Theories on Nuclear Family - Essay Example

? Nuclear Family By Henry Nabea Summary Nuclear family is a family made up of father, mother, and their children. It is undoubtedly one of the most common forms of families in the modern world. But what is its relevance in the modern world as a sub-system of the larger system of our society? This is the question that this paper seeks to answer. To achieve this end, the paper analyzes and critiques various theories/perspectives on family. These perspectives are: the Functional perspective on the family, the Marxist perspective on the family, and the Feminist perspective on the family. Nuclear Family Nuclear family is a family made up of the parents and their children. In the modern world, nuclear family is, actually, the most common form of family. But what is the relevance of nuclear family? Why is this form of marriage so common in the modern time? In answering these questions, scholars in Sociology are deeply divided on the relevance of the whole institution of the family as a social institution, with some scholars viewing family as an indispensible social institution, while others dismissing it as an oppressive and unnecessary social institution. This paper, therefore, delves into these questions focusing, specifically, on the nuclear family. To achieve this end, the paper explores and critiques various family theories/perspectives. But, before, we analyze each of the family theories, it is good to first give the definition of a family. Just as there are differences among scholars on the relevance and role of family in the contemporary world, there are also differences among scholars on the definition of a family. The differences in definitions of a family rise not only from the fact that there are different forms/types of family, but also, due to the fact that different people have different conceptions of a family and they give definitions depending on how they conceive family. While the functionalists view family as an indispensible social unit comprised of parent and their children, or parents, children, and their close relatives, the Marxists view family as a capitalistic social unit comprised of parents and their children, or, parents, children, and close relatives. But despite these differences in the conceptions of a family, all the scholars are agreed that family is a social unit made up of people who are related ether through blood, marriage or adoption. The functionalist perspective on the family/New Right perspective The functionalists conceive society as a system comprised of numerous sub-systems, and among this sub-systems, the family, i.e. the nuclear family is the most basic sub-system of the society. Murdock (1949) views family as the building block of a society. Murdock outlines four basic functions of the nuclear family that serves both the individual members of the society, and the society as whole. To begin with, nuclear family provides an avenue for the satisfaction of the sexual drive. In the nuclear family, the married couples have exclusive sexual relationship and they are expected to fulfil the conjugal rights of each other. Through this kind of relationship, the sexual desires of married couples are met, and this has an advantage to the whole society for it helps to prevent sexual promiscuity in the society. This makes society more orderly and stable. The second basic function of the family is reproduction of the offspring. Through family, children are born in a stable family where they experience love from both parents, and this helps children in their emotional and psychological development. This ensures the continuity of the society. The third function of the family according to Murdock is closely related with the second function. The third function of the family is that, it is the family that children are socialised into the values and norms of the society. And this socialisation is done effectively by all members of the family. This socializing serves the whole society for it ensures that the family has responsible members who share common values and norms. The fourth function of a family is that the family meets the economic needs of all its members. This also is good for the whole society, for it ensures that the economic needs of all members of the society are well taken care of. Some of the criticisms levelled against Murdock’s four functions of the family include, the claim that, all the four functions of family that Murdock mentions can be played by other social institutions, it is not family only that can play these functions. But in reaction Murdock argued that the family is the most effect institution to play these roles. Also, the feminists criticised Murdock for presenting family as a perfect institution devoid of any form of exploitation, the feminist argued that family is an institution where women are exploited by men. Murdock did not, also, evade the criticism of the Marxist family theorists, who criticized Murdock’s family view for overlooking the inequalities in a family. For the Marxists, family is a capitalist based institution. Still on the functionalist view of the family, Persons views the functions of a family as being defined by the society’s lifestyle (Nebb et al, 2008). A change in the lifestyle of a family, especially a change in means of productions results in a change of the structure of the family, and a change in the roles of a family. In the pre-industrial era, the main form of family was the extended family, simply because the main mean of production was working in the farms to earn a living. But in the modern times, the mean of production has changed and people now work in factories and offices. This has resulted in geographically mobile work force and socially mobile workforce. This in turn has made extended family lifestyle almost impossible and people have now embraced nuclear family which fits the modern lifestyle. The Marxist perspective