Summary:
Chapter 2 talks about and introduces the topic of marriage from a scientific sociological perspective, discussing many theories and their role in the topic, as well as mentioning the importance and use of research. Some of the theories listed are the Structural-Functionalist, Conflict, Developmental, Social Exchange, and Feminist theories; again, these theories are used to try and explain the very complicated world and order of marriage in our society and world. I’m always fascinated by the Ecological Model and Ecological Theory; consisting of the microsystem, mesosystem, exosystem, and macrosystem, I’ve been learning about this theory since freshman year and it’s nice to learn about it regarding the family and marriage systems. Regarding research, surveys and similar types of tests are the primary way sociologists obtain information about marriage and the family. Along with surveys, clinical research, field research, secondary analysis (longitudinal and historical), experiments, and evaluation research are other methods of conducting research regarding marriage. However, these methods all have advantages and disadvantages when trying to conduct research.
New Material Learned:
From this chapter, I learned more about manifest functions, latent functions, and more about what family development theory is.
Questions:
In the very beginning of the chapter, the author briefly mentions some information regarding Self-Help Books. While I have never read a self-help book, I’d kind of be curious to check it out. The point of this concern, however, is that I’d like to get some more information and find some research on self-help books. Do they work, or are they as bad and biased as the author describes them to be?
By: Matthew Sniscak
In response to your third section, I would recommend reading 59 Seconds: Think a Little, Change a Lot by Richard Wiseman and Generation WTF by Christine Whelan. Dr. Whelan is one of our department's faculty, and in both of the classes I've taken that she taught, she covered self-help (59 Seconds is one of the books she assigns).
ReplyDeleteShe says that most of the advice is based on conventional wisdom, which may or may not be correct. Her main focus is how they affect our view of ourselves in pop culture. What I've taken away from her classes is that they're both good and bad. There are people who don't do research and just write down whatever they happen to think, but there are others who do offer good advice.
On a larger scale, they seem to find acceptance in pop culture because they fit in with our view that we should be able to improve ourselves.
I would say that I don't think all self help books are completely bad. However, I think that their results aren't maximized when a person doesn't follow the so called steps of the book down to a tee being that your situation is most likely different from the author's or simply because something that works for one person won't necessarily work for the next. You take what you can from the book and apply it to your life.
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