Rodzina, co to takiego? – teoretyczne wymiary zróżnicowania w definiowaniu oraz badaniu rodzin
A Family, What Is It? – the Theoretical Dimensions of Diversity in Defining and Researching Families

Author(s): Małgorzata Sikorska
Subject(s): Sociology
Published by: Wydawnictwa Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego
Keywords: family sociology; everyday life sociology; nuclear family; inclusive family definition; being family & doing family perspectives
Summary/Abstract: The main aim of the paper is to analyse the diversity in the ways of defining the notion of family, which is revealed in the work of scholars dealing with family life, and which also resonates in the methodology used in the research of this area. The author describes three dimensions of differentiation: 1) the approach of “social reformers” vs. the approach of sociologists that existed at the beginning of familiology as a scientific sub-discipline; 2) the definition of the nuclear family vs. the “inclusive definition of the family” and 3) the “new” approach to family research based on the perspective of doing family as opposed to the perspective of being family. At the end of the paper, the author poses a provocative question: is the sociology of the family as a scientific sub-discipline justified at the present time?

• Details
• Contents