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Metatheorizing in Family Theory

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Sourcebook of Family Theories and Methodologies

Abstract

A key purpose of theorizing in family science is to develop explanations of family phenomena. There are other purposes for which theory might be constructed (Klein & White, 1996; Schneider, 2006; Swedberg, 2014), but in this chapter, I will discuss theory for the purpose of explanation (Bengtson et al., 2005a; Fine & Fincham, 2013a). Theories are created by theorizing, and theorizing is thus any process by which a researcher develops explanations. While theorizing is about understanding the world, metatheorizing is about understanding theorizing. One may distinguish three different kinds of metatheorizing (Ritzer, 1988):

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Acknowledgement

I would like to thank Kari Adamsons, April Few-Demo, Rob Palkovitz, David Klein, and the audiences at TCRM Workshops within the National Conference on Family Relations for critique of earlier versions of this chapter.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Sociology, College of Liberal Arts, Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis, Indianapolis, IN, USA

    David C. Bell (Emeritus Professor,)

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  1. David C. Bell
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Correspondence to David C. Bell .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Human Development and Family Sciences, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, USA

    Kari Adamsons

  2. Department of Human Development and Family Sciences, College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, USA

    April L. Few-Demo

  3. Department of Human Development and Family Sciences, College of Education and Human Development University of Missouri, Columbia, MO, USA

    Christine Proulx

  4. Department of Family Science, School of Public Health, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA

    Kevin Roy

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Bell, D.C. (2022). Metatheorizing in Family Theory. In: Adamsons, K., Few-Demo, A.L., Proulx, C., Roy, K. (eds) Sourcebook of Family Theories and Methodologies. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-92002-9_2

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