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'Functionalist accounts of the family underestimate the extent of strain and exploitation in family life'. Discuss.
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'Functionalist accounts of the family underestimate the extent of strain and exploitation in family life'. Discuss. The functionalist theory is one based upon 'consensus'. This structural theory places more emphasis on the social structure rather than the individual. "No such thing as society, only individuals that shape society" Margaret Thatcher George Murdock (1949), after a cross-cultural study of 250 families, found that each and every Family has four universal functions in every society. These core functions of the family are sexual, reproductive, economic and educational. Murdock argues that every family needs these vital four functions in order to stay 'healthy' and in balance. Six years after Murdock made his doctrine, Talcott Parsons (1955) implemented upon his ideas for a modern industrial society. Parsons believed that the family had lost some of its functions due to changes in society and technological advances, yet they specialised in functions which were retained throughout the course of time....
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