of the family While the functionalists views all the sub-systems of the society as contributing something good to the whole system that is the society, the Marxists views all the sub-systems of the family as furthering the interests of the capitalist system. And, with the nuclear family being one such sub-system of the society helps to promote the interests of the capitalist system. And as a social unit serving the interest of a capitalist society, a family has the following function. First, as a social sub-system, the family helps in the transfer of the means of production from the father to the children, mostly male children who have the right of inheritance in many cultures. Through this kind of arrangements, men remain perpetually the owners of the means of production, while women remain as a source of cheap or free labourers, and this explains the dominance of the women by men in many cultures- it is simply because it is men and not women who own the means of production. This dominance and exploitation of women by men can be reversed through empowering women and enabling them to own means of production. The second function of the family according to the Marxists is ideological. The very set-up of the family allows conditions children to be submissive when they grow up. As a capitalist social sub-system, the nuclear family has all the structures of a capitalist system. In the nuclear family, the father of the family in many societies is the owner o the means of production. The mother and the children serve as the labourers. Children brought up in this kind of set-up, therefore, will have no difficulty of fitting in a capitalist society. The family, therefore, serves a pivotal role of promoting the capitalist ideology. The family, also, serves as a unit of consumption in a capitalist society. This is because the products produced by the owners of the means of production finds a ready market in the family. The owners of means of production make huge profits by selling the products produced by the labourers at a much higher profits than they pay the labourers. And, as an effective method of marketing their products, company’s often targets the family and in many advertisements the main target is the family. This in turn, makes the family the main consumer of the products produced by the owners of means of production. The family, therefore, serves to enrich the owners of means of production more and more. The criticisms directed against the proponents of Marxism include the following. First, the Marxist are critiqued for assuming that the nuclear family is the dominant form of family in many capitalist societies, while in fact, there many forms of families in capitalist societies. Also, the feminists critique the position of the Marxists for assuming that the family serves the interests of the capitalist only, while indeed, the family serves the interests of men and exploits women quite a lot. There is gender inequality in a nuclear family. The functionalists on the other hand criticize the position of the Marxists for denying the fact that, there are, indeed, benefits of a nuclear family. The functionalists contend that the benefits of the family to both the individuals and the society at large are too important to be ignored and overlooked. Feminist Perspective of the Family Just like the Marxists, feminists have a critical perspective of family. The main criticism of the family by the feminists is due to the fact that, in many cultures of the world, there are inequalities in the division of labour and it is women who are assigned many responsibilities while men have very few responsibilities. Also, feminists cite violence against women as one of the reasons why they think that the family is exploitative towards women. But there are many types of feminism, but here, I will explain the position of only three types of feminism. Liberal feminists advocates for end of discrimination against women on any ground, and to achieve this end, they advocate for proper legislation of laws that would ensure that women in the family or elsewhere will not be discriminated against on any ground. The second group of the feminists, i.e. the Marxist feminists, views capitalism as the main cause of suffering for women in the family, than the men. In this regard, they argue that in a capitalist society, women perform a lot of either unpaid or cheap labour, for instance it is women who socialize and nurture the next generation without getting any payment for the work. Also, in a capitalist society women ‘cools men down’ when they, men, get agitated by the oppressions of capitalism, and in this process, they become objects of men’s anger and frustration. This leads to violence against women. The last group of the feminists are the radical feminists who views nuclear family as being built on patriarchy. Radical feminists contend that men benefits from women’s unpaid labour and free sexual services, and in return men subject women to physical and sexual violence. As a solution to exploitation of women by men, radical feminists advices a complete overhaul of the family set up, where women would find a way of living together without men. This will deny men any opportunity of exploiting women. One of the criticisms directed against the position of the radical feminists is that, radical feminists are not realistic and they assume that women can live happily without getting attracted to men. This assumption makes the radical feminist’s view seem unrealistic. References Fortes, M 1950, Ashanti Kinship. In A.R. Radcliffe Brown. African systems of Kinship and Marriage, Oxford University Press, London Goody, J 1983, The development of the Family and Marriage in Europe, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge Murdock, P 1949, Social Structure, Macmillan Co, New York Nebb, K, Westergaard M, Irobe k, & Steel l 2008, Level Sociologogy, Napier Press, Brentwoood Read More