2.6: Theories, Perspectives, and Key Concepts
- Page ID
- 326540
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\(\newcommand{\avec}{\mathbf a}\) \(\newcommand{\bvec}{\mathbf b}\) \(\newcommand{\cvec}{\mathbf c}\) \(\newcommand{\dvec}{\mathbf d}\) \(\newcommand{\dtil}{\widetilde{\mathbf d}}\) \(\newcommand{\evec}{\mathbf e}\) \(\newcommand{\fvec}{\mathbf f}\) \(\newcommand{\nvec}{\mathbf n}\) \(\newcommand{\pvec}{\mathbf p}\) \(\newcommand{\qvec}{\mathbf q}\) \(\newcommand{\svec}{\mathbf s}\) \(\newcommand{\tvec}{\mathbf t}\) \(\newcommand{\uvec}{\mathbf u}\) \(\newcommand{\vvec}{\mathbf v}\) \(\newcommand{\wvec}{\mathbf w}\) \(\newcommand{\xvec}{\mathbf x}\) \(\newcommand{\yvec}{\mathbf y}\) \(\newcommand{\zvec}{\mathbf z}\) \(\newcommand{\rvec}{\mathbf r}\) \(\newcommand{\mvec}{\mathbf m}\) \(\newcommand{\zerovec}{\mathbf 0}\) \(\newcommand{\onevec}{\mathbf 1}\) \(\newcommand{\real}{\mathbb R}\) \(\newcommand{\twovec}[2]{\left[\begin{array}{r}#1 \\ #2 \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\ctwovec}[2]{\left[\begin{array}{c}#1 \\ #2 \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\threevec}[3]{\left[\begin{array}{r}#1 \\ #2 \\ #3 \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\cthreevec}[3]{\left[\begin{array}{c}#1 \\ #2 \\ #3 \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\fourvec}[4]{\left[\begin{array}{r}#1 \\ #2 \\ #3 \\ #4 \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\cfourvec}[4]{\left[\begin{array}{c}#1 \\ #2 \\ #3 \\ #4 \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\fivevec}[5]{\left[\begin{array}{r}#1 \\ #2 \\ #3 \\ #4 \\ #5 \\ \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\cfivevec}[5]{\left[\begin{array}{c}#1 \\ #2 \\ #3 \\ #4 \\ #5 \\ \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\mattwo}[4]{\left[\begin{array}{rr}#1 \amp #2 \\ #3 \amp #4 \\ \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\laspan}[1]{\text{Span}\{#1\}}\) \(\newcommand{\bcal}{\cal B}\) \(\newcommand{\ccal}{\cal C}\) \(\newcommand{\scal}{\cal S}\) \(\newcommand{\wcal}{\cal W}\) \(\newcommand{\ecal}{\cal E}\) \(\newcommand{\coords}[2]{\left\{#1\right\}_{#2}}\) \(\newcommand{\gray}[1]{\color{gray}{#1}}\) \(\newcommand{\lgray}[1]{\color{lightgray}{#1}}\) \(\newcommand{\rank}{\operatorname{rank}}\) \(\newcommand{\row}{\text{Row}}\) \(\newcommand{\col}{\text{Col}}\) \(\renewcommand{\row}{\text{Row}}\) \(\newcommand{\nul}{\text{Nul}}\) \(\newcommand{\var}{\text{Var}}\) \(\newcommand{\corr}{\text{corr}}\) \(\newcommand{\len}[1]{\left|#1\right|}\) \(\newcommand{\bbar}{\overline{\bvec}}\) \(\newcommand{\bhat}{\widehat{\bvec}}\) \(\newcommand{\bperp}{\bvec^\perp}\) \(\newcommand{\xhat}{\widehat{\xvec}}\) \(\newcommand{\vhat}{\widehat{\vvec}}\) \(\newcommand{\uhat}{\widehat{\uvec}}\) \(\newcommand{\what}{\widehat{\wvec}}\) \(\newcommand{\Sighat}{\widehat{\Sigma}}\) \(\newcommand{\lt}{<}\) \(\newcommand{\gt}{>}\) \(\newcommand{\amp}{&}\) \(\definecolor{fillinmathshade}{gray}{0.9}\)Theories Used in Contemporary Families: An Equity Lens
| Theory/ Perspective |
Major Principles | Relation to Family Life | Key Vocabulary and Concepts |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ecological Systems | Individuals are part of a group of concentric systems that impact their development and growth. | Children are influenced by the people and environments in which they spend the most time, as well as greater social events, trends, and values. | Micro, meso, exo, macro, and chronosystems. |
| Exchange (aka Social Exchange) | Individuals have different strengths, resources, and weaknesses and enter into relationships via the evaluation of benefits and costs. | Emphasizes the motivation for familial relationships: that each person is giving and gaining within the family. | The “breadwinner-homemaker family” is one classic example, in which one partner cares for the children and the home in exchange with another partner who earns money for the home and family. |
| Feminist (aka Feminism) | Society is structured in a way that privileges men over women; this theory works to understand and transform inequalities. | This theory emphasizes the way that gender roles are constructed within the family, including the socialization of children. | Gender differences are mostly socially constructed. This theory draws on the conflict, exchange, and symbolic interaction perspectives. |
| Life Course | This approach examines how individuals, in the context of their birth cohorts and their families, are shaped by significant social and historical events. | Humans are interdependent, and this theory emphasizes family life as a way of experiencing and interpreting world events such as wars, natural disasters, pandemics, and economic depressions. In particular, attention is paid to how children and adolescents in a given cohort will be impacted in adulthood. | Emerging early adulthood: the period of life when people shift into adulthood as they end their education, start a career, and begin families. This period of life has become more varied and complex because of societal change. |
| Postmodernism (aka Modernity) | Choice and individuality are emphasized; there is a diversity of human experience and perspectives. Humans are able to act in the way they choose within society and institutions. | Individuals have a much greater choice than they did in the past about how they form their families, the roles they play, and who is in their family. History, family, and tradition have decreasing roles in family life. | Reflexivity: the way in which people take in new information, reflect upon it, and adjust and act with new knowledge with a skepticism toward the reality of one universal truth. |
| Structural Diversity | This approach examines the close connections between the inner workings of families and the social structures that shape all families but in different ways. | Family diversity is constructed through interactions with social structures as well as the individual actions of family members. | Social location: Families are affected by the intersections of class, race, and gender, which place them in differing social locations. Human agency: the active shaping of family life by individual action. |
| Symbolic Interaction | Focuses on the changing nature of cultural symbols and the ways we interact with one another based on those symbols. Humans see themselves through the eyes of others, and this affects the ways they behave. | Changing roles, symbols, and societal expectations affect the ways family members interact with each other and influence future generations. | The ways we interpret shared understandings influences our interactions and responses. |