FRHD 1020 Chapter Notes - Chapter 2: 6 Years, Howlong, Menopause

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

Document Summary

An important component of how things happen is why an event or phenomenon occurred. In social sciences, the principal way we answer how or why questions is through theoretical analysis. Theoretical assumptions: many ways to explain any phenomenon in social sciences because there are many theories that could compare to explain the same phenomenon, three sets of assumptions, motivational theories, normative theories, macro-historical theories. Social dynamics: when change is slow we perceive it as stability, when change is rapid we perceive it as cataclysmic change, how does the theory incorporate change, change can be measured only across points in time. These events are meaningful to peple: an event is relatively instantaneous in time, an event is experienced by the individual but also a shared understanding. If an event has a long duration, it becomes a stage that can be communicated with others e. g. death: one reason most life events are understood is because they are.