Murdock on the Family | A Level Sociology - Families

Summary

This video discusses George Peter Murdock's functionalist perspective on the family, based on his 1940s research across 250 societies. Murdock identified the nuclear family as a universal institution and highlighted four key functions: economic support, sexual regulation, education (socialization), and reproduction. The video examines these functions and explores criticisms from feminist and Marxist perspectives, noting Murdock's work overlooks gender role evolution and societal changes, including family diversity, lone-parent families, and contemporary issues like gender transitions.

Takeaways

• 🌍 George Peter Murdock's research in the 1940s spanned 250 different societies and concluded that the family unit is universal.
• 👨‍👩‍👦 The most common family type across societies is the nuclear family, consisting of a male, a female, and their children.
• 🏠 Murdock identified four main functions of the family: economic, sexual regulation, education, and reproduction.
• 💰 The economic function involves the family providing resources, with traditional roles often seeing the male as the breadwinner, though this is more flexible today.
• ❤️ The family regulates sexual behavior, promoting heterosexuality and healthy relationships to prevent deviant behaviors like adultery or incest.
• 👩‍🏫 Education within the family, or primary socialization, ensures that children learn the norms and values of society, helping them integrate into society.
• 👶 The reproductive function ensures the continuity of society by producing the next generation.
• ⚖️ Critics argue that Murdock's view of family is patriarchal, with feminists highlighting the unpaid labor of women and the existence of non-nuclear families.
• 💼 Marxists critique Murdock for ignoring the influence of capitalism, claiming families indoctrinate children into capitalist values.
• 🕒 Murdock's work is considered outdated as it doesn't account for modern changes in family structures, gender roles, and diverse sexualities.

Q & A

Who was George Peter Murdock and what is he known for?

George Peter Murdock was a social anthropologist known for his cross-cultural research in the 1940s. He studied 250 different societies and concluded that the family unit is universal, existing in all societies. He is often associated with the functionalist perspective on the family.

What did Murdock find regarding the family structure in the societies he studied?

Murdock found that the family was a prominent institution in all the societies he studied, and there was a core family type, typically consisting of a male, a female, and their children. This core family, known as the nuclear family, was the most common, although some societies had extended families.

What are the four functions of the family identified by Murdock?

Murdock identified four key functions of the family: economic function, sexual regulation, education (or primary socialization), and reproduction.

How did Murdock describe the economic function of the family?

Murdock described the economic function as the family's role in providing resources. In early industrial societies, this typically involved the male working for wages to support the family, while the female contributed through unpaid domestic labor.

What criticisms have been made of Murdock's views on the economic function of the family?

Critics like Delphy and Leonard argue that Murdock’s explanation of the economic function is patriarchal, as it reinforces traditional gender roles where men are breadwinners and women contribute through unpaid domestic work.

How does the family regulate sexual behavior according to Murdock?

Murdock suggested that the family regulates sexual activity by providing a structure where males and females can fulfill their sexual urges within marriage, avoiding deviant behaviors such as adultery or incest. He also noted that the family promotes heterosexuality as the norm for reproduction.

What role does education play in Murdock’s theory of the family?

In Murdock's view, education within the family, or primary socialization, involves teaching children the norms and values of society, including gender-appropriate behaviors, language, and socially approved goals. This helps children integrate into society and contribute to its stability.

What are some criticisms of Murdock’s ideas on the family’s role in education?

Critics, particularly Marxists, argue that Murdock’s view of education within the family promotes conformity to societal norms without questioning whose values are being transmitted. They suggest that this socialization supports capitalist ideologies and does not challenge the status quo.

How does the family perform the function of reproduction according to Murdock?

Murdock believed the family plays a role in reproduction by producing the next generation of society. Gender socialization within the family prepares children for reproduction in stable heterosexual relationships, ensuring the continuity of society.

What are the main criticisms of Murdock's theory on the universality of the nuclear family?

Feminists argue that the nuclear family is not the most universal unit, citing that families can exist without a biological father, such as in lone parent families. Marxists also criticize Murdock for ignoring the influence of capitalism, arguing that families indoctrinate children into capitalist ideologies.

