SEQUENCE 7

Part III: Continue

Course Objective

At hte end of this lesson students must be able to listen to, read, write, and draw essential information
on any topic about 'Human Being and the Society'.

TEXT: The functionalist theories and the family.

I/ Reading Comprehension

Read this text carefully about the contribution of functionalist theories to an understanding of the
family. After you will provide correct answers to the questions that follow, and then you speculate
about the new words and expressions discoverd.

Primary socialization is the process by which a person learns a culture, and it is taught to a child in the
first few years of life. The main agent of primary socialization is the family; they teach children the
basic norms of socially accepted behaviour, crucial to a child development and reinforced in secondary
socialization.

Functionalists believe that all social institutions serve a function for society and provide society with
stability. Many functionalists see the family as the institution that does this through teaching children
the values and norms of the society. Item B shows how functionalists view the family as a ‘vital social
institution’ which ‘carries out a number of essential functions, both for individuals and for society as
whole’.

The functionalist sociologist Murdock claimed that the nuclear family is found in every society
because it performs four main functions that are essential to the existence of society and no other
institution can perform. The four functions are: reproductive, sexual, educational and economic.
Murdock said the reproductive function was vital for the society to survive; he saw the family as the
best place for reproduction to take place. Similarly, he believed that the sexual function should take
place within the family, because if sex is controlled by keeping it in the family it helps maintain stability
and it binds the couple together rather than having a free for all. Murdock saw education as an
important function for the family. The family socializes children in society’s values and norms. The
final function Murdock identified was the economic one. The family provides for its members’ basic
needs, such as food and shelter.

Other sociologists have criticized Murdock’s view of the family because it only sees the family as
nuclear. There are many family structures such as extended, lone-parents, gay, reconstituted that are
not included. This view that a nuclear family set up is the best for raising children means he is saying
that there’s right and wrong families and ways of bringing up children. Some interpretivist sociologists
say that there may be lots of different family structures because of cultural differences, but that doesn’t
make them wrong.

In conclusion the functionalist theory of the family helps us to understand how important it is in society
and all the different things the family functions to do for its members. However, many other
sociologists say this view is out of date and is too rosy, they only focus on the good role that the family
performs. Marxists say the family functions to help the capitalists and feminists see it as benefiting
men by oppressing women. Other sociologists argue that the functionalist view does not take enough
account of family variation and change.

QUESTIONS

1) What is Functionalism and who can be called a functionalist?

2) Mention as many social institutions as you can.

3) How does the family, as a social institution, contribute to the stability of the society?

4) Why do functionalists view the family as a 'vital social institution'?

5) What are the functions performed by the family that are essential to the existence of the society?

6) What is Murdock's opinion about the reproductive function?

7) Give your own comments on Murdock's opinion about the functions of 'education', 'sexual' and
'economic'.

8) Do other sociologists agree with Murdock's view about the family? Why?

9) What are the first and the second stages of primary socialization?
III Grammar Review: Directand Indirect Speech continue

Indirect speech with interrogative sentences with question words: who; when; where; how; why....

Reporting wh-questions

Indirect speech reports of wh-questions consist of a reporting clause, and a reported clause beginning
with a wh-word (who, what, when, where, why, how). We don’t use a question mark:

He asked me what I wanted.

Not: He asked me what I wanted?

The reported clause is in statement form (subject + verb), not question form:

She wanted to know who [S]we [V]had invited to the party.

Not: … who had we invited …

Who, whom and what

In indirect questions with who, whom and what, the wh-word may be the subject or the object of the
reported clause:

I asked them who came to meet them at the airport. (who is the subject of came; original question:
‘Who came to meet you at the airport?’)

He wondered what the repairs would cost. (what is the object of cost; original question: ‘What will
the repairs cost?’)

The reported clause is in statement form (subject + verb), not question form:

She asked us what [S]we [V]were doing. (original question: ‘What are you doing?’)

Not: She asked us what were we doing?

1-PRESENTATION: D.s = Direct speech; i.s. = indirect speech

e.g. D.s: kodjo asked: “where are you going?"
i.s. kodjo asked where he was going.
RULE: question words are repeated just after the introductory sentence.
e.g. D.s. : he said” are you ready?”
I.s. -he asked if you were ready.
Rule: YES/NO QUESTION: if ;whether
2-PRACTICE
Exercise
- He asked, “where are you going?”
- "What happend with you?" he asked.
Answers
3-He asked where they were going.
4- He asked what had happened with them.