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An incisive, thorough introduction to current theories of the family, this text balances the diversity and richness of a broad scope of scholarly work with the conciseness needed for ease of use in a one-semester course for upper-division undergraduate and beginning graduate students. Through two editions, this best-selling text has drawn upon seven major theoretical frameworks developed by key social scientists to explain variation in family life. These frameworks include: social exchange and choice, symbolic-interaction, family life course development, systems, conflict, feminist, and ecological. Readers of the Third Edition will welcome the addition of an eighth framework - funcitional theories - along with more suggestions for integrating theory to guide a research program and more applications for those going on to careers in the helping professions.