Marriages and Families:
Changes, Choices, and Constraints
Seventh Edition
Nijole V. Benokraitis
Chapter Two
Studying the Family
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. Theories and research improve our ability to
think more critically and make informed
decisions in our own families.
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 comes to healthcare
information, we need to be careful that we
are researching on a reliable site.
Theories and Research Help
Us to Better Understand
Our Own Families
Often we can understand our own
children and their behaviors through
studying reliable research.
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.
Eight Interesting Theories
For this text, we are going to consider eight
theories about families. They are:
1. Structural-functionalist theory
2. Conflict theory
3. Feminist theory
4. Ecological theory
5. Developmental theory
6. Symbolic interactionist theory
7. Social exchange theory
8. Family systems theory
(See previous slide for more information
about each.)
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.
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 the
mom—things like nurturing the children.
– These kinds of roles provide functions for the
family and for society at large.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 rather
than personal choices in family life.
Conflict theory doesn’t say much about how
families can improve; it sees problems as
much bigger social issues.
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.
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.
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.
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 feminist theory doesn’t
pay enough attention to other areas of
oppression such as age, disability,
and religion.
The Ecological Perspective
Ecological theory examines how a
family influences and is influenced by
its environment.
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.
The Ecological Perspective
This theory looks at how systems are
interrelated:
microsystem—inteconnected behaviors,
roles, and relationships that influence the
child’s daily life
mesosystem—relationships among
different settings
The Ecological Perspective
exosystem—settings or events that the
child does not experience directly but that
can affect development
macrosystem—the wider society and
culture that encompasses the other
systems
All four of these embedded systems
can help or hinder a child’s
development and a family’s
functioning.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
situation—the way that we perceive reality
and react to it.
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.
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.
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.
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.
The Social Exchange Perspective:
A Critique
Some say this theory puts too much
emphasis on rational behavior—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.
Family Systems Perspective
Family systems theory views the
family as a functioning unit that solves
problems, makes decisions, and
achieves collective goals.
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.
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.
Research Methods
Social scientists generally use six major
research methods:
– Surveys
– Clinical research
– Field research
– Secondary analysis
– Experiment
– Evaluation research
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
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.
Clinical Research
Studies individuals or small groups.
Often relies on case studies or an indepth informative interview about one
person.
Case studies are typically linked with
long-term counseling which can be
beneficial for individuals and families.
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.
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 observation—researchers do
not interact with their subjects.
– Participant observation—researchers do
interact with their subjects.
Field Research
Strength of field research—it is more
flexible than some other methods.
Limitation—often people act and react
differently when they know they are
being observed.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.