Functionalism

Functionalist ideas almost portray humans as being autonomous and that only socialization determines our lives. They do not really see humans as the unpredictable creatures they are, not possible to stray away from the predictable ideas that functionalist has of people. Too much stress is placed on harmony and the potential for conflict and its affects are generally ignored.

There is no recognition of difference by class, region or ethnic group. The functionalist picture is simply reflective of happy middle-class American families.

In particular with Durkheim’s work it is too optimistic and maintains the idea of social solidarity as the main theme, and simply believes pathologies can be solved through simple social reform, ignoring any problems or conflict and the affects.

Marxists argue that the modern family is organized to support and benefit the ruling class and the capitalist economy, rather than benefiting all of society. In particular, they accuse functionalists for ignoring the fact that power is not equally distributed in society. Some groups have more wealth and power than others and may be able to impose their norms and values as less powerful groups.

Feminists also criticize functionalists for ignoring male dominance that often is present in society. Furthermore, the sexual division of labor it describes is not universal, with the relative roles of women and men in modern families can be seen to be gradually changing.

Many functionalists concentrate primarily on the universal nuclear family in modern societies with the growing diversity of family types is not considered.

Functionalists have a problem explaining social change. This is because of the emphasis their perspective puts on a value of consensus created through the socialization process. Also the idea of revolutions contracts the idea of social conflicts.

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