What functions does the family perform and how is it changing in Australia?
Explain and evaluate the role of the family as a social institution in contemporary Australia
The family as a social institution: functions, family diversity, the changing Australian family, and functionalist, Marxist, feminist and interactionist perspectives, with ABS and Australian examples, for TCE Sociology.
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What this dot point is asking
Module 2 examines social institutions in contemporary Australia, and the family is the first and most personal of them. You need to explain what functions the family performs for individuals and society, describe how family forms are changing, and evaluate competing perspectives on whether the family is beneficial or oppressive.
Defining the family and its diversity
A family is a group connected by kinship, marriage or choice who usually share a household and care for one another. Sociologists distinguish the nuclear family (two generations: parents and children) from the extended family (three or more generations or wider kin). Contemporary Australia shows enormous family diversity: according to Australian Bureau of Statistics census data, single parent families, blended and step families, same sex couple families and people living alone have all grown, while the married couple with dependent children household is now a minority of households.
The functionalist view
Functionalists stress the positive functions the family performs. George Murdock claimed the family meets four universal functions: sexual, reproductive, economic and educational. Talcott Parsons argued that in modern industrial society the family has lost some functions to other institutions but specialises in two irreducible functions: the primary socialisation of children and the stabilisation of adult personalities, the so called warm bath that relieves the stresses of work. The strength of this view is that it explains why the family is universal; its weakness is that it ignores conflict and the dark side of family life.
The Marxist view
Marxists argue the family serves capitalism, not its members. It reproduces the next generation of workers at no cost to employers, socialises children to accept hierarchy and authority, and acts as a unit of consumption that buys goods. Friedrich Engels linked the monogamous family to the inheritance of private property. The strength of this view is that it connects the family to the wider economy; its weakness is that it downplays the genuine love and support families provide.
Feminist and interactionist views
Feminists highlight inequality within the family. Ann Oakley showed that women still perform the majority of unpaid domestic labour and childcare, the dual burden, even when in paid work. Radical feminists see the family as a site of patriarchy and, at its worst, domestic violence. Interactionists step back from grand theory to study how family members negotiate roles and meanings in daily life, reminding us that families are lived relationships, not just structures.
Why the family is changing
Sociologists explain family change through the same drivers that reshape other institutions. Economic change drew women into paid work, weakening the male breadwinner model and reshaping who does domestic labour. Legal change, from the Family Law Act 1975 that introduced no-fault divorce to the 2017 recognition of same-sex marriage, redefined who counts as a family. Cultural change, including secularisation and growing acceptance of diverse relationships, has normalised cohabitation, later childbearing and choosing not to have children. Demographic change, especially an ageing population and migration, has produced more multigenerational and lone-person households. The sociological point is that the family is not a fixed natural unit but an institution continually remade by wider social forces, which is exactly why Module 3 treats it as a case study of social change.
Because Module 2 asks you to discuss interrelationships between institutions, remember that the family does not operate alone: it works alongside education and the economy in socialising and supporting individuals, a link explored in the next dot point.
Exam-style practice questions
Practice questions written in the style of TASC exam questions on this dot point, with worked answer explainers. The year tag is the paper they imitate, not the source.
TCE 20224 marksUsing one perspective, explain two functions the family performs as a social institution.Show worked answer →
A 4 mark short-answer response needs one named perspective and two clearly explained functions.
Perspective. Functionalism (Murdock or Parsons).
Function one: primary socialisation. The family teaches children language, norms, values and the difference between right and wrong, laying the deepest layer of culture (Parsons).
Function two: stabilisation of adult personalities. Parsons argued the family relieves the stresses of adult life, the warm bath that allows adults to cope with work and wider society. (Murdock's four functions, sexual, reproductive, economic and educational, are equally acceptable.)
Markers reward a named perspective and two correctly explained functions tied to a theorist. A common loss of marks is listing functions without attaching them to a perspective.
TCE 202316 marksExplain and evaluate the view that the family is a beneficial institution for individuals and society.Show worked answer →
A 16 mark extended response needs the functionalist case, opposing views, Australian evidence and a judgement.
The case for benefit. Functionalists argue the family performs vital functions: Murdock's sexual, reproductive, economic and educational functions, and Parsons's primary socialisation and stabilisation of adult personalities. This explains why the family is near-universal.
The case against. Marxists argue it serves capitalism, reproducing labour and a unit of consumption and teaching acceptance of hierarchy (Engels on property). Feminists argue it reproduces patriarchy: Oakley showed women perform the majority of unpaid domestic labour (the dual burden), and radical feminists point to domestic violence. Interactionists stress that families are lived relationships, varying in their experience.
Australian evidence. ABS data show family diversity (single-parent, blended, same-sex and lone-person households), falling marriage and rising cohabitation, higher divorce since no-fault divorce (1975), and same-sex marriage (2017).
Evaluate. The family is beneficial for many but can be a site of inequality and harm for others. A strong answer concludes that whether the family benefits people depends on which family and whose experience, rejecting the idea of a single natural family. Markers reward named theorists, ABS evidence and a balanced judgement.