FRHD 1020 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Structural Functionalism, Symbolic Interactionism, Ecological Systems Theory

• School: University of Guelph
• Department: Family Relations and Human Development
• Course: FRHD 1020
• Professor: Olga Sutherland

Document Summary

Definitions of family change according to time and place. Family of orientation is the family that we were born into and raised in. Family of procreation is the family that we form through marriage or cohabitation. Census family: a legal definition of the family used by statistics canada including diverse family structures. Families do not exist in isolation, they are part of a vast social network through membership and participation in their surroundings. Theoretical perspectives are separated according to whether they take a macro or micro perspective: Macro: a theoretical perspective that looks at the bigger picture and studies how the values of a society affect the family: the structural functionalist and conflict theories are macro perspectives. Micro: a theoretical perspective that focuses on individuals or small groups and emphasizes relationships within individual families. Includes the symbolic interactionist theory, family systems theory, and exchange theory: the feminist theory and the ecological theory have both macro and micro perspectives.