Nature of Family

Paper Summary:

In this article, the writer notes that the dynamics of the family and the multifaceted nature of it provide the opportunity for a multidisciplinary approach to it. Further, the writer discusses that biology, anthropology, history, literature and psychology can all provide at least a limited view, that, if put together, create a more holistic vision of the family, as it has changed and evolved through time. The writer points out that each discipline has strengths and weaknesses with regard to identifying family dynamic and status. This work briefly addresses how the information from the sources can be integrated, or is incongruent. The writer also discusses what still needs to be learned to have a complete picture of the nature of families.

From the Paper:

"This observation could be explained by communication differences or many environmental cues that are present in the human world but are not in the primate world, but many years of scientific observation of both primate and human lends credence to Smith's claim. Additionally, the literature piece 'A Long Days Journey into Night', as well as many other pieces of literature that discuss human maltreatment of children seem to effectively prove Smith's point. Smith's work is focused mainly on the biological and psychological aspects of child rearing but does not always have a great deal to say about the family in general, though one could apply some of the basics in the work to a broader understanding of how these elements, of great import interact to alter the nature of the family in a more general sense."
"In 'Our Babies, Ourselves Small' also focuses on the child rearing aspect of family, as is suggested by the name, but she does so from a multicultural perspective (ethnopediatrics), combining anthropology, pediatrics and child development disciplines to review extensive cross cultural research on child-rearing."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Smith, Harriet J., Parenting for Primates, New York: Harvard University Press, 2006.
• Small, Meredith, Our Babies, Ourselves, New York: Anchor, 1999.
• Coontz, Stephanie, Marriage, A History: From Obedience to Intimacy or How Love Conquered Marriage. New York: Viking Adult, 2005.
• O'Neil, Eugene, Long Days Journey Into the Night, New Haven: Yale University Press, 2002.
• McGoldrick, Monica. You Can Go Home Again. New York: W.W. Norton and Co. 1997.

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