BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY
                                       New York   London
           3
         CHAPTER
        Theories about family Life
        □ Chapter Preview
        In this chapter, readers will learn:
         •	 That theoretical orientations flow from deeper philosophical traditions. Among those 
           are the traditions of rationalism, empiricism, and existentialism.
         •	 How theoretical approaches assist us in our study of family life. Among them are 
           rational/exchange, developmental/family life cycle, symbolic interaction, conflict, 
           and systems theory.
         •	 That individuals join together to form a family and a family is an entity.
         •	 How an entity or group of individuals can be tied together by a common set of goals 
           and beliefs, and how families have systemic properties. This is sometimes called 
           “wholeness ” and refers to the idea that a system is a complexity of elements standing 
           in interaction as an underlying pattern or structure.
         •	 That family groups or systems attempt to maintain stability over time. This is called 
           homeostasis. Family systems also must adapt and change over time and this is called 
           morphogenesis.
         •	 That it is difficult to speak of causality when referring to system processes. Instead, 
           one tries to identify patterns of interaction.
        □ Introduction
        The theories we use in social science are representations or models for something tangible 
        and real. Remember the discussion in Chapter 2 within which I proposed that empirical 
        and theoretical ideas change and develop over time and are never meant to represent a 
        position of truth, per se. Instead, theories are perspectives that help us understand reality  
        and are merely constructs that we use as tools to approximate our understanding of the 
        “real” world. An important question to ask in response to that last statement could be 
        “Is there a real world?”
         It is also important to realize that most of the methodological and theoretical ideas and 
        terms presented here did not originate in the young discipline of family science. Instead, 
                                                          35
       36  Introduction to Family Processes
       these ideas have, for the most part, a long and rich history in other disciplines such as 
       sociology, economics, and psychology.
         Within the pages of this chapter, several theories used in family sciences are presented. 
       There are two important limitations you should know about the following synopsis of 
       these theoretical ideas. First, each of the theories mentioned has a prominent history in the 
       social sciences. Our glimpse of these complicated ideas only captures a small portion of 
       the volumes written about each.
         Second, these are not the only theories used by family scholars. The following over-
       view represents a quick look at the theories most frequently used. If you continue 
       studying  family science, you might wish to take a course that examines these and other 
       theoretical ideas in depth. Additionally, the suggested readings at the end of this chapter 
       provide a starting place for extended study about theoretical orientations in the disci-
       pline of family science.
       □ What Is Theory?
       The word theory can sometimes produce a chill in everyday conversation, but an under-
       standing of theoretical ideas is essential when embarking on voyages of scientific discovery . 
       Theoretical ideas have inspired discoveries in astronomy, biology, economics, and medi-
       cine. Whether one wants to discover new knowledge or to apply ideas already known, 
       efforts are much more effective if they are done within the context of established theories.
         When scholars or application specialists try to answer the question “What is going 
       on here?” they are always building on the accumulated findings of others. In everyday 
       life, people refer to this phenomenon when they say there is “no need to reinvent the 
       wheel.” One of the most important tasks of scholars and thinkers in family science is the 
       work of collecting and organizing ideas into theories. From these core, fundamental ideas 
       and  principles of family life, come a wealth of notions that can assist us in explaining 
       why  people do what they do. These constructs also can assist when we decide to change 
        behaviors in our life that do not help meet the goals we have in mind.
         In sum, theories are combinations of hunches, collected facts (or ideas we think are facts), 
       and the accepted wisdom about aspects of a situation. They provide a common language for 
       discussion about a topic and provide suggestions for research and application directions. 
       Most of the theoretical ideas presented here will sound familiar and you might  discover that 
       many of them are rather commonsense notions. However, these collected ideas represent a 
       “language”; in other words, terms and constructs summarize our best thinking about the 
       ways families and individuals in families set out to solve life’s problems, build stronger rela-
       tionships, and make daily decisions. The following are several key terms,  constructs, and 
       ideas that constitute many of the theoretical viewpoints discussed later.
       reductionism
       One of the more important questions in studying families (or any other social process) 
       is how we approach the complexity of social life. An ongoing debate in social science 
        centers on the topic of reductionism. On the one hand, some believe that it is inappropri-
       ate and ineffective to “reduce” life to small fragments or parts of behavior. For example, a 
       reductionist-oriented researcher would try to identify the tiny pieces of daily behavior that 
       make up life. He or she would attempt to show that the parts matter and are connected.