#2

This week in my family relations class we read about the different theories relating to family life. The goal for this week was to have a basic understanding of the theories: exchange theory, symbolic interaction theory, and conflict theory. Also to…

"Understand and discuss the notions of family as a system, or how individuals can be viewed as a system of interacting parts."

"Understand and discuss key systems principles, including organization or "wholeness", family rules, homeostasis, feedback, boundaries and subsystems."

"Practice explaining these concepts to others and applying to common family phenomena."

So, I thought I would share what I have learned about those family life theories from class discussions as well as reading “Family System Theory, from Smith, et al - Exploring Family Theories” and chapter one of “Marriage and families, Lauer and Lauer”.

Exchange Theory

Exchange theory has to do with costs versus rewards, pros versus cons. If a relationships seems to be costing us more than it is rewarding us, then we will not want to be part of that relationship. We want to keep our costs lower than our rewards and if we feel that we are not in a rewarding relationship we are more likely to end it. Costs can be anything such as emotional energy, money, time etc. Some examples of rewards are, emotional satisfaction, feeling safe/loved, time etc. People want to feel like they are getting equal amount of effort from their partner as they are putting in. That can go for any type of relationship. Marriage, dating, friendship, sibling bond and so on.

Symbolic Interaction Theory

Symbolic interaction theory says we are shaped by our experiences of interactions with others. Which means we make life decisions based on interactions with people or even a singular interaction with one individual. An example from the readings was that a woman might decide to focus on her career rather than marriage because she may have had a negative interaction with a man in the past. I can even see this in my own life, after a negative interaction with a cashier at a store I decided not to go to that store anymore, because of my positive interactions with my English teacher in high school I decided to take his class again. It all depends on how we look at the situation and what we interpret/take away. The symbolic interaction theory has similarities to exchange theory, if the interaction costs us we will not want to have that interaction again. Similarly, if the interaction rewards us then we will want to have that interaction again.

Conflict Theory

Conflict theory has to do with the fact that not everyone can be satisfied. Everyone is trying to reach their own necessities, interests and goals but there may not be enough resources for everyone to meet their desires. Obviously, that causes conflict because some people are getting what they want or need while others are not. In the reading it was talking about how conflict theory ties into social class. The higher you are on the social class scale the easier it is to get the things you need and want because you have more resources available.  This can cause conflict between people of different classes because the difference in resources and opportunities.

 

All of the theories are an attempt to understand family dynamics in their own unique ways. After learning about these theories it is interesting to apply them to my own life/and family and have an offered explanation to why I or others make certain decisions or how our interactions affect each other.

 

Come back for next weeks blog!