Outlines

00:00

🏠 Murdock's Study of the Universal Family

George Peter Murdock, a social anthropologist, conducted cross-cultural research in the 1940s on 250 societies ranging from hunter-gatherer tribes to urban populations. He found that the family unit was universal, existing in all societies he studied. Murdock identified the core family type as a male, female, and their children, which formed the basis for other family structures, like the extended family. The most common form was the nuclear family, which was functionally significant for both family members and society. Murdock highlighted four key functions of the family: economic provision, sexual regulation, education (socialization), and reproduction.

05:04

💰 Economic and Gender Roles in Family Function

Murdock's first function of the family is economic, where historically the male provided for the family through labor, while the female contributed via unpaid domestic work. In the 1940s, it was common for men to be the breadwinners, while women supported the household. Although this division of labor has evolved, Murdock's findings reflect the gender norms of his time. Critics, such as Delphy and Leonard, have challenged this view, arguing that it upholds patriarchal structures, with women's contributions undervalued.

💑 Sexual Regulation and Gender Socialization in Families

Murdock's second function of the family involves the regulation of sexual activity. He proposed that a healthy sexual relationship within marriage helps prevent deviant behavior, such as adultery or incest, while promoting heterosexuality as the norm to ensure reproduction. Critics note the bias toward heterosexuality in Murdock's views, which was reflective of the time period. Additionally, gender socialization was a key aspect, where children learned gender-appropriate behavior from same-sex parents, an idea that is criticized today for not accommodating modern family structures and shifting gender roles.

🎓 Education and Socialization in the Family

The third function outlined by Murdock is education, specifically the socialization of children into the norms and values of society, which aligns with Parsons' concept of primary socialization. Parents teach children how to behave, communicate, and adopt socially accepted goals and values. This process helps children integrate into society and ensures the continuity of cultural norms. However, critics, particularly Marxists, argue that this kind of socialization can lead to stagnation and serves the interests of capitalist systems by discouraging children from challenging societal structures.

👶 Reproduction and Family's Role in Society's Continuity

Murdock's final function is reproduction, ensuring that the family produces the next generation of society. Gender socialization within families prepares children for reproduction in later life, promoting heterosexuality and stable relationships as the ideal. Functionalists argue that this is essential for societal continuity, while critics point out the diversity of sexual orientations in contemporary society, making Murdock's views outdated. Marxists also challenge this by claiming that the family indoctrinates children into capitalist ideologies, preparing them to be workers and consumers.

🔍 Criticism of Murdock's Family Model

Murdock's work has faced significant criticism, especially from feminists and Marxists. Feminists argue that the nuclear family is not universal and that other family forms, such as mother-child families, are equally valid. The rising number of male-headed lone-parent families also challenges traditional gender roles. Marxists criticize Murdock for ignoring the role of capitalism in shaping family structures, suggesting that families socialize children to accept capitalist ideologies. Additionally, Murdock’s research, conducted over 70 years ago, fails to account for modern family diversity and issues such as gender transitions.

Keywords

💡Nuclear Family

The nuclear family refers to a core family unit consisting of a male, a female, and their children. According to Murdock, it is the most common family type across all societies he studied. The nuclear family plays a vital role in the functionalist perspective by fulfilling essential functions such as economic support, sexual regulation, education, and reproduction.

💡Primary Socialization

Primary socialization is the process by which children learn the norms, values, and behaviors of their society, often taught by parents. In Murdock's analysis, the family plays a key role in this process, preparing children to become functional members of society. This concept is crucial to understanding how the family contributes to the perpetuation of societal norms across generations.

💡Sexual Regulation

Sexual regulation refers to the control and guidance of sexual behavior within the family. Murdock argues that families promote healthy sexual relationships between a male and a female, reducing deviant behaviors like adultery. This also includes the promotion of heterosexuality as the norm, which Murdock tied to reproduction, though this concept faces contemporary criticism for its exclusion of non-heteronormative relationships.

💡Economic Function

The economic function of the family, as explained by Murdock, involves providing resources such as food, clothing, and shelter. In traditional societies, this was often through the male breadwinner's labor. However, Murdock acknowledges that in modern society, economic contributions come from both males and females, with dual-earner families being common.

