Theories of the Family (2023)

FAQs

Theories of the Family? ›

The major frameworks that sociologists use to help the questions we just posed include functionalism, conflict theory, symbolic interactionism, social-exchange theory, and feminist theory. Each theory looks at different perspectives of a family or explains why things happen using different reasoning.

The major frameworks that sociologists use to help the questions we just posed include functionalism, conflict theory, symbolic interactionism, social-exchange theory, and feminist theory. Each theory looks at different perspectives of a family or explains why things happen using different reasoning.

In this chapter we will briefly discuss six such theories: Family Systems, Family Developmental, Life Course, Social Exchange, Ecological, and Feminist. When understanding the family, the Family Systems Theory has proven to be very powerful.

Other family theories employed include feminist theory, symbolic interactionism, family development, phenomenology, family power, and exchange theory.

These include Conflict, Functionalism, Symbolic Interactionism, and Social Exchange Theories; second, Middle-Range Theories are theories derived from specific scientific findings and focuses on the interrelation of two or more concepts applied to a very specific social process or problem.

Some of the more common variations in traditional family structure include single-parent families, step families, extended families, and same-sex families.

Family life cycle theory suggests that successful transitioning may also help to prevent disease and emotional or stress-related disorders. Whether you are a parent or child, brother or sister, bonded by blood or love, your experiences through the family life cycle will affect who you are and who you become.

Introduction. The term “Family of Origin” describes the family in which a person was raised. An individual's family of origin is composed of the members, consanguine or not, who played a significant role in the early development (infancy and childhood) of the individual.

The developmental phases of a family are referred to as the stages in a family life cycle. They include: unattached adult, newly married adults, childbearing adults, preschool-age children, school-age children, teenage years, launching center, middle-aged adults, and retired adults.

What are the 8 concepts of family systems theory? ›

The eight principles of family system theory are: triangles, differentiation of self, nuclear family emotional process, family projection process, multigenerational transmission process, emotional cutoff, sibling position, and societal emotional process.

The values and theories of clients about families in general, and about their family, in particular, have significant importance; Understanding their views allows the therapist to understand their world, and what shapes their decisions and actions.

These three theoretical orientations are: Structural Functionalism, Symbolic Interactionism, and Conflict Perspective. To understand a theoretical orientation in any profession it is critical to understand what is meant by the term theory.

Marxists argue that the nuclear family performs ideological functions for Capitalism – the family acts as a unit of consumption and teaches passive acceptance of hierarchy. It is also the institution through which the wealthy pass down their private property to their children, thus reproducing class inequality.

According to conflict theorists, the family works toward the continuance of social inequality within a society by maintaining and reinforcing the status quo. Through inheritance, the wealthy families are able to keep their privileged social position for their members.

There are 11 various family structures which include adoptive, blended, childless, communal, de facto, extended, foster, nuclear, same-sex, sole parents and kinship. Adoption is a permanent legal arrangement whereby biological parents transfer their rights and responsibilities over their child to the adoptive parents.

Abuse, including emotional, physical, and sexual abuse in childhood. Ongoing toxic behaviors, including anger, cruelty, disrespect, and hurtfulness. Feeling unaccepted/unsupported, including about their life choices, relationships, disability status, and other things important in their life.

PIP: The 6 stages of the family life cycle are identified as: 1) family formation (marriage to first birth), 2) family expansion (first birth to last childbirth), 3) completion of expansion (child raising to departure of first child from home), 4) family contraction (through departure of last child from home), 5) ...

What are the 8 categories of family functions? ›

The key elements of a family system are its members + beliefs + roles + rules + assets + limitations + goals + boundaries + subsystems (e.g. siblings) + environment - a larger system of systems, or metasystem.

Duvall's theory is based on the traditional, nuclear, intact family. Families will move through each stage in order across time. A family will move from one stage to the next after all members successfully master the tasks within a stage.

The four theories are evolutionary, force, divine right, and social contract.

Family systems theory was developed by Murray Bowen, who was a psychoanalyst. Family systems theory is important as it studies human behavior in a family context. The role of the theory is to analyze the complex social system within a family unit, which influences individual behavior through interaction.

The family economics approach, pioneered by Becker (1960), maintains that individuals obtain direct pleasure from having and raising children, and from their well-being. Children, and possibly their quality level, thus resemble a consumption good in the utility function of their parents.

Most families go through five stages: 1) family founding; 2) child bearing; 3) child rearing; 4) child launching; and 5) empty nest. If you imagine your life in the family as an on-going cycle, it looks about like this.

Developed over a decade ago, the PDT is a useful theoretical perspective for understanding individuals' parenting perceptions and behaviors. Closely aligned with both social learning and cognitive developmental theories, the PDT posits how individuals construct and modify their parenting point of views over time.

Family projection process: The transmission of emotional problems from a parent to a child. Multigenerational transmission process: The transmission of small differences in the levels of differentiation between parents and their children.

