Chapter 2 Studying the Family

Chapter 2 Studying the Family

Summary

• The chapter can be broken down into three groups. First being the information on Self-Help books. It was interesting to read how the scientific community’s research and numbers are held to such high standards. Yet the mass media is held to almost none at all. The box on page 31 which outlined the dangers of these books was interesting, especially to think of the potential damage they can do.

• Second was the section on theoretical perspectives of families. Which are the following:

Structural-Functionalist (functionalism for short)

• Focuses on the correlation of family and society. The use of roles to further the family’s success and its relationship to the furthering of society.

Conflict Theory

• Based around the competition for limited resources and a families ability to compete for them.

Feminist Theory

• Looks at gender roles and the ability of individual responsibilities to adapt to new challenges presented by an evolving family.

Ecological Theory

• Builds on the ideas of the feminist theory and applies them longitudinally to not just a changing family, but a changing environment.

Developmental Theory

• Looks at the life of a family in stages of growth, from a new couple, to retirement and death.

Symbolic Interactionism Theory

• Looks at societies effects on beliefs, roles, values, and communication through traditions and other shared meanings.

Social Exchange Theory

• Focuses on what people can gain from interacting with individuals, and at what cost to them.

Family Systems Theory

• Examines families as a whole system which balances itself out through personalities and behaviors.

Each Theory has its pros and cons, but each theory also offers a different insight to the workings and effects of a family from the individual to global perspectives.

• The third section of the chapter is research methods.

Here the chapter presented the six types categories of data collection; Surveys, Clinical Research, Field Research, Secondary Analysis, Experiment, and Evaluation Research. Going into greater specifics and subcategories for these, the author then explained the positive and negative drawbacks to each of these. The chapter then wrapped up with a brief yet educational overview of ethics and their application to research.

I found it interesting that each theory related to the next. Seeing as none of the theories were able to effectively explain in great detail the micro and macro levels. Should these theories have their own categories? There are just too many variables for a theory to try and explain both levels. So to word the question differently, should researchers try to explain both levels to slight degrees, or single levels to greater degrees?