Understanding the Family

Reviews / Votes

`Provide[s] a good overview of current family theory and research.... well written and worth having' - British Journal of Medical Psychology



`This is the sort of book that I wish had existed when I was asked to teach "The Family" at short notice some years ago. It is another of the excellent collections from the Open University and covers every important dimension in the study of families in their macro- and micro-contexts.... The eight chapters introduce students to sociological, social policy, psychological and feminist analyses of "the family" in a very accessible style, incorporating exercises throughout which encourage students both to draw on their own experiences and to come to grips with the arguments presented.... It is one of the strengths of this collection that virtually every chapter is sensitive to issues of class, "race", gender and sexuality in relation to the topics under discussion.... There is a particularly good discussion of the concept of ideology and how it might be understood in relation to debates about the family, something which is noticeably lacking in most social welfare books I come across nowadays, which tend to treat "ideology" as an unproblematic concept.... This is altogether an excellent collection for students of social policy, social care or social work, covering as it does both subjective and objective features of family life and the logics of inequality within which they are embedded' - Child and Family Social Work





`The book provides an overview of major belief systems about the family, which are intelligently summarized, often with the use of thoughtfully selected excerpts from major source material. The final endnote, by Roger Sapsford, is particularly insightful as he identifies the problems that arise from trying to confine the family within the private sphere and neatly separating the private from the public aspects of family. Overall, this book is a constructive and comprehensive guide to understanding the family' - Population and Development Review