Family Power Structure: A Critical Comment

A concept, as viewed here, is an analytical tool designed to gain theoretical access to the phenomena of our subject matter. Evaluation thus raises the question of its theoretical fruitfulness, rather than that of empirical truth. Confronted with the concept of power structure we thus ask: what good is it in our attempts to explain the processes of marital and family interaction? Or, given the hypothetical situation that all research-technical problems listed in the recently published survey paper by Safilios-Rothschild (1970) would be solved, and we would subsequently find out everything we wish to know about who wields power in families, and under what conditions, how much would all this increase our theoretical understanding of what goes on in contemporary marriages and families? Unfortunately SafiliosRothschild does not raise this question. This constitutes, in my view, a flaw in an otherwise admirable presentation, because its omission inevitably leads to theoretical confusion. In view of the foregoing, the main focus of this brief comment will be on precisely this question: what is the theoretical strength of the family power concept? It is thus unnecessary, and uncalled for, to provide a comprehensive review of the Olson-Rabunsky and Turk-Bell research papers. Instead, their findings and conclusions will serve to provide inspiration and illustrative data. My occasional criticisms and questions are not so much directed against these papers per se, but rather, toward the still widely held theoretical stance that is reflected in the premises underlying both.