Understanding Family Policy
Theories and Applications
Second Edition
- Shirley .L Zimmerman - University of Minnesota, USA
296 pages | SAGE Publications, Inc
The Second Edition of Understanding Family Policy continues to provide the conceptual framework, offered in the First Edition, which enables students and professionals to examine and analyze government policies and their impact on the family. Features new to this edition include: new theoretical frameworks and their applications; an update of the recent history of family policy; a reinforcement of the link between theory and the everyday life experiences people have with the policy process; and study questions and a glossary.
PART ONE: DEFINITIONS, TRENDS AND MODELS
Defining Family Policy
Family Trends
Family Trends in Context
Competing Definitions of Family and Policy Trends
PART TWO: POLICY FRAMEWORKS: CONVERTING PERCEPTIONS OF FAMILY PROBLEMS INTO POLICIES AND PROGRAMS FOR FAMILIES
The Institutional Framework
The Rational Choice Framework
Variations on Policy as Rational Choice
Interest Group Theory, Elite Theory and Systems Theory
PART THREE: FAMILY FRAMEWORKS: TOOLS FOR CONCEPTUALIZING FAMILY WELL-BEING
Families as Social Systems and Systems of Exchange and Choice
Symbolic Interaction, Family Stress Theory, Conflict Theory, Feminist and Cultural Theories
PART FOUR: PUTTING IT ALL BACK TOGETHER
Reframing the Policy-Family Relationship so It Works Better for Families