Family, The: Its Structure and Interaction Book

A detailed introduction to the sociological study of the family is F. Ivan Nye and Felix M. Berardo, The Family: Its Structures and Interaction, dealing extensively with the family cycle and marriage. Our purpose in this book has been to illuminate the nature of the family through maximal use of sociological research findings and selective utiliization of key sociological concepts. Moreover, where it is sufficiently developed, social theory is introduced to explain various patterns of family behavior. For the most part the text focuses on the American family system, for two reasons: 1) the most extensive research on the family has been conducted in the United States, and 2) an adequate depiction of the family in various cultures properly requires sufficient space that a separate volume is necessary to that task. Analysis of family behavior over the years has been accomplished by scholars from a variety of disciplines emphasizing different conceptual frameworks and theories. Even within sociology there exist a number of conceptual approaches to studying the family, each having certain advantages and limitations. We have taken the position that it would be unduly constricting to utilize only one approach to the exclusion of others. Our own thinking has been influenced considerably by some of the concepts in sociology drawn from exchange theory at the micro level and structure-functional and systems theory at the macro level. We present the family as an institution continuously in the process of change. The crucial functions of child care and socialization have received relatively light treatment in previous texts. We attempt to remedy this by providing a chapter on socialization, one on adolescence, as well as related chapters on nonmarital sexual involvements and premature marriages. We also pay attention to the latter half of the family life-cycle. We include separate chapters on the middle-aged family, the retired family, the families disrupted by death.Read More