2.6 Theories, Perspectives, and Key Concepts
Elizabeth B. Pearce
We will examine families from a variety of theories and perspectives. A theory is not just an idea that someone has but rather a structural framework, explanation, or tool that has been tested and evaluated over time. Theories are developed and put into practice through scholarship, research, discussion, and debate. Theories help us to understand the world in general and, in this instance, the ways in which families form, function, and interact with and experience the world.
Perspectives are similar to theories in that they are also important ways of understanding families and the world. They differ in that they may be more focused on understanding the relationships among ideas or on presenting a framework, rather than a single scientific hypothesis accompanied by research.
Because the study of families overlaps multiple disciplines, this text introduces sociological, human development, psychological, and anthropological theories and concepts. Figure 2.14 is a summary of seven of the theories that are important to understanding families.
Theories Used in Contemporary Families: An Equity Lens
Figure 2.15 is a summary table of the seven core theories used to study families in this textbook:
- Ecological systems theory
- Exchange (aka social exchange) theory
- Feminist (aka feminism) theory
- Life course perspective
- Postmodernism (aka modernity) perspective
- Structural diversity framework
- Symbolic interaction theory
For a more complete table of theories and perspectives that are used to study families in the fields of psychology, sociology, and human development and family sciences, see Appendix A.
| 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. |
Watch the video in figure 2.16 to hear examples and more discussion of five of these theories. The theories that are not included are discussed more in-depth elsewhere: structural diversity at the beginning of this chapter and life course at the end in the Looking Ahead section.
Comprehension Self Check
Licenses and Attributions for Theories, Perspectives, and Key Concepts
Open Content, Original
“Theories, Perspectives and Key Concepts” by Elizabeth B. Pearce. License: CC BY 4.0.
Figure 2.14. “Theories” by Elizabeth B. Pearce and Michaela Willi-Hooper, Open Oregon Educational Resources. License: CC BY 4.0.
Figure 2.15. “Core Theories” by Elizabeth B. Pearce. License: CC BY 4.0.
All Rights Reserved Content
Figure 2.16. “Theories and Concepts” © Liz Pearce. License Terms: Standard YouTube License.
a structural framework, explanation, or tool that has been tested and evaluated over time.
a systematic investigation into a particular topic, examining materials, sources, and/or behaviors.
a framework that looks at individuals within their environments.
a socially constructed expression of a person’s sexual identity which influences the status, roles, and norms for their behavior.
the categorization of humans using observable physical or biological criteria, such as skin color, hair color or texture, facial features, etc.