Marriages and Families: Changes, Choices, and Constraints Seventh Edition

1
Marriages and FamiliesChanges, Choices, and
ConstraintsSeventh Edition Nijole V.
Benokraitis Chapter Two Studying the Family
2
Why We Should Studythe Family

• Three practical reasons
• 1. What we dont know can hurt us.
• 2. Theories and research help us understand
  ourselves and our families.
• 3. Theories and research improve our ability to
  think more critically and make informed
  decisions in our own families.

3
What We Dont Know Can Hurt Us

• When we are investigating things in our lives
  through the Internet, how do we know how reliable
  the information is? The only way we know it is
  reliable is if it has solid research behind it.
• Especially when it comes to healthcare
  information, we need to be careful that we are
  researching on a reliable site.

4
Theories and Research Help Us to Better
UnderstandOur Own Families

• Often we can understand our own children and
  their behaviors through studying reliable
  research.

5
Theories and Research Help Us to Make Informed
Decisions

• In fact, learning something about research can
  help us make more informed decisions about many
  areas of our daily lives.

6
(No Transcript)
7
Eight Interesting Theories

• For this text, we are going to consider eight
  theories about families. They are
• Structural-functionalist theory
• Conflict theory
• Feminist theory
• Ecological theory
• Developmental theory
• Symbolic interactionist theory
• Social exchange theory
• Family systems theory
• (See previous slide for more information about
  each.)

8
Structural-functional Perspective

• This theory examines the relationship between the
  family and the larger society.
• When functionalists study the family, they look
  at how the parts work together to fulfill the
  functions or tasks necessary for the familys
  survival.

9
Structural-functional Perspective

• Structural-functional theorists talk about
  instrumental and expressive roles of the family.
• Instrumental roles are those that are carried out
  traditionally by the husbandi.e., the
  breadwinner.
• Expressive roles are typically carried out by the
  momthings like nurturing the children.
• These kinds of roles provide functions for the
  family and for society at large.

10
Structural-functional Perspective

• According to many functionalists, there are two
  kinds of family functions
• Manifest functions are recognized things that are
  supposed to happen and are intended to organize
  family life.
• Latent functions are those things that happen by
  accident and may not be immediately obvious.

11
Structural-functional Perspective

• Structural-functional perspective also recognizes
  that the family affects and is affected by other
  social institutions that are interrelated to the
  family, such as school, government, work, etc.

12
Structural-functional Perspective A Critique

• Functionalism is a broad (macro) perspective. It
  can help us understand how the family is related
  to the larger society, but it doesnt tell us how
  the family interacts as a unit on a daily basis.
• Also, this theory has been criticized, especially
  by feminist theorists, as seeing the world
  through the cultural lens of white, middle- and
  upper-class American men.

13
The Conflict Perspective

• The conflict theory is another macro-level
  theoryit looks at the big picture.
• Conflict theory examines the ways in which groups
  disagree, struggle for power, and compete for
  scarce resources such as wealth and prestige.
• Conflict theory has been useful in identifying
  some of the inequalities within and across
  families and promoting structures and values that
  are less oppressive.

14
The Conflict Perspective

• Conflict theory sees family problems as problems
  stemming from the larger society rather than from
  individual shortcomings. It looks at structures
  in society and how those structures support
  people in society unequally.

15
The Conflict Perspective

• Social Class and Power
• For conflict theorists, families perpetuate
  social stratification. High-income families have
  greater wealth and power that they can pass on to
  the next generation.
• Conflict theorists see society not as
  cooperative, but as a system of inequality in
  which different groups are vying for resources.
• Conflict theory specifically brings to light the
  plight of the poor in society.

16
The Conflict PerspectiveA Critique

• Some social scientists criticize conflict theory
  for stressing clashes and coercion at the expense
  of order and stability.
• It emphasizes institutional constraints rather
  than personal choices in family life.
• Conflict theory doesnt say much about how
  families can improve it sees problems as much
  bigger social issues.

17
Feminist Perspectives

• Feminist theories examine how gender
  rolesexpectations about how men and women should
  behaveshape relations between the sexes in
  institutions such as policies, the economy,
  religion, education, and the family.

18
Feminist Perspectives
There are several types of feminism. Any person,
male or female, who believes that both sexes
should have equal political, educational,
economic, and other rights is a feminist. Whether
they want to be labeled as such is up to the
individual.
19
Feminist Perspectives

• At the core of feminist perspective is the issue
  of gender inequality, both at home and in the
  workplace.
• The emphasis for feminists is social change.

20
Feminist PerspectivesA Critique

• One criticism of feminist theory is that it
  focuses only on issues that affect women and
  de-emphasizes those issues that affect only men.
• Some critics say feminist theory doesnt pay
  enough attention to other areas of oppression
  such as age, disability, and religion.

21
The Ecological Perspective

• Ecological theory examines how a family
  influences and is influenced by its environment.

22
(No Transcript)
23
The Ecological Perspective

• Ecological theory examines how a family
  influences and is influenced by its environment.
  Urie Bronfenbrenner was a major advocate of the
  ecological approach.

24
The Ecological Perspective
This theory looks at how systems are
interrelated microsysteminteconnected
behaviors, roles, and relationships that
influence the childs daily life mesosystemrelati
onships among different settings
25
The Ecological Perspective
exosystemsettings or events that the child does
not experience directly but that can affect
development macrosystemthe wider society and
culture that encompasses the other systems All
four of these embedded systems can help or hinder
a childs development and a familys functioning.
26
The Ecological Perspective A Critique

• It is useful in explaining family dynamics and
  proposing programs to deal with issues such as
  youth violence and special-needs adoptions, but
  critics note several limitations.
• It is broad and does not do a good job of looking
  at particular cases of child problems or
  endangerment.

