Family Law and Policy

Selected Theories Relevant for Family/Public Policy

Ecological Theory

Bronfenbrenner’s theory ordinarily is used in our curriculum to examine human development in an ecological context. Here we use the theory to help us think about the institutional structures and contexts in which individuals and families develop, specifically the governmental and policy contexts. Families interact and develop in context with their environments. Families have the ability to respond, change, develop, act on, and modify their environment. For the purposes of this course, our focus primarily is on the elements of the exosystem, such as government and policy institutions; but we know that all the systems interact . This iterative process happens at the level of family structure and family function. Reminds us to think about how government and policy institutions support or limit families in their attempts to perform their functions.

For a quick look at a picture of the classic ecological model, check this site:

http://faculty.weber.edu/tlday/human.development/ecological.htm 

Rational Choice Theory

This is the classic theory used by policy scholars and political scientists to study public decision making. Social scientists tend to use this theory as a starting point, a foundational perspective, rather than treating it as orthodoxy or reality. It is the position that policy makers go through several rational decision making steps during the policy process: defining the problem in objective terms, including assessment of values and biases; search for information, including an assessment of scarce resources; weighing costs and rewards of various alternatives and of various implementation schemes; identifying the policy choice with the best outcome for the most people while minimizing the costs for most people; then making that cool-headed, objective choice. (Ha. Ha. ☺ )

We acknowledge that the process has costs associated with it, not the least of which are costs of time, energy, and effort, all of which are available to us in limited, finite supply. One Nobel Prize winning economist said “most people do not have the wits to maximize” the rational choice process. Computers can do it, but the human brain cannot. And we are not willing to turn over decisions to computers. Most people will choose a middle ground called suboptimizing: “important” elements are emphasized; “enough” alternatives are considered; “most” costs are taken into consideration; “reasonable” adjustments are projected down the road. Another common strategy is to satisfice: a somewhat made-up word that means to take the first course of action that is “good enough” after weighing the most immediately available information on costs, benefits, options, and outcomes; usually considering one option at a time, then comparing each alternative one at a time until you are satisfied. Satisficing is also called the process of being boundedly rational.

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