Understanding Family Policy Theories and Applications [Paperback]

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.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
The Empirical Basis for Changing Family Definitions
Family Trends in Context
Competing Definitions of Family and Policy Trends
A Social Change Model
PART TWO: POLICY FRAMEWORKS: CONVERTING PERCEPTIONS OF FAMILY PROBLEMS INTO POLICIES AND PROGRAMS FOR FAMILIES
The Institutional Framework
Family Policy as the Outcome of Institutional Arrangements
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 ThelS4