Assess the Contribution of Functionalism free essay sample

Functionalists view the family as an institution that is present in society to maintain social order and stability. Functionalist’s also view society’s functions very similar to that of the human body. The Brain in the human body is the organ that controls all other functions. In Society the Government is the main control over the country as a whole. The heart of the body is what keeps the body alive. In society the family is the heart. Overall if the family and heart is taken out, the body and society would collapse and die. Although both of these have necessary back-up systems, the society has the Army, Police services and Laws if the government should collapse. And the body has immune systems and antibodies to fight of any infections and diseases. Family is seen to be the key to society because it means reproduction to keep the society functioning. We will write a custom essay sample on Assess the Contribution of Functionalism or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page According to Functionalists the only family that would mean perfect functioning of society is the Nuclear Family. The nuclear family consists of a working man, a housewife, and children. The man is the breadwinner, he earns the money that the wife uses to buy food and necessities to help keep the family together. Functionalists views of this concept believe that heterosexual couples, adopted children and divorces do not fit into the smooth running of society. Murdock (1949) states that ‘The nuclear family is a biological necessity because it is universal’. What he means by this is that the main reason that reproduction of children is a necessity to society is because it is world-wide, it is happening everywhere and it can be found in all societies. Murdock also says that there is 4 key points. Stable Satisfaction of the sex drive (Less promiscuity), reproduction, primary socialisation and economic needs. Parsons extends on Murdock’s theory with the warm bath theory. This theory is based on how the family is seen to be a stress reliever. The man arrives home from work and is expected to be presented with a meal cooked by the wife. The family home is supposed to be a relaxed stress free environment for the man to wind down after a long day at work. Parsons also developed the functional fit theory which means a given family will fit the needs of the society in which it is found, for example, the extended family is only usually found in the pre-industrialisation period (according to Functionalists). And the Nuclear Family happens in the industrialisation period. The Nuclear Family is seen to be geographically mobile, higher wages also means socially mobile, and they are able to move up the social ladder. Parsons also adds to his theory the loss of functions; stabilising adult personalities and primary socialisation.

The One Thing Needful Essays

The One Thing Needful Essays The One Thing Needful Paper The One Thing Needful Paper Hard Times is a poignant novel, published in 1854, by Charles Dickens and set in the bleak and dreary workhouses of the Victorian era. Hard Times is in many ways an autobiographical novel. It is based on Dickens own experiences as part of a poor family whose father was in prison for debt. All of the family except for Charles were sent to a workhouse while he worked in a blacking factory in appalling conditions. Although his was a story of rags to riches following the publications of his bestselling novels, he continued to voice his concerns for social problems in Victorian British society. Hard Times is one of the several novels that explore the lives of the poor and working class, who, despite making up the majority of the population, had little or no say in improving their lives. As Britain wound through the Industrial Revolution, producing machinery that had no need for manual labour resulted in hundreds of thousands migrating to the cities in the hope of finding a job- a source of livelihood. These migrants usually ended up in the workhouses, again in manual labour and almost always living in abject poverty. Their children ended up going to school with an education described in detail in the first few chapters of Hard Times. In brief, the children were forced to learn facts by rote the only principle that the Utilitarian masters considered of value. It was their belief that for children who were destined to live lives of misery in poverty, the only thing useful for them would be to become efficient workers. As a result, the childrens education followed the same monotonous, formal and mechanical process like their work in the factories. In Hard Times, Dickens criticises the educational system fiercely, and illustrates his dislike through a wide range of linguistic and other devices. The first chapter named The One Thing Needful has little narrative content but it paints an intense dramatic picture of the harsh teaching system and the mechanical figure of the Speaker who is more of an object than a person. Hard Times is divided into three parts; the first part is named Sowing, the second Reaping and the third Garnering. This extended metaphor is used by Dickens to introduce the sowing of facts as seeds into the fertile innocent minds of the children even though the hard facts seem to yield nothing. However, the Speaker is forceful as he insists on, plant nothing else, and root out everything else, to mould the childrens minds. The image of rooting out illustrates a forceful and painful action in the readers mind. Despite the motif of nature and plants, Dickens paints an austere and insensitive atmosphere as the scene comes into view: a plain, bare, monotonous vault of a schoolroom. The visual imagery emphasizes Dickens belief that no creativity could flourish in a place so dreary. In this scene the Speaker is instructing the school teacher how to teach which adds to the irony and confusion. The description of the Speaker, whose character is summed up as, inflexible, dry and dictatorial, verges on the comical as Dickens uses repetition to emphasize the rigidity (squareness) of the Speaker and therefore the educational system. As the Speaker is depersonalized, the objects around him become animate including his tie, trained to take him by the throat with an unaccommodating grasp. From sowing to strangling, hard times are literally foreshadowed ahead through this unsuitable education. Moreover, Dickens uses exaggeration to the point of making his characters into caricatures. The emphasis was helped by the speakers square wall of a forehead, which had his eyebrows for its base, while his eyes found commodious cellarage in two dark caves, overshadowed by the wall. The Speaker, to the reader looks more like a dull piece of architecture than a person. In fact, the way in which Dickens makes caricatures is an argument in itself against the facts of Utilitarianism.