Marxists, Feminists, and Functionalists Views on Family

Family
Name
Department, Institution Affiliation
Course Code; Course Name
Instructor's Name
Date
Family
Family studies play a significant role in understanding social stratifications and dynamics in society. A family is a group of individuals united by specific factors, including adoption, blood, and marriage leading to a single household. However, in sociology, the family is a unit of socialization and a social institution with specific social interaction patterns (Cohen, 2018). The paper focuses on functionalists, feminists, and feminists' views on the family.
Theorists on Family
Marxists
Marxists view a family as a capitalisation tool with the main function of maintaining capitalism and reinforcing social inequalities. Marxism is a conflict-based aspect of the family that strongly argues that the capitalist class exploits the family (Brown, 2014). Marxists also have a unique view of nuclear families. For instance, Marxists believe that a nuclear family's role is linked to capitalism, and it is a unit of teaching acceptance of hierarchy. It also allows the passage of wealth from the parents to the children and thus promotes class inequalities. Therefore, family, from a Marxist perspective, is based on capitalism.
Feminists
Feminists view family uniquely from functionalists and Marxists. According to feminists, a family is a private institution and must be linked to the political realm for social justice (Okin, 2016). The major elements of families, according to the feminists, are reproduction and sex. Besides, feminists embrace families as social institutions guided by laws, not 'natural orderings .' Feminists state that marriage is a significant process that determines the success of family goals. Therefore, the major idea of the feminists is that family aligns with political realms, and laws play a significant role in shaping it.
Functionalists
Functionalists also have a specific view of the family based on unique ideologies. Functionalists view a family as a specific institution and a building block of society (Harris, 2021). Functionalists also list that the role of the families is to promote socialization and allow the members to meet emotional needs. Besides, functionalists state that any stable family underpins economic stability and social order. Families are specific institutions that functionally run the society. Therefore, the functionalists believe that the family has specific functions for individuals and society. Functionalists, Feminists, and Marxists uniquely view the family and its societal role.
Feminism in the study of the family
Feminism has a critical influence on the study of the family. It enables the learners to understand families as political institutions with specific biological interventions. For instance, feminists believe that women and men are differentiated using psychological and biological factors (Okin, 2016). Besides, feminism makes family to be dominated by women arguing that women nurturing men plays a major role in the family. It also justifies social and normative implications. More powerful characteristics are also aligned to women with minimal involvement of men. Therefore, feminism favors women over men.
Additionally, feminism influences the s...