Toward More Family-Centered Family Sciences

"Much academic writing on families reflects the ideal of non-involvement and distanced subject matter. Toward More Family-Centered Family Sciences suggests that the family sciences, in their efforts to be scientific, and for a variety of other reasons, have increased the distance between researcher and subject, to the detriment of both. The authors argue that family and kinship ties are transcendent ties, boundary-crossing in numerous ways, and often more comprehensible by intuitive and qualitative methods than by quantitative measurement." "They emphasize family love, in contrast and in addition to romantic love, and urge students of family life to pay more attention to the processes of love, commitment, respect, and sacrifice in family contexts. They recommend a more collaborative, family-centered approach in which family researchers reshape the scientific monologue about families to include more dialogue with families."--Jacket.