Functional Requisites for Societal Survival
Functional Requisites = the minimum conditions which have to be met for a society to survive.
1) Provision for continued adequate biological functioning of the members of society
· Families provide physical care for their members (adults, children, elderly)
· Food, clothing, shelter (basic needs)
· Nutrition, medical care, family planning.
2) Adequate reproduction
· Without adequate replacement, the society will disappear.
· All societies have normative rules for child-bearing and child-rearing.
3) Socialization of new members
· Learning the values, attitudes, knowledge, skills and techniques which a society possesses.
· Socialization does not proceed by chance; proper parental and child behaviour is required.
4) Production and Distribution of Goods and Services
· Basic to societal survival; each society decides what goods to produce, how, and by whom.
· i.e.: division of labour male/female, adults/children; accumulation of property and inheritance rights.
5) Maintenance of Order
· All societies regulate individual behaviour in the interests of the group.
· Families teach conformity to the rules/laws of society.
· Without sufficient cooperation among the institutions in a society, the society would disintegrate.
· Government enforces order, educational and family institutions transmit the norms.
6) Maintain Motivation for Survival
· This provides a goal in life. (salvation, success, etc.)
· Based on a spiritual sense of duty or economic necessity.
· Religious institutions define and strengthen ultimate values and define one’s relationship with the supernatural.
· The presumed foundation of our commitment to each other; “affective nurturance” – meeting the emotional needs of individuals.
Common Factors in Family Patterns
· Everywhere there is a strong tie between mother and child.
· Monogamy is, in general, the dominant form of marriage, especially in Western society.
· Nowhere is there unregulated promiscuity.