Family Perspective Theories

This week of discussion, we started out the week by learning about the family perspective theories. There are four theories that we read about and discussed in class. 1)Systems Theory, 2)Exchange Theory, 3)Symbolic Interaction Theory, and 4)Conflict Theory.

Systems Theory-"focus on social systems and how their interdependent parts maintain order." In other words, this theory suggests that each and ever aspect of the family influences each other part. In class, Brother Williams demonstrated this by having several students stand up and hold hands in a circle. He pushed hard on one student as we watched all the other follow, pull, and strain. As one student would move as a result the outside pressure, each other student would move as well-some more than others. I felt that this did a great job of explaining this theory to me and I really came to see how families can be affected in this way.

Exchange Theory-"views social interaction as a cost-benefit analysis in which people try to keep their costs lower than their rewards." In other words, how does this relationship benefit me? And it what ways do I have to sacrifice something in my life in order to receive the benefits? The individual weighs the pros and cons of a relationship and often times if the benefits dont outweigh the costs, people are likely to avoid the person or break off the relationship.

Symbolic Interaction Theory-"views humans as cognitive creatures who are influenced and shaped by their interaction experiences." In other words, what happens in interaction is a  result not merely of what individuals bring to it, but also of the interaction itself. One aspect of this theory is definition of the situation. If the situation is defined as real, it will have real consequences-our interpretation of the situation is just as important as anything else that is true about the situation itself.

Conflict Theory-"focuses on contradictory interests, inequalities, and the resulting conflict and change." In other words, these groups have different interests, needs, and goals which can even be contradictory with one another and thus cause conflict. Not everyone can be satisfied because of the things that people are striving for. This theory is seen in explanations that focus on two types of groups: social class and gender.

No single theory can encompass the field of marriage and family and thus we see that there are several which do their best at explaining some phenomenons seen.

Social Trends and The Family

The trends facing our country today regarding the family are not something that  the typical person would identify as shocking or alarming. Higher divorce rates, marrying later in life, fewer people actually getting married, per-marital sex has gone up, and so has the rate of couples cohabiting. These are trends that are very obvious to our day and age, but learning more about them kind of makes me a little worried for countries future. It is proven that married couples have higher rates of happiness than do single people, yet many people want to wait until way later in life to marry or never marry at all? I don't understand why.
So many people now-a-days don't want to have kids. The average child had per couple is approximately 1.5 children. Do people not realize that if we want to be able to continue to repopulate the earth that we have to have an absolute minimum of two children? Good thing there are us Mormon's that have like 12 children per couple that keep us going ;). But seriously! It is so sad to me that these trends are occurring and that no one realizes the detrimental effects it could have on our children and our future.