The Psychosocial Interior of the Family

Gerald Handel, Gail G. Whitchurch

Transaction Publishers - Psychology - 674 pages

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 received his Ph.D. from the University of Chicago, where he served on the Committee on Human Development. He has written many books such as Making a Life in Yorkville, Childhood Socialization, and The Psychosocial Interior of the Family all available from Transaction. He has also written many articles on the family. He is currently professor emeritus at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York.

Gail G. Whitchurch is associate professor of Communication Studies, adjunct associate professor of Sociology, and adjunct associate professor of International Studies at Indiana University- Bloomington. She is the author of many articles in research and practice journals. She was also co-founder and past chair of the Family Communication Division of the National Communication Association.

Contents

• The Family as a Psychosocial Organization: xxix
• Marriage and the Construction of Reality An Exercise in the Microsociology of Knowledge: 15
• Marriage and the Construction of Reality Then and Now: 33
• Using Qualitative Methods to Study Families: 49
• Qualitative Study of Whole Families in a Time of Great Change: 65
• Family Research A Case for Interviewing Couples: 83
• Ethical Dilemmas in Qualitative Family Research: 105
• The Three Phases of Systemic Maturation: 125
• Family Boundary Ambiguity Perceptions of Adult Stepfamily Members: 135
• Challenging Boundaries An Adolescent in a Homosexual Family: 155
• An Anthropological Approach to Family Studies: 173
• Family Ecologies of Ethnic Minority Children: 183
• Determinants of Family Culture Effects on Fatherhood: 207
• The Appropriation of the Parental Role through Communication during the Transition to Parenthood: 225
• The Dialectic of Marital and Parental Relationships within Stepfamily: 251
• Television and Family Interaction: 277
• Constructing the Family: 295
• The Work of Love: 309
• Women Work and Family Changing Gender Roles and Psychological WellBeing: 321
• Power in the Family: 337
• Reconstructing the Family: 359
• Making Family under a Shiftwork Schedule Air Force Security Guards and Their Wives: 371
• Marital Conflict over Intimacy: 397
• Stages in the Infants Separation from the Mother: 415
• Dual Parenting and the Duel of Intimacy: 445
• Centripetal and Centrifugal Forces in the Adolescent Separation Drama: 461
• Central Issues in the Construction of Sibling Relationships: 489
• Building Gay Families: 521
• Coping with Family Transitions Winners Losers and Survivors: 533
• The Downwardly Mobile Family: 557
• Sex Codes and Family Life Among Northtons Youth: 581
• A Different Kind of Parenting: 605
• Backward toward the Postmodern Family Reflections on Gender Kinship and Class in the Silicon: 639
• Index: 665

Bibliographic information

• Title: The Psychosocial Interior of the Family
• Editors: Gerald Handel, Gail G. Whitchurch
• Publisher: Transaction Publishers
• ISBN: 0202369900, 9780202369907
• Length: 674 pages
• Subjects: Psychology / General