Wednesday, January 30, 2013

I thought that learning about diversity and cultures was interesting today. Something that I found particular interest in, however, was how any social scientist can "study" a culture, but doing so has its  negative aspects and its benefits. We can really never assume that we know what a culture is if we have not participated in it, and that statistical studies are often just that: statistics. A particular culture or family structure cannot be placed under a wide label or stereotype. I also thought it was neat how learning a culture can help one interact peaceably within cultures and can help communication. It'll be fascinating to see how ties between cultural boundaries and diversity changes and impacts a family. Does conducting these studies enable social scientists to be able to notice how trends and patterns in cultures can improve families or be detrimental to them? How much do internal issues within a family change the culture of a group? I can't wait to see how all these things tie together.

Friday, January 25, 2013

I really liked the role playing that happened in class today. I thought the representation of family therapy was really neat, and it could potentially be very eye-opening to one who doesn't understand or know the benefits of family therapy. I thought this was a great lesson by visual learning. I also enjoyed learning about what the ideal boundaries are in a family. I think keeping this in mind and establishing this with my own husband and family someday will be very beneficial.

Wednesday, January 16th, 2013

I've thought that the discussions we've been having in class recently have been really interesting. I'm enjoying being able to discuss and begin to understand the effects that the familial trends of today (i.e. increased numbers of divorce, increased cohabitation, having less children, etc.) have on society and on the family unit individually. However, as we have been discussing the problems with family and social science research, it makes me feel skeptical. Is there really a way to know and measure these trends? Does it only consist of guesswork? I'm anxious to see if the answers to my questions will be solved as the semester goes on.

Thursday, January 10, 2013

I'm really excited to keep learning more in this class! Our discussion on Wednesday was fascinating to me, as well as learning about ways that sampling and the study of family science indeed has many issues. It makes me wonder as to how it would be possible to really get credible information, on any issue. Is it even possible to realistically portray information on such vast topics such as same-gender parenthood? Will there ever be a way to gather such information correctly? I feel that it'll be interesting to explore this topic further and to expand my views through these learning and thinking processes.