2. Marriages and Families: Changes, Choices and Constraints Seventh Edition Nijole V. Benokraitis Chapter Two

3. Why we should study the family Three practical reasons 1. What we don’t know can hurt us. 2. Theories and research help us understand ourselves and our families. 3. They improve our ability to think more critically and make informed decisions in our own families.

4. What we don’t 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 come to health care information, we need to be careful that we are researching on a reliable site.

5. Theories and Research help us understand our own Families better Often we can understand our own children and their behaviors through studying reliable research.

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

8. Eight interesting theories For this text, we are going to consider eight theories about families. They are: 1. Structural Functionalism 2. Conflict Theory 3. Feminist Theory 4. Ecological Theory 5. Developmental Theory 6. Symbolic Interaction Theory 7. Social Exchange Theory 8. Family Systems Theory (See Previous slide for more information about each)

9. 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 family’s survival.

10. 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 husband—i.e. the breadwinner. –Expressive roles are typically carried out by mom-things like nurturing the children. –These kinds of roles provide functions for the family and for society at large.

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

12. 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 and so forth.

13. 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 doesn’t 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.

14. The Conflict Perspective The conflict theory is another Macro level theory-it 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.

15. 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.

16. The Conflict Perspective Social Class and power –For conflict theorists, families perpetuate social stratification. The idea that some families are better off financially and through power than other families. –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.

17. The Conflict Perspective A Critique Some social scientists criticize conflict theory for stressing clashes and coercion at the expense of order and stability. It emphasizes institutional constraints at the expense of order and stability. Conflict theory doesn’t say much about how families can improve, it sees problems as much bigger social issues.

18. Feminist Perspectives Feminist theories examine how gender roles— expectations about how men and women should behave—shape relations between the sexes in institutions such as policies, the economy, religion, education and the family. 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 Perspectives A 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 they don’t 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.

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. This theory looks at how systems are interrelated through systems like the micro system, the mesosystem, the exosystem, and the macrosystem.

24. The Ecological Perspective All four of these embedded systems can help or hinder a child’s development and a family’s functioning. 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 not several limitations. It is broad and does not do a good job of looking at particular cases of child problems or endangerment.

25. The Family Developmental Perspective This 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.

27. The Ecological 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.

28. Symbolic Interaction Perspective This 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. A Symbol can be words, gestures or pictures that stand for something. For example our American Flag. It is something that everyone born into a certain culture recognizes. One of the most important shared meanings is the definition of the situation—the way that we perceive reality and react to it.

29. 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 and they interact with other role players.

30. Symbolic Interaction Perspective A 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.

31. The Social Exchange Perspective The fundamental principle of this 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, they are more likely to end the relationship.

32. 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 and “make the best deal” as far as what our significant other can provide.

33. The Social Exchange Perspective A Critique Some say this is a very rational theory— not 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.

34. Family Systems Perspective This theory views the family as a functioning unit that solves problems, makes decisions, and achieves collective goals. Emphasis is on how the members interact within the family system, how they communicate and how family patterns evolve and how individual personalities affect family members.

35. Family Systems Perspective Family Systems Theory analyzes how implicit or explicit rules hold families together. 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.

37. Research Methods Social Scientists generally use six major research methods: –Surveys –Clinical Research –Field Research –Secondary Analysis –Experiment –Evaluation Research

38. 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. 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 rate—usually around 3%. Another limitation of using a mailed questionnaire is that people may not be honest when answering the questions.

39. 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.

40. Limitations of Clinical Research They are 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.

41. 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 –Non-participant Observations-researchers do not interact with their subjects. –Participant Observations-researchers do interact with their subjects.

42. Field Research Strengths of field research is that it is more flexible than some other methods, but it has its limitations as well in that often people act and react differently when they know they are being observed.

43. Secondary Analysis Secondary analysis means that researchers review material that have 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.

44. 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.

45. 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.

46. 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.

48. 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.