Using stuff from Item 2B and elsewhere measure the position that. in today’s society the household is losing its maps. As stated in Item 2B. the household fulfils a figure of of import maps for persons and for society. such as the socialization of kids and the stabilization of grownup personalities. However. some sociologists suggest that. in today’s society. the household is losing its importance as these maps are being taken over by other establishments ; for illustration. baby’s rooms have an progressively of import function in the socialization of immature kids whose parents are working full-time. Functionalists see the household as a peculiarly of import sub-system ; they believe that the atomic household is a cardinal establishment as it meets basic demands. Murdock ( 1949 ) argues that the household performs four indispensable maps to run into the demands of society and its members. First. they offer economic support to supply the kids with all the cardinal necessities they require in life e. g. nutrient. shelter and H2O.

They excessively give a stable satisfaction of the sex thrust with the same spouse. doing their spouse experience more safe and unafraid. every bit good as cut downing the opportunities of acquiring STDs. Another intent is reproduction of the following coevals. without which society could non go on. Further to this. it besides provides the kid with 2 function theoretical accounts and so. they will experience more safeguarded of holding both parents. Last. it socialises the immature into society’s shared norms and values- without this. society would endure from negative impacts e. g. ferine kids. A unfavorable judgment to Murdock’s survey is that it is out-dated. many sociologists argue that society has now changed and these maps can be performed every bit good by other establishments. or by non-nuclear household constructions.

Marxists and Feminists reject his ‘rose-tinted’ consensus position that the household meets the demands of both wider society and all the members of the household. They argue that functionalists don’t reappraisal development and struggle within society. Marxists argue that the household maintains category inequality and capitalist economy and so. the maps of the household are performed strictly for the benefit of the capitalist system. They do non see the atomic household in the same manner as functionalists and believe that they ignore the ‘dark side’