Modernism, Postmodernism & the family

Modernist view of the family

As far as the family is concerned the functionalist view is a
typically modernist view of the family.
As the functionalist Talcott Parsons has argued, the nuclear
family [the ideal of two parents & two children parents
consisting of a male breadwinner and a female whose role
concentrates on the domestic realm] has developed to meet
the needs of modern industrial society.
As functionalism is a structural theory, it argues that this
particular ideal type of family should be the preferred norm
for all to conform to.
This is how functionalism links into the modernist framework
in that it argues that one particular type of family system is
the type to be adopted by everyone.
As functionalists also argue that if society is to remain stable
and successfully socialise children into the accepted norms and
values of society [and promote social stability] the nuclear
family should be the norm.
A modernist approach to the family is arguably characterised
by the following four major sentiments:
1.

Romantic love

Marriage is seen as the climax of romantic love with children

being a symbol of the couples commitment to each other
exclusively heterosexual.

2.

Maternal love

The notion that a married womans ultimate aspiration is to

have children and be primarily responsible for their
socialisation. Women who choose not to have children are
viewed as unnatural.
3.

Domesticity

The view that the family is a secure haven in a heartless world

a place where family members receive nurturing, care and
love. Women in particular are expected to be both the
emotional and domestic caretakers.
4.

Patriarchal control

The male is expected to be the head of the household and to

provide for the family. The father is also seen to be
responsible for family discipline. Charles Murray [below] argues
that this causes problems in one-parent families.
From the 1980s onwards right-wing thinkers, sociologists and
politicians became concerned that the nuclear family was
failing to adopt these sentiments.
For example Charles Murray [a New Right theorist similarly to
the functionalist approach] argues that it is due to the
increase of teenage single mothers that a moral decline has
developed in society.
Girls who are too young are nurturing their children into a
situation where welfare dependency, lack of male discipline/
role models, and lack of morality and decency is rife.

Children born into this situation can only repeat the

destructive cycle and contribute to the moral decline of
society.
Murrays response to this is to remove any welfare/benefit
so as not to promote this kind of action.
What criticisms can you think of in relation to this argument?
The rise of the postmodern
The postmodernist approach to the family is critical of the
simplistic and generalised modernist understanding.
The modernist approach to preferring a particular type of
family ideal is seen as restrictive and in effect defines all
other family types as deviant.
For postmodernists family life is pluralistic, diverse, various
and unstable as opposed to consisting of a single, absolute
structure.
The postmodernist view of the family is one of:
chaos
differentiation
confusion [and fusion]
Bernardes (1999) argues that a postmodernist approach to the
family does not assert what is true, or what should be but
advocates seeking out what the various types of family life
are actually like.
How many different types of family structures can you think
of that exist in contemporary society?