The Bowen Family Systems Theory posits that understanding one's family story can help to understand their psyche, their human relationship systems, and how they operate within other aspects of their life as well as their physical and emotional nature and processes.

What is the Bowen's theory of triangles? ›

A triangle is a three-person relationship system. It is considered the building block or “molecule” of larger emotional systems because a triangle is the smallest stable relationship system. A two-person system is unstable because it tolerates little tension before involving a third person.

The five Ps are presence, patience, perspective, persistence, and playfulness. So Schwartz is claiming that we all have an essentially ideal human inside of us already. While the self is the natural leader of the family, harmful incidents in the past created exiles and protectors who wrested control away.

She summarized six key points for family systems theory: 1) family systems are an organized whole, and the elements within it are interdependent; 2) patterns in a family a circular rather than linear; 3) family systems maintain stability in their patterns of interactions (homeostasis); 4) family patterns change over ...

Dysfunctional families are fertile ground for neglect, abuse, secrecy, addiction, or denial. In these family systems, children's emotional needs go unmet because the parents' needs take precedence. One or both parents might be suffering from a substance use disorder, personality disorder, or mood disorder.

Sociologists (Zetterberg, 1965) refer to at least four types of theory: theory as classical literature in sociology, theory as sociological criticism, taxonomic theory, and scientific theory. These types of theory have at least rough parallels in social education. Some of them might be useful for guiding research.

Four Major Sociological Theories

The four main theoretical perspectives are symbolic interactionism theory, social conflict theory, structural-functional theory, and feminist theory.

Simmel believed people created value by making objects, then separating themselves from that object and then trying to overcome that distance. He found that things which were too close were not considered valuable and things which were too far for people to get were also not considered valuable.

Functionalists view the family and its contribution to society as positive, whereas Marxits see it as a negative institution. Functionalists see the nuclear family as essential for social order. They view it as providing adequate socialisation and economic support essential for cohesion.

Marxism is a conflict perspective in the family that argues that the working-class, the proletariat, is exploited by the capitalist class, who profit off of their labor. Marx and Engels believed that the monogamous nuclear family emerged from, and benefits, capitalism.

Functionalists argue that all institutions in society have important roles to play in the smooth and functional running of society, and the family is no different. They argue that the family has important functions both for society and for individuals.

What is symbolic Interactionism of family? ›

Symbolic interactionists argue that shared activities help to build emotional bonds, and that marriage and family relationships are based on negotiated meanings. The interactionist perspective emphasizes that families reinforce and rejuvenate bonds through symbolic rituals such as family meals and holidays.

Conflict theory and marriage

For example, one spouse may have an interest in specific gender roles within the marriage where they set expectations. The other spouse may not be interested in the inequality that these roles represent, creating the marital strife that follows the beats of conflict theory.

Birth of a baby. Birth of other children. A child going to school. A child becoming a young person.

The Rapoports carried out groundbreaking research into family life. They identified a number of ways in which family life was diverse, in contrast to the idea that the nuclear family was the clear norm. They identified 5 clear types of family diversity.

According to Rapoport, the built environment is constituted by the organization of (1) space, (2) time, (3) “meaning” and (4) communication (verbal and non-verbal communication between people).

Marxists see families as essentially a conservative institution that helps to preserve capitalism. They also weaken the position of individual workers in relation to the boss.

The Framework of Six Types of Involvement builds off Epstein's theory of overlapping spheres of influence. The theory distinguishes an interdependent view of school-family-community influences from what could be considered a separate view of influence.

I offer five Rs—respect, responsiveness and reassurance, relationship, reciprocity, and reflection—to help you build trust and promote positive family engagement in your preschool classroom.

How many family systems theories are there? ›

The eight principles of family system theory are: triangles, differentiation of self, nuclear family emotional process, family projection process, multigenerational transmission process, emotional cutoff, sibling position, and societal emotional process.

In 1948, Evelyn Duvall and Reuben Hill initialized the conceptualization of family development as a theoretical orientation with a focus on life cycle staging. Evelyn Duvall (1962) is considered the major contributor to the family life cycle and is credited with the establishment of specific stages.

According to Murray Bowen [101], family systems theory is a theory of human behavior that defines the family unit as a complex social system in which members interact to influence each other's behavior. Family members interconnect, making it appropriate to view the system as a whole rather than as individual elements.

The Circumplex Model focuses on the three central dimensions of marital and family systems: cohesion, flexibility and communication. The major hypothesis of the Circumplex Model is that balanced couple and family systems tend to be more functional compared to unbalanced systems.

He presented a number of real and hypothetical models of global political organisation. His six well known models were (i) balance of power system, (ii) loose bipolar system, (iii) tight bipolar system, (iv) universal actor system, (v) hierarchical system, and (vi) Unit Veto system.