3). Pick one concept from the reading this week and discuss it in detail.
I think one of the most important things we learned this week is maintaining equity in family relationships. A lot of families do not have equality among all of the family members. Most of the time the decision maker is either one or both of the parents. I grew up in a family where my dad was always the decision maker. My mom, brother, and sister never got to say anything about the decisions my dad made. He was always really stubborn and sometimes he'd make a mistake but thankfully his decisions benefited the family. In this part of the chapter, Woods talks about the social exchange theory. This theory states that "as long as your rewards outweigh your costs, the net outcome of the relationship is positive, so you are satisfied" (Woods). I believe this is very important for making any family happy. As long as the social exchange theory is applied to everyone in the family, then no one can complain :)
To be honest, there is a slight hierarchy within my family system as well. Though equity does prove important to maintaining a healthy family relationship, the natural human instinct causes the younger members to be looked down upon compared to the older members. It is only natural that the elders make the decisions and receive the luxuries. Instead of seeing this as inequality, however, I see this as the elder members guiding the younger members down the road they see fit. At times, that road may be misleading, but in most cases, that road will help guide that younger child in the right direction.
ReplyDeleteIn my family I am an only child so there is really no one to look down upon or up to--therefore, I look up to both sets of parents when seeking advice or wanting to vent or complain. Although with my dad and stepmother, the decisions are made collaboratively. I think this is a good approach because they make final decisions together and not independently. This can cause less conflict in the end because they were both the decision makers and have no one person to blame. They are a team in everything they do, as in they do it together. I look up to them in this way and hope my marriage with my loved one is similar to this.
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