and an increase in various other families such as single parent families. But the raise in single parent households has to do with the increase in divorce across the UK which means that more people are left having to support their children on their own unless they become a reconstituted family.…

    • 293 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    The nuclear family is defined by George Peter Murdock as a married male and female couple raising one or more children in one household. This structure became the norm in modern society as it fulfils Murdock’s 4 functions of the family: Sexual; helps maintain a healthy and stable relationship between the parents, Reproductive; to continue the population and produce workers for society, Economic; to support the family by working in society and sharing roles between the man and woman, Education; to serve as a source of primary socialisation for children so that they may function properly in society.…

    • 545 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    life and family

    • 456 Words
    • 2 Pages

    On the other hand, the premodern era in the British society was greatly dominated by the traditionally recognized nuclear family as the main definition of a family unit. Acknowledged the perfect nuclear family, the 'cereal packet family' is where the whole family gather at the breakfast table in the morning. Structurally, the husband is the bread winner and the wife's duties include housework and childcare.(Browne K). Return to the modern era, rapidly changing times and social standards mean we must reconsider Murdock's ideology of a 'family'. Argumentatively, individuals declaring…

    • 456 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    A nuclear family is a common type of family that consists of two parent living with their biological children (immediate family), this type of family is considered the norm. An example of a nuclear family is ‘The Simpsons’. Leach calls this the ‘cereal packet’ family which is shown as the perfect family, there’s a lot of respect, care and value for each other. Although this is seen as the norm, society today is heading towards a more diverse variety of family structures.…

    • 2071 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays

Related Topics