💡Reproduction

Reproduction refers to the family’s role in producing the next generation of society. Murdock highlights this as a crucial function, as it ensures the continuation of society. The family also helps socialize children into socially acceptable behaviors, preparing them for reproduction within stable relationships.

💡Extended Family

The extended family includes relatives beyond the nuclear family, such as grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. While Murdock found the nuclear family to be the most common structure, the extended family was also prevalent in many of the societies he studied, providing additional support and fulfilling various social functions.

💡Patriarchy

Patriarchy is a social system where males hold primary power and dominate roles in leadership, moral authority, and family roles. Critics like Delphy and Leonard argue that Murdock’s view of the family is patriarchal, as it traditionally places the male as the primary economic provider, while female domestic labor is undervalued.

💡Functionalism

Functionalism is a theoretical perspective in sociology that views society as a system of interconnected parts that work together to maintain stability. Murdock’s ideas are rooted in functionalism, as he believes the family performs key functions—economic, sexual regulation, education, and reproduction—that are necessary for the stability and continuation of society.

💡Gender Socialization

Gender socialization refers to the process through which children learn gender-appropriate behaviors based on societal expectations. Murdock emphasized that children are socialized by their same-sex parent, preparing them for their future roles in society. However, this concept has faced criticism for reinforcing traditional gender roles and ignoring modern shifts in gender norms.

💡Marxist Criticism

Marxist criticism challenges Murdock's functionalist view of the family by arguing that the family serves to perpetuate capitalist ideologies. Marxists believe that the family socializes children into accepting capitalist values, such as hard work and obedience, which helps maintain the power of the ruling class. This critique highlights the economic influences on family structures that Murdock's theory overlooks.

Highlights

George Peter Murdock's research found that the family unit was universal across 250 different societies.

Murdock identified the nuclear family, consisting of a male, female, and their children, as the most common family structure.

He found that the nuclear family existed in all societies and was functionally important for both family members and society at large.

Murdock identified four key functions of the family: economic, sexual regulation, education (socialization), and reproduction.

The economic function involves providing resources for the family, traditionally with the male as the breadwinner, though this is less gender-specific in modern society.

The sexual regulation function helps to regulate sexual behavior, promoting heterosexuality and the reproduction of the next generation.

Education or socialization is a key function, where children are taught the norms and values of society, often influenced by their same-sex parent.

Reproduction is essential for the continuation of society, with the family preparing children for stable heterosexual relationships.

Murdock's ideas on gender socialization, where males and females are taught appropriate behaviors by their same-sex parent, have been criticized as outdated.

Critics argue that Murdock's emphasis on the nuclear family excludes other family structures, such as lone-parent families or reconstituted families.

Feminists have criticized Murdock's work, arguing that it promotes patriarchal family structures and overlooks the role of women.

Marxist critics suggest Murdock ignores the role of capitalism, with the family seen as indoctrinating children into capitalist ideologies.

Murdock’s research, conducted over 70 years ago, does not account for modern changes in family diversity and gender roles.

Contemporary issues like gender transitions and non-heteronormative relationships challenge Murdock’s traditional view of the family.

Murdock’s identification of the family as an essential social institution has been foundational but remains a point of debate in modern sociology.

