Theorizing Family Change: A Review and Reconceptualization

Keywords

deinstitutionalization, diversity, family change, individualization, institutional logics

Abstract

We review how recent family scholarship theorizes recent family change as either a process of deinstitutionalization, in which family can no longer be understood in institutional terms, or a process of diversification, in which family life is expanding but not losing its institutional character. We argue that both approaches emerge out of and depend on a social institutional framework for understanding family that was developed in 20th‐century sociology. Despite producing a wealth of research, both approaches have difficulty adequately conceptualizing the institutional character of family and providing ways of theorizing family change. We introduce an alternative to a social institutional framework, a Weberian institutional logics approach, which provides a different way to understand the institutional character of family life and thereby affords new interpretations and avenues for theory and research on family change in the 21st century.

Original Publication Citation

Knapp, Stan J. & Greg Wurm. 2019. “Theorizing Family Change: A Review and Reconceptualization.” Journal of Family Theory and Review 11: 212-229.

Document Type

Peer-Reviewed Article

Publication Date

2019-05-06

Permanent URL

http://hdl.lib.byu.edu/1877/6916

Publisher

Journal of Family Theory & Review

Language

English

College

Family, Home, and Social Sciences

Department

Sociology

University Standing at Time of Publication

Associate Professor

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