SOCIOL 2U06 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Talcott Parsons, Sociological Theory, Nuclear Family
6 Oct 2016
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Main sociological paradigms: structural functionalism (order theory; macro, conflict theory (change theory; macro, symbolic interactionism (change theory; micro, feminist theories (change theory; macro and micro) Nuclear families are natural because of reproduction, you only need a male and a female. Looking at mating, caring of the young, from the animal kingdom. Analogy to the human body; if family breaks down as a social institution, its going to be greatly problematic for the rest of society; everything serves a function. Critics: looking at difference between males and females, average difference is problematic when we have all points of data, we usually see a lot of overlap and/or a lot of variation, taking a average is hard. Critics: animal kingdom comparison is problematic because humans are different, social environment such as hierarchy will influence human and animal behaviour. Critics: instincts, caregiving is learned not instinctual, study of new parents, fathers are good at caregiving just as females.
