家庭社會學留學生dissertationTheoretical and Methodological Perspectives in family studies
1. Introduction.
Literally, family is determined in Webster’s Dictionary as parents and their children regarded as a group. It is a group where people are united into one identity. Families are often placed on the top of social hierarchies with its great power that unites all its members. That determines something more than the unity of each member. There are a lot of components in the notion of a family. That is why the author speaks about such notion as ‘families’.
Concerning the new century, it is regarded that one of the oldest social forms - the families - will be of major significance in composing individual and group life in respect of some vital spheres beginning from education, economic status and health. Today, every society becomes more various and stratified. There are some reasons of that families go on to be of great significance for providing their members with support and knowledge. They are: groups contain clear identities; economic restructuring and globalization remodel the old structures into the new ones; and state support for social prosperity continues to drop.

2. Changes in family structure.
作者在文中提到關于家庭的社會化的地方,一個孩子學習法則行為的社會。那些孩子學會很大程度上取決于類型的一個家庭他/她住在。作者指出這樣的主要類型為核心家庭的家庭(父母雙方),大家庭的成員(在其他親戚如姑姑、叔叔、伯伯、祖父母等等住在一起),和類型的婚姻(包括合法婚姻,同居,分居在一起,一夫一妻制,串行一夫一妻制,串行一夫多妻制,一夫多妻制,一妻多夫制)。

應該指出的是,該家庭的趨勢是隨著西方非院舍化今日的婚姻。此外,穩定mother-father解體的小孩引起的核保觀察。這一趨勢的家庭分裂是首先出現在高水平的人離婚中已經成為父母的生長優勢的父母住在民事婚姻。沒有其他的國內趨勢就是可怕得多的兒童福利和國家長期的安全。

根據政客從政治的觀點來看,未來的繁榮主要威脅國家的數量增加兒童的家庭里長大的一個“父類”。事實是在那些家庭里特別對母親還是沒有結過婚。現在家庭和two-parents證明作為反貧困計劃,而且是保證孩子的情緒福利方法和成功。更重要的是,數量的增加單親家庭廣泛被認為是理由的國家的最真摯的問題涉及犯罪、暴力、表現欠佳的學校的藥。

本論題的家庭是一個復雜的,有必要進行研究的幾種觀點的學科。家庭為主題在社會學的角度進行macrosociology一般,從一個主要問題microsociology調查在較小的語境和話題,比如家庭關系,他們的影響人類的發展等。

In the article the author tells about families as the places of socialization where a child learns about the main rule of behavior in the society. And the things that a child learns greatly depend on the type of a family he/she lives in. The author points out such major types of families as nuclear families (with both parents), extended families (where other relatives such as aunts, uncles, grandparents and so on live together), and types of marriage (includes legal marriage, cohabitation, living apart together, monogamy, serial monogamy, serial polygamy, polygyny, polyandry).#p#分頁標題#e#
It should be noted that the families tendency of present day is the deinstitutionalization of marriage. Besides, the steady disintegration of the mother-father child raising nucleus is observed. This tendency of family fragmentation is first of all seen in the high divorce level among people who have already become parents and the growing predominance of parents who live in civil marriage. There is no other domestic trend that is more fearful to the welfare of children and to the long-term national safety.
According to politicians from the political point of view, the main threat to the future prosperity of the state is the increasing quantity of children being brought up in families with one parent. This fact is particularly right in those families where the mother was never married. The families with two-parents is now proved as an anti-poverty program, and also the only guaranteed way to children's emotional welfare and success. More than that, the increase in the number of one-parent families is broadly considered to be the reason of the nation's most earnest problems involving crime, violence, failing schools, drugs.
The topic of the family is a complex one and there is a necessity to conduct the study from the points of view of several disciplines. The family as the topic in sociology is examined from the macrosociology perspective in general, and from the microsociology one investigating the major questions and topics in smaller contexts, such as family relationships, their impact on human development and so on.

3. Theoretical and Methodological Perspectives in family studies. It is expected that families are to assist people with current changes in family patterns. Today, there exist many forms contemporary families take. It is stated that many aspects of families – composition, meaning and responsibilities – have recently changed greatly (Anderson, Sabatelli, 2003, p.167). The program in family at Michigan State is elaborated to examine traditional and contemporary family forms from a variety of theoretical and methodological perspectives. The Family program presumes the study of traditional and diverse families in various structural contexts using various types of methodological approaches. It is necessary to mention that the author touches upon such question as structural functionalism that analyzes the organization of a society, its structure and the family as an important unit that fulfils main functions in the society. The family is compared with the organic as it is a system with many subsystems that function together. Social exchange theory and rational theories are other means of explaining the relations and ties in families. An individual creates his/her own environment at the interpersonal level and, simultaneously he/she is changed by this very environment. Such point of view is examined from the interactional-transactional perspective. Gender stratification is another interesting subtheme in the article where the author explains the gender roles of males and females in the society. Additionally it is stated the feminism in family studies where the motherhood is regarded to be a social construct and not a natural product.#p#分頁標題#e#

4. Conclusion. The given paper presents a short analysis of theoretical and methodological perspectives in family studies. The article review describes such major themes as: social inequalities, family diversity, family functions in the society, effective community and gender roles.
References. Baran, Stanley J. Introduction to Mass Communication: Media Literacy & Culture. http://www.ttc-switch.com/dissertation_writing/sociology/2012/0220/1056.html Mountain View, California: Mayfield Publishing Company, 2001. Maxine Baca Zinn, D. Stanley Eitzen (2005) “Diversity in Families”, Publisher: Allyn & Bacon, 592 pp.
Jaipaul L. Roopnarine, Uwe P. Gielen (2005) “Families in Global Perspective”, Publisher: Allyn & Bacon, 400 pp.
Stephen A. Anderson, Ronald M. Sabatelli (2003) “Family Interaction: A Multigenerational Developmental Perspective”, Publisher: Allyn & Bacon, 370 pp.