Exploring Family Theories

by Smith, Suzanne R.; Hamon, Raeann R.

• ISBN13: 9780199860012
• ISBN10: 0199860017
• Edition: 3rd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2012-02-17
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

Offering a diverse variety of perspectives, Exploring Family Theories, Third Edition, is a combined text/reader that integrates theory with research and applications. In each chapter, Suzanne R. Smith and Raeann R. Hamon present the history, scholarship, and critiques of one principal familytheory in a concise manner. Numerous examples and illustrations augment and clarify content, while application questions help students relate these theories to the real world. After each chapter, a follow-up journal article exemplifies how that particular theory is used to guide actual research.

Author Biography

Suzanne R. Smith is Associate Professor of Human Development at Washington State University Vancouver, where she serves as the Associate Chair and Program Director. Raeann R. Hamon is Distinguished Professor of Family Science and Gerontology and Chair of the Human Development and Family Science Department at Messiah College in Pennsylvania.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	p. vii
About the Authors	p. viii
New to the Third Edition	p. xi
Introduction	p. 1
What is Theory?	p. 1
Family Theory	p. 7
Text Organization	p. 8
Symbolic Interactionism Theory	p. 11
History	p. 12
Basic Assumptions	p. 15
Primary Terms and Concepts	p. 17
Common Areas of Research and Application	p. 20
Critique	p. 24
Application	p. 25
Sample Reading: Symbolic Interactionism in Grounded Theory Studies: Women Surviving with HIV/AIDS in Rural Northern Thailand	p. 29
Structural Functionalism Theory	p. 42
History	p. 42
Basic Assumptions	p. 44
Primary Terms and Concepts	p. 46
Common Areas of Research and Application	p. 48
Critique	p. 52
Application	p. 54
Sample Reading: Who Now Reads Parsons and Bales?: Casting a Critical Eye on the "Gendered Styles of Caregiving" Literature	p. 57
Family Development Theory	p. 69
History	p. 69
Basic Assumptions	p. 71
Primary Terms and Concepts	p. 72
Common Areas of Research and Application	p. 75
Critique	p. 87
Application	p. 88
Sample Reading: Gender and the Work-Family Interface: Exploring Differences across the Family Life Course	p. 92
Family Stress Theory	p. 114
History	p. 115
Basic Assumptions	p. 116
Primary Terms and Concepts	p. 120
Common Areas of Research and Application	p. 122
Critique	p. 126
Application	p. 129
Sample Reading: Ambiguous Loss and the Family Grieving Process	p. 133
Family Systems Theory	p. 145
History	p. 145
Basic Assumptions	p. 146
Primary Terms and Concepts	p. 152
Common Areas of Research and Application	p. 156
Critique	p. 160
Application	p. 161
Sample Reading: The Costs of Getting a head: Mexican Family System Changes after Immigration	p. 164
Human Ecological Theory	p. 185
History	p. 185
Basic Assumptions	p. 188
Primary Terms and Concepts	p. 189
Common Areas of Research and Application	p. 192
Critique	p. 196
Application	p. 197
Sample Reading: Revisiting the Virginia Tech Shootings: An Ecological Systems Analysis	p. 201
Conflict Theory	p. 213
History	p. 214
Basic Assumptions	p. 215
Primary Terms and Concepts	p. 219
Common Areas of Research and Application	p. 222
Critique	p. 227
Application	p. 227
Sample Reading: Power and Conflict Resolution in Sibling, Parent-Child, and Spousal Negotiations	p. 231
Social Exchange Theory	p. 249
History	p. 249
Basic Assumptions	p. 251
Primary Terms and Concepts	p. 252
Common Areas of Research and Application	p. 255
Critique	p. 263
Application	p. 264
Sample Reading: Sexual Frequency and the Stability of Marital and Cohabiting Unions	p. 268
Feminist Family Theory	p. 291
History	p. 291
Basic Assumptions	p. 294
Primary Terms and Concepts	p. 298
Common Areas of Research and Application	p. 300
Critique	p. 304
Application	p. 305
Sample Reading: Lesbian Mothers' Constructions of the Division of Paid and Unpaid Labor	p. 309
Biosocial Theory	p. 328
History	p. 329
Basic Assumptions	p. 330
Primary Terms and Concepts	p. 332
Common Areas of Research and Application	p. 333
Critique	p. 337
Application	p. 338
Sample Reading: Toward a Biosocial Theory of Offender Rehabilitation: Why Does Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy Work?	p. 341
Epilogue	p. 373
Index	p. 381
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.