Chapter 3

1. Chapter 3 Exploring the Family

2. Chapter Outline • Theoretical Perspectives on the Family • Studying Families

3. Theoretical Perspectives on the Family • Family ecology • Family development • Structure-functionalism • Interactionist perspective

4. Theoretical Perspectives on the Family • Exchange theory • Family systems theory • Feminist perspectives • Biosocial perspectives

5. Theoretical Perspectives on the Family

6. Theoretical Perspectives on the Family

7. Theoretical Perspectives on the Family

8. Theoretical Perspectives on the Family

9. Theoretical Perspectives on the Family

10. Theoretical Perspectives on the Family

11. Theoretical Perspectives on the Family

12. Theoretical Perspectives on the Family

13. Family Ecology Perspective

14. Family Policy • Procedures, regulations, attitudes, and goals of government that affect families. • Family policy concerns itself with circumstances in the broader society that affect the family. • American families worry about making ends meet: how we will support ourselves, find comfortable housing, educate our children, get affordable health care, finance our old age.

15. Family Life Cycle: Stages • Newly established couple • Families of preschoolers • Families of primary school children • Families with adolescents • Families in the middle years. • Aging families

16. Family Functions • According to the structural functionalist perspective, the family is a social institution that performs three essential functions: • Raise children. • Provide economic support. • Give emotional security.

17. Frameworks for Theory/Research on Minority Families • Cultural equivalent - Emphasizes features that racial/ethnic minority families have in common with mainstream white families. • Cultural deviant - Views the qualities that distinguish minority families from mainstream families as negative or pathological. • Cultural variant - Calls for making culturally and contextually relevant interpretations of minority family lives.

18. Scientific Investigation: Techniques • Surveys • Laboratory observation and experiments • Naturalistic observation • Clinician’s case studies • Longitudinal studies • Historical and cross-cultural data

19. Quick Quiz

20. 1. Which of the following is consistent with the main concerns of the family ecology theoretical perspective? • the family as a child-rearing institution • the conflict feminist perspective • laboratory observations and longitudinal designs • development of family policy

21. Answer: d • The development of family policy is consistent with the main concerns of the family ecology theoretical perspective.

22. 2. Which of the following is an important part of the family development theoretical perspective? • family life cycle • removing blinders by means of scientific research • the family as an economic unit • kin-work and kin-time

23. Answer: a • The family life cycle is an important part of the family development theoretical perspective.

24. 3. Which perspective presumes that certain human behaviors are both “natural” and difficult to change? • feminist • exchange • biosocial • Interactionist

25. Answer: c • The biosocial perspective presumes that certain human behaviors are both “natural” and difficult to change.