Functionalism in Family Essay

It wasnt until I was eight-spot years old that I was fin aloney adopted. My adopted family, who I study to be my real family, taught me a lot. They help shape and mold me into the mortal that I am today. According to our class textbook, the family, in its cosmosy varying draws, is present in totally human cultures (Schaefer, pg. 306). The family is impacted by all collar sociological theories. In my paper I depart address the impact that all three of the theories. Functionalism, Conflict and Interactionism, take up on the mixer institution of family.I turn over that the complaisant institution of family is what admits us who we are. It helps to form our personality and our lives when we become adults. My family taught me how to make moral decisions in my life, how to become an self-governing individual in society and how to manage a family of my own. I evenhandedly a great deal do not follow one exact possibleness. I jibe with m any(prenominal) of the different asp ects of all three theories. The first speculation I forget discuss go forth be the Functionalist speculation. As describe by William F. Ogburn, the family is meant to perform six paramount functions as follows* ReproductionProtection * Socialization * prescript of sexual expression * Affection and Companionship * Provision of Social situation I agree with Ogburn on many of these functions. I think that the family teaches you society and how to form an affectionate family kin with someone. I also agree aroma of the main functions of a family is Reproduction. God says in the Bible that we are to be fruitful. It is our duty to reproduce to make more than beings on earth. My family also serves as a security blanket for me.I know when all else fails my family will always be there for me and take me back with no questions asked. The functionalist theory affects the military positions of an individual in a family in many ways. To me it makes them a more stable person, with mo re traditional dioramas. Functionalism does not leave too much room for social agitate within a family. Usually units of a family deem a set of touchs that they were raised on and consider the average for them. TO stray from this would be abnormal and not right. Functionalism was a strong belief years ago when things were more traditional. This was just the way of life.This theory to me would be one of the main reasons why many people are against things much(prenominal) as gay marriage, unmarried couples having babies and shacking up and unwed m opposites. On the other side of the spectrum we become the Conflict theorists. Conflict theorists view the family not as a contributor to social stability, but as a reflectiveness of the inequality in wealth and function that is found within the large society (Schaefer, pg. 292). Although I do agree with many of the aspects of the Functionalist theory, I agree with some of the points that the Conflict theory makes as well.I know for a fact when I was a child, my brother got away with murder. There were things that I couldnt do that my brother could do because he was a boy. I had a superstar who parents wouldnt allow her to go anywhere, she had to go to luxuriously enlighten down the block from her home, she couldnt go to the mall until she was 18, and she was hale to go to college near home. Going away to college was a no- no for her as far as her parents were concerned. However, her younger brother went to a High School way crossways town from their house, he was hanging out at the age of 13, and he went away to college hours from their house.Many families in many cultures slope to be male chauvinistic, and bring out about inequality amidst the sexes. This was the way of life in the United States at a time. The man was the one who went out and worked and brought home the bacon. There were things that a man could do that adult female couldnt. The man was the sole provider and the authoritarian. Nowaday s, women have just as much say so as men do. I have much power and authority in my family. My kids consider me and their step dada to be equals. We make decisions and compromises on many things such(prenominal) as the bills, household needs and the children.Although there has been great reposition in this shift of power from man to charr in a family, there are until now some situations where things have not change as much. Studies have shown that for every stay-at-home dad there are 38 stay at home moms (Schaefer, pg. 292). The struggle theory affects the views of individuals in a family because the man a sense of power and authority. It makes the women out to be subservient to her husband or to man period. It lends to situations such as Domestic Violence. I came across an article by Kathryn Yount and LiLi, it discusses Egyptian womens justification of Domestic Violence. In a study done, 5,450 women in Egypt, they found that one half justified wife hitting or beating for some rea son (Yount, 2009). It is the conflict theory that leads many women to believe and justify Domestic Violence. There is little change for social change with the conflict theory. As described in our textbook, conflict theorists also view the family as an economic unit that contributes to social injustice (Schaefer, pg. 292). Society view women as subservient and believe their role to be that of a woman in the kitchen cooking, barefoot and pregnant. Last but not least we have the Interactionalist theory.Unlike the conflict and the functional theory, this theory observes the relationship between individuals in the family and how they interact with one another. In a study of both corrosive and white two=parent households, researchers found that when acquires are more involved with their children (reading to them, helping them with their homework, or restricting their television viewing), the children have fewer behavior problems, get along better with others and are more responsible (S chaefer, pg. 293) The relationship between family elements wad determine the outcome of ones behavior.This theory provides a lot of knowledge on fixing problems in a family. My son was acting up in school and I could not figure what his problem was. When my fiancee and I became more involved with him and his work, having colli door Boy Scouts, and talking to him one on one, his behavior changed. I authoritative less and less calls from his teacher about him acting up in school. In family involvements the importance of mattering to a family in adolescence, Gregory Elliott, demonstrated that the neglect of mattering in ones family contributes to the degree of connectedness one feels to the social company (Churchill, 2010).Relationships between family members matter a lot. I have a friend who had a horrible relationship with her mother. In turns she had a bad relationship with her daughter, and her daughter has a bad relationship with her daughter. Tough love was a major problem in their situation. The Interactionist has the greatest affect on family members views. It makes one more open-minded and understanding. It leaves plenty of room for social change within a family. By studying the relationships between family members we will be able to substantiate behaviors and why certain things happen.Society will in turn change their views on family life and accept change and different forms of families. Many people find it strange that it doesnt matter to me that my kids biological farther refuses to pay child support and I still want him to see his kids as much as possible. I came across a study done by Yoshi Sano, Leslie Richards and Anisa Zvonkovis in the ledger of Family Issues. I found that Contrary to some fathers claims that mothers gate keep their access to children, the majority of mothers in the study just precious increased father involvement.The mothers desire for active father child interaction was not dampened by their frustration at the wish or irregularity of child support payment, which mothers tended to accept given the lack of economic opportunities in rural communities (Sano, Richards, et. al, 2008). I believe that out of all three theories interactionism teaches one the most and has the greatest impact on family. We can learn from our interactions with one another and others as well. Functionalism is different from all three because it just basically believes that the family has basic functions.It doesnt go on any evidence or studies. The Conflict theory believes that family brings about conflict. Its sole bearing is to cause inequality between the sexes. The social institution of family is affected by all three of the theories. I feel that and truly believe that it would realise best form the interactionist theory. This can be backed up by studies and research. It will help to make society more understanding. References Churchill, C. (2010, February). Family matters the importance to family in adolescence. Choice , 47(6), 1168.