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'Asses the Functionalist view of the Family.' Functionalists talk about society being like a human body. The organic analogy incorporates the ideas of a system to emphasize the mutual dependency of the major institutions in society. Functionalists see the family as the basic and most vital institution in society, just as the heart and the brain are the most vital organs of the body. They therefore see the family as changing and responding to the needs of society. They argue that most pre-industrial families existed in patriarchal extended family structures an example of this is Irish families in rural areas in the 1940's. Basically this meant that the landholder dominated his wives and children. Functionalists therefore argue that the nuclear family developed as a result of industrialisation. Functionalists see society as a social system made up of interrelated and inter-dependant institutions. Whereby the overall function of these institutions is to maintain...

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