Duggar Family Case Study

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Duggar Family

One of the most popular televisions shows currently is "19 Kids and Counting" featuring the ever-growing Duggar family. The hit series on The Learning Channel, is hosted by the Duggar parents, Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar, as well as the family's 19 children (nine girls and 10 boys) and various celebrity visitors and other multi-member families who help keep the show fresh and interesting. Clearly, any family with 21 members will involve a complex social system that provides a useful framework in which to examine various theories and concepts related to social units. To this end, this paper provides a review of the relevant literature to examine the social system of the Duggar family from three theoretical and five conceptual perspectives, a definition and discussion concerning these theories and concepts and how the social unit demonstrates these, followed by a description and illustration of the various ways in which the social system promotes or blocks the achievement and maintenance of health and well-being for the Duggar family. Finally, a summary of the research and important findings are presented in the conclusion.

Review and Analysis

1.

Framework for examination of the social system of the Duggar Family:

Theory No. 1: Social Comparison Theory

Theory No. 2: Individual Selective Theory

Theory No. 3: Reflected Appraisal Theory

Concept No. 1: "Larger is better" as an economic incentive.

Concept No. 2: "Importance of religious beliefs is determining family size."

Concept No. 3: "Larger families help instill fundamental ethics and values."

Concept No. 4: "Reality television's role in shaping American views."

Concept No. 5: "Educational advantages of large families."

2.

Definition and discussion concerning the foregoing theories and concepts.

Theory No. 1: Social Comparison Theory: This theoretical perspective focuses on how people evaluate their opinions and desires by comparing themselves to others (White, 2009).

Theory No. 2: Individual Selective Theory. Control and selectivity are the foci of this theoretical perspective; this theory holds that people can control and select:

1. Who they consider significant;

2. Opinions and voices people consider significant;

3. Who people interact with frequently; and,

4. Environments people place themselves in (White, 2009).

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Theory No. 3: Reflected Appraisal Theory: This theory maintains that the views people have concerning themselves are influenced by their perceptions of how others perceive them; the respective importance of how others' views people they regard as being significant are the result of the following:

1. Their relationship to them;

2. Their knowledge; and,

3. Their status (White, 2009).

Concept No. 1: "Larger is better" as an economic incentive.

Concept No. 2: "Importance of religious beliefs is determining family size."

Concept No. 3: "Larger families help instill fundamental ethics and values."

Concept No. 4: "Reality television's role in shaping American views."

Concept No. 5: "Educational advantages of large families."

a.

Examples of how the social system demonstrates each theory and concept. Salient examples of the foregoing theories and concepts are presented, respectively, in Table 1 and 2 below.

Table 1

Examples of the Duggar Social System: Theories

Theory

Example

Theory No. 1: Social Comparison Theory

An example of how the Duggars evaluate their opinions and desires by comparing themselves to others can be seen in their regular appearance in The New American, newspaper tabloids and other mainstream media outlets. They make no secret of their family planning and encourage others to follow their example.

Theory No. 2: Individual Selective Theory

The Duggars routinely interact with other families that have larger numbers of children, both for the socialization opportunities these meetings provide their children but to gain their perspectives on rearing large families as well.

Theory No. 3: Reflected Appraisal Theory

The Duggar family's primary guidance is their religious faith; however, although not explicitly identified in the literature, it is reasonable to assume that they place great credence in the views of their reality television series producer.

Table 2

Examples of the Duggar Social System: Concepts

Concept

Example

Concept No. 1: "Larger is better" as an economic incentive.

The Duggars have been highly successful with a large family business model. According to one observer, "Contrary to the popular view, having a large family has not impoverished the Duggars. They made a family.....

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