Marriages and Familes 8th Edition Benokraitis Solutions Manual

Marriages and Familes 8th Edition

Benokraitis Solutions Manual
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Marriages and Familes 8th Edition Benokraitis Solutions Manual

2 Studying the Family

Chapter Overview

Research and theory helps people make better decisions. This chapter describes the major theoretical
perspectives, data collection methods used by the researchers, ethical standards the researchers follow,
and finally the political, religious, and community constraints the researchers encounter.

Learning Objectives

After reading and studying this chapter students will be able to:
2.1. Describe three ways that theory and research can help people make better decisions about their
families.
2.2. Describe eight major family theoretical perspectives, identify whether each is macro- and/or micro-
level, and summarize the strengths and limitations of each perspective.
2.3. Describe seven data-collection methods that researchers use to study families, and identify each of
the method’s strengths and limitations.
2.4. Describe the ethical standards that researchers must follow, and explain the political, religious, and
community constraints that researchers encounter.

Detailed Chapter Outline

I. Why Theories and Research are Important in Our Everyday Lives [LS1]
Learning Objective
2.1. Describe three ways that theory and research can help people make better decisions about their
families.

The words theory and research are often intimidating. Many of us may distrust statistics when they’re
different from our beliefs. There are practical reasons why theory and research are important:
• What we don’t know can hurt us
• Theories and research help us understand ourselves and our families
• They improve our ability to think more critically and make informed decisions in our own families

A. What We Don’t Know Can Hurt Us

Many Americans, especially women, rely on talk shows for information on a number of topics.
Misinformation can be dangerous. Many websites are maintained by people who know little about
family issues. For example, no one can become knowledgeable about leading workshops (such as a

22
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 marriage workshop) after listening to only a few hours of audiotapes. In other cases, people may
simply be wasting their money on pills that have little effect on their health and longevity.

B. Theories and Research Help Us Understand Ourselves and Our Families

Theories and research illuminate many aspects of our family life. Empirical studies show that neither
ignoring a problem nor inflicting physical punishment stops bad behavior.

C. Theories and Research Help Us Make Informed Decisions

People rarely read a newspaper, newsmagazine, or online article without coming across statistics that
affect some aspect of our lives. People listen numbly to the probabilities of dying earlier than expected
because of their genetic inheritance, lifestyle, or environment. People are inundated with information
on the importance of exercising, losing weight, lowering cholesterol levels, and not smoking. Some of
the information is sound, but much is biased, inaccurate, or generated by unlicensed, self-proclaimed
“experts.” They whip up anxieties and then sell solutions that include their own books and consulting
services. Students in family courses sometimes feel that they and their instructor are on different
planets.

II. Theoretical Perspectives on Families [CA1]

Learning Objective
2.2. Describe eight major family theoretical perspectives, identify whether each is macro- and/or micro-
level, and summarize the strengths and limitations of each perspective.

Someone once observed, “I used to have six theories about parenting and no children. Now I have six
children and no theories.” Ideas have consequences. People who theorize that the family is disintegrating
might propose micro-level solutions. In contrast, those who theorize that the family is changing might
propose macro-level remedies. As people struggle to understand families, they develop theories. A theory
is a set of statements that explains why a phenomenon occurs. Theories drive research, help us analyze
our findings, and, ideally, offer solutions for family problems. There are about a dozen or so influential
family theories. Eight family theories that are the best known can be considered:
• Two macro-level theories
• Three theories that are both micro- and macro-level
• Three micro-level theories that focus on face-to-face interaction and personal dynamics.

Family researchers typically use more than one theoretical framework because each perspective answers
particular questions. Because reality is complex, the “coexisting theories concentrate on a different aspect
of real life.”

A. The Structural Functional Perspective

Structural functional theory (often shortened to functionalism) examines how a society’s

interdependent parts work together to ensure its survival. When functionalists study families, they
look at how families contribute to a society’s stability (through procreation and socialization, for

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example), and the relationships between family members and between families and other institutions
such as education and religion.

Family Roles

The husband or father, the “breadwinner,” performs instrumental roles: providing food and shelter
for the family and being hardworking, tough, and competitive. The wife or mother plays the
expressive roles of the “homemaker”: providing the emotional support and nurturing that sustain
the family unit. These family roles characterize what social scientists call the traditional family, a
family form that many conservative groups would like to preserve. These and other family roles are
functional because they create and preserve order, stability, and harmony. They also provide the
physical shelter and emotional support that ensure a family’s health and survival. Anything that
interferes with these tasks is seen as dysfunctional because it jeopardizes the family’s smooth
functioning.

Family Functions

There are two general kinds of Functions in families and other institutions. Manifest functions are
purposes and activities that are intended and recognized; they are clearly evident. Latent functions
are purposes and activities that are unintended and unrecognized; they aren’t immediately obvious.

Institutional Connections

Functionalists also note that the family affects, is affected by, and is interrelated to other
institutions such as law, politics, and the economy.

Critical Evaluation

Structural functionalism was a dominant perspective in the 1950s and 1960s, but later came under
attack for being so conservative in its emphasis on order and stability that it ignored social change.
Some critics also maintain that functionalists shouldn’t assume that just because some aspects of
the family are functional, they should be maintained. Functionalism is useful in understanding
families on a macro level, but it doesn’t show how families interact on a daily basis. It also doesn’t
take into account that disagreements aren’t necessarily dysfunctional but a normal part of family
life. Also, feminist scholars, especially, have criticized structural functionalism for viewing the
family narrowly through a white, male, middle- class lens.

B. The Conflict Perspective

The conflict perspective became popular in the United States in the late 1960s, when African
Americans and feminists started to challenge functionalism as the dominant explanation of families
and marriages. Conflict theory examines how groups disagree, struggle for power, and compete for
scarce resources such as wealth and power. In contrast to functionalists, conflict theorists see conflict
and the resulting changes in traditional roles as natural, inevitable, and even desirable because many of

24
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