Theoretical Perspectives and Key Concepts
Elizabeth B. Pearce
We will examine families from a variety of theoretical perspectives. A theoretical perspective, or more briefly, a “theory” is not just an idea that someone has. Rather it is a structural framework, explanation, or tool that has been tested and evaluated over time. Theories are developed and utilized via 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, interact with, and experience the world. In addition, we will define several key concepts including equity, social problems, and the sociological imagination that are important to your understanding of equity and families in this course.
Because the study of families overlaps multiple disciplines, we will utilize sociological, human development, psychological, and anthropological theories and concepts. Play this video to learn about five of the foundational theories related to the study of families: Social Exchange, Symbolic Interaction, Feminist, Postmodern, and Life Course. (It is recommended that you play it at 1.25x speed and you can disregard the references to chapter numbers)
Here is a summary table of these five theories and four others that are commonly used in this field and that will be discussed in this text.
Theory |
Major Principles |
Relation to Family Life |
Key Vocabulary and Concepts |
Important |
| Conflict | Opposition, power, and conflict within the family and society are needed for society to develop and change | Emphasizes the competing interests of familial roles including the male dominating the family and providing stability to society | ||
| 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 the greater social events, trends and values. | Micro, Meso, Exo, Macro, and Chronosystems. | Urie Bronfenbrenner developed this theory in the second half of the 20th century; he influenced the creation of HeadStart in the United States. |
| 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 the classic example. | |
| Feminism (aka Feminist) | Society is structured in a way that privileges men over women; the theory works to understand and to 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. | Different from the Feminist Activist movement! Read an