27
The Family Development Perspective

• Family development theory examines changes that
  families experience over their lifespans.
• This is the only perspective that emerged out of
  a specific interest in families and still focuses
  exclusively on the family.
• The family life cycle consists of transitions
  that a family makes as it moves through a series
  of stages and events.

28
(No Transcript)
29
The Family Development Perspective A Critique

• Some critics believe that family life cycles are
  artificial because the processes of life are
  not always so neatly separated.
• This theory really focuses on the nuclear,
  heterosexual family as being the norm for
  society.

30
Symbolic Interaction Perspective

• Symbolic interaction theory looks at the everyday
  behavior of individuals. These theorists examine
  how our ideas, beliefs, and attitudes shape our
  daily lives as well as those of our families.

31
Symbolic Interaction Perspective
A symbol can be words, gestures, or pictures that
stand for something. For example, our American
flag is something that everyone born into a
certain culture recognizes. One of the most
important shared meanings is the definition of
the situationthe way that we perceive reality
and react to it.
32
Symbolic Interaction Perspective

• According to symbolic interaction perspective,
  each family member plays an important role and
  plays more than one role in the family.
• For example, a man may be a husband, a provider,
  a father, a brother etc
• Roles require different behaviors both within and
  outside the family, and people modify and adjust
  their roles as they interact with other role
  players.

33
Symbolic Interaction PerspectiveA Critique

• This theory tends to ignore macro-level ways of
  seeing situations. It really is meant to be a
  close-up view of family and society.

34
The Social Exchange Perspective

• The fundamental principle of social exchange
  theory is that people seek, through their
  interactions with others, to maximize their
  rewards and to minimize their costs.
• When a relationship bears more costs than
  benefits for a person, the person is more likely
  to end the relationship.

35
The Social Exchange Perspective

• We exchange many different kinds of resources,
  including tangible and intangible objects such as
  energy, money, material goods, social status,
  etc
• Some of our cost-reward decisions are conscious
  and some are not.
• Especially when we decide on long-term
  relationships like marriage, we try to make the
  best deal as far as what our significant other
  can provide.

36
The Social Exchange PerspectiveA Critique

• Some say this theory puts too much emphasis on
  rational behaviornot all humans behave this way.
• Exchange theory is also limited to explaining
  behavior that is motivated by immediate costs or
  rewards.
• This theory is also considered by some to be
  culturally insensitive.

37
Family Systems Perspective

• Family systems theory views the family as a
  functioning unit that solves problems, makes
  decisions, and achieves collective goals.

38
Family Systems Perspective

• Emphasis is on how the members interact within
  the family system, how they communicate, how
  family patterns evolve, and how individual
  personalities affect family members.
• Family systems theory analyzes how implicit or
  explicit rules hold families together.

39
Family Systems Perspective A Critique
Some say family systems theory has given the
field of family study some new language, but has
really not done much as far as showing us the big
picture of how families function.
40
(No Transcript)
41
Research Methods

• Social scientists generally use six major
  research methods
• Surveys
• Clinical research
• Field research
• Secondary analysis
• Experiment
• Evaluation research

42
Surveys

• Researchers use surveys to systematically collect
  information or data through questionnaires or
  interviews.
• It is important to have a representative sample
  of the population that you are interested in
  studying.
• Oftentimes, face-to-face interviews are used for
  social science research.

43
Surveys
Surveys are a cost-effective way to gather lots
of information. There are many companies who are
now using the Internet to do online surveys. One
of the major limitations of surveys that use
mailed questionnaires is a low response
rateusually around 3. Another limitation of
using a mailed questionnaire is that people may
not be honest when answering the questions.
44
Clinical Research

• Studies individuals or small groups.
• Often relies on case studies or an in-depth
  informative interview about one person.
• Case studies are typically linked with long-term
  counseling which can be beneficial for
  individuals and families.

45
Limitations of Clinical Research

• It is usually time consuming and can be very
  expensive.
• Results are usually only gerneralizable for the
  person or group being studied. Results from this
  kind of research cannot be generalized to other
  populations.

46
Field Research

• Researchers collect data about people by
  observing them in their natural surroundings.
• Typically this kind of research is highly
  structured.
• There are two kinds of observations
• Nonparticipant observationresearchers do not
  interact with their subjects.
• Participant observationresearchers do interact
  with their subjects.

47
Field Research

• Strength of field researchit is more flexible
  than some other methods.
• Limitationoften people act and react differently
  when they know they are being observed.

48
Secondary Analysis

• Secondary analysis means that researchers review
  material that has been collected by other
  researchers. In doing so, new directions for
  research are often found. Also, useful
  information can be garnered from other sources
  and used to write scholarly articles and books.

49
Secondary Analysis

• Secondary analysis is usually accessible,
  convenient and inexpensive.
• It can be problematic because it can be hard to
  access if it is only stored in certain locations
  such as scholarly journals.

50
Experiments

• An experiment is a very structured, artificial
  situation that allows the researcher to control
  certain variables.
• A major strength of the experiment is that cause
  and effect can be established.
• One big drawback is the reliance on volunteers or
  paid subjects.

51
The Ethics of Research

• Because we rely so heavily on human subjects we
  must be very careful in our approach to ethical
  concerns when it comes to research.
• There are a set of professional ethics for family
  research.

52
(No Transcript)
53
Political, Religious, and Community Pressures

• There are pressures from many different groups,
  especially when research is considered
  controversial or a waste of time and money. All
  opposing views must be considered.