The Psychosocial Interior of the Family

Drawing upon findings from many disciplines including sociology, communication, family studies, human development, psychology and anthropology-this book provides the first composite study of the whole family and of the complex interplay between self and collectivity in family life. It departs sharply from the traditional two-person, cause-effect models used in conventional studies, and attempts to delineate a social psychology of the family. This book undertakes to define and understand the nature of families, to point out ways of discerning different family characters, and to comprehend the processes by which these characters are established and maintained; by so doing, it introduces a new dimension into the study of family behavior and provides a framework within which meaningful investigations and practical applications can be pursued. This long-awaited fourth edition continues the goal of preceding editions: to understand families in terms of the kinds of interaction through which family life is constructed. Contributors drawn from a wide variety of disciplines sociology; communication; family studies; human development; psychology; anthropology; and social work - provide a range of authoritative and up-to-date sources on the family and interpersonal relations, including newly emergent forms of family organization. In providing a new framework for fruitful investigation and practical application, this volume contains the best available interdisciplinary work on the social psychology of the family.

Gerald Handel Department of Sociology The City College and The Graduate School City University of New York

Marriage and the Construction of Reality: An Exercise in the Microsociology of Knowledge 3 Marriage and the Construction of Reality: Then and Now PART II. RESEARCH METHODS 4 Using Qualitative Methods to Study Families 5 Qualitative Study of Whole Families in a Time of Great Change 6 Family Research: MEANINGS OF FAMILY BOUNDARIES 8 The Three Phases of Systemic Maturation 9 Family Boundary Ambiguity: Perceptions of Adult Stepfamily Members 10 Challenging Boundaries: An Adolescent in a Homosexual Family PART IV. FAMILIES AND CULTURE 11 An Anthropological Approach to Family Studies 12 Family Ecologies of Ethnic Minority Children 13 Determinants of Family Culture: Effects on Fatherhood PART V. THE FAMILY AS A UNIVERSE OF COMMUNICATION 14 The Appropriation of the Parent Role through Communication during the Transition of Parenthood 15 The Dialectic of Marital and Parental Relationships within Stepfamily 16 Television and Family Interaction PART VI. LOVE, WORK, POWER, GENDER, AND MAKING A HOME LIFE 17 Constructing the Family 18 The Work of Love 19 Women, Work, and the Family: Changing Gender Roles and Psychological Well-Being 20 Power in the Family 21 Reconstructing the Family 22 Making Family under a Shiftwork Schedule: Air Force Security Guards and Their Wives PART VII. PATTERNING SEPARATENESS AND CONNECTEDNESS 23 Marital Conflict over Intimacy 24 Stages in the Infant's Separation from the Mother 25 Dual Parenting and the Duel of Intimacy 26 Centripetal and Centrifugal Forces in the Adolescent Separation Drama 27 Central Issues in the Construction of Sibling Relationships 28 Building Gay Families PART VIII. STRESS, CRISIS, AND SEPARATENESS/CONNECTEDNESS 29 Coping with Family Transitions: Winners, Losers, and Survivors 30 The Downwardly Mobile Family 31 Sex Codes and Family Life Among Northton's Youth 32 A Different Kind of Parenting EPILOGUE 33 Backward Toward the Postmodern Family: Reflections on Gender, Kinship, and Class in the Silicon Valley