Transcripts

welcome to this tutor to you sociology

topic video on families and households

focusing on the ideas of gp murdock on

the family

often associated with the functioner's

perspective

george peter murdoch was a social

anthropologist who in the 1940s

conducted cross-cultural research into

250 different societies from small

hunter-gatherer tribes to urbanized

populations

he found that in each of these societies

the family was a prominent institution

which led him to declare that the family

unit was universal it existed in all

societies

he also found that in each of the

societies he studied there was a core

family type from which other family

types were developed

the core family was a male a female and

their children and while many societies

had extensions of this family

grandparents living with the family

cousins aunts uncles what we might call

the extended family

the most common type was what murdoch

referred to as the nuclear family

this existed in all of the societies he

researched and murdoch found that they

were functionally important

in other words they provided clear

functions for the members of the family

and for wider society

murdoch identified four distinct

functions of the family across the

different cultures he studied

firstly an economic function providing

resources for the family

secondly our sexual function or

regulation of sexual activities

a third function was education

primarily into the norms and values of

society what we may consider to be

primary socialization and finally the

family performs the function of

reproduction of producing the next

generation of society

but how does the family perform these

functions

we'll look at these functions

individually and analyze the process of

the family performing these functions

firstly let's look at the economic

function

one aspect of this in early industrial

society is that the mail works in

exchange for wages which are then used

to purchase goods

of course in contemporary society this

economic function is not gender-specific

nor is it limited to one worker with

dual learner families commonplace

however the primary breadwinner being

male was the social norm at the time of

murdoch's research and it was his labor

that earned money to purchase food

clothing and pay for shelter for his

family

however females also contributed towards

the economic function of the family

albeit unpaid with domestic labor

contributing towards the smooth running

of the household and wider society

the fact that it was not recognized as

being worthy of wages is a criticism the

likes of delphi and leonard have

leveled at some functionalist

explanations of family roles stating

that the organization of the family is

patriarchal in nature

the second function that requires

development is that of sexual regulation

now there are a number of aspects to how

family units can regulate sexual

activity in the family

the first of these is by having a

healthy sexual relationship within a

marriage males and females could satisfy

their sexual urges without the need for

committing deviant sexual activities

such as adultery or incest

the family also regulates sexual

behavior in other ways by promoting

heterosexuality as a norm this ensures

the reproduction of the next generation

of society and despite this leading to

criticisms of homosexuality being

promoted as a form of deviant sexual

behavior at this time we have to

remember the norms and values of when

murdoch was writing and perhaps use this

as a form of evaluation

a final process linked into sexual

regulation is the role of gender

socialization

male and female children were socialized

by their same-sex parent into

gender-appropriate behaviors that will

prepare them for adult life

in contemporary society this idea is

open to criticism with lone parent

families and changing attitudes to

gender socialization not fitting with

the ideas of murdoch

the third function outlined by murdoch

is that of education now this refers to

the socialization by the family of their

children and is similar to the concept

of primary socialization discussed by

parsons

children are taught the norms and values

of the society they live in by their

parents

they are told what are acceptable

behaviors in social situations their

language and how to use it appropriately

in a given situation

they're also taught values such as hard

work and given goals that are socially

approved

this will also relate to gender

appropriate behaviors with modelling

their same-sex parent

this ensures a reproduction of society's

norms and values from one generation to

the next and enables children to grow up

and fit into society and be able to

contribute to the harmonious functioning

of wider society

although critics would suggest that

socializing children into the same norms

and values that their parents hold could

lead to the stagnation of society

whilst marxists suggest that blind

obedience to society's norms and values

does not challenge the source of these

values in the first place whose values

are they and what is the impact on

children learning them

finally reproduction

men and women reproduce and have

children and these children take their

place as the next generation of society

but this is controlled to an extent by

the family

gender socialization prepares children

for reproduction in later life promoting

socially acceptable behaviors that allow

them to reproduce once they're in a

stable heterosexual relationship

of course critics would suggest in

contemporary society heterosexuality is

one of a range of sexualities that exist

but for functionalists sexuality serves

the purpose of reproducing the next

generation and hence the promotion of

heterosexual behaviors

without this society would stagnate and

as the population ages this places

additional strain on the elder members

of society to continue working

as we've seen in contemporary society

with changes to the age at which people

can collect their pensions

there are lots of critics of murdoch's

work feminists argue that nuclear family

is not the most universal unit but

rather a mother and child is families

can and do exist without the biological

father particularly lone parents and

reconstituted families

however a counter a criticism of this

would be the increasing number of male

headed lone parent families as society

has moved on

marxist would also be critical

suggesting that murdoch ignores the

influence of capitalism

the next generation of society is also

the next generation of workers and

marxists suggest that the family

indoctrinates children into capitalist

ideologies such as hard work spending

money and responsibility for their

families through primary socialization

in an attempt to stop them challenging

the ruling classes

a final evaluation is that murdoch's

research was published over 70 years ago

and as such fails to acknowledge the

change in gender roles in society as

well as the greater diversity of family

life

it also fails to acknowledge very

contemporary issues such as gender

transitions and their role in the

functioning of family units

that concludes this tutor to you

sociology topic video on families and

households looking at murdoch's views of

the family

thanks for watching