Critically evaluate the functionalist view that the nuclear family is both universal and typical.Critically evaluate the argument put forward by Willmott and Young that the family has become symmetrical

The question is to outline and critically evaluate the functionalist view that the typical family unit is nuclear. The other part of the question is to critically evaluate the work of Willmott and Young that suggests that the family is becoming increasingly symmetrical.

In defining the symmetrical family according to Willmott and Young, males and females are becoming equal within the family. Willmott and Young also stated that there are three stages in becoming a symmetrical family.
The first stage is the pre-industrial family, which is a unit of production consisting of a husband, wife and unmarried children. The family worked for themselves on the land as a unit of production. This is still represented in a small minority of families today. The family started to decline in the nineteenth –century due to the industrial revolution which gave rise to the emergence of the factory system. (Haralambos and Holborn, 2002).

The stage two families began with early industrialization. F...