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Describe and evaluate functionalist theories of the family. Functionalists compare the workings of society to the human body. This is referred to as an organic analogy. This implies that society works just as a human body does, as each institution works interdependently on each other creating a somewhat smooth process in which small problems may occur. One of these institutions is the family, which functionalists believe controls the members of society in order to maintain consensus and order. Functionalists believe the family to be the primary agent of socialization (i.e. the learning of norms and values). American functionalist Talcott Parsons (1955) contributed greatly to the functionalist view of the family. He believed that the family encountered a significant change after industrialisation which resulted in a decline of extended families. Parsons said this was because families had to become smaller to make it more practical for families to be geographically mobile...

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