Duggar Family

¶ … 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). 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 project of building a 7,000 square foot home, and own it debt free!" (Mass, 2007, p. 33). Both parents are also licensed real estate agents and the father is well-known outside of their reality television series, having served in the Arkansas House of Representatives from 1999 to 2003 as well as being an unsuccessful candidate for the U.S. Senate in 2002 (Mass, 2007). The family also earns an undisclosed sum for their participation in the reality show. Concept No.

2: "Importance of religious beliefs is determining family size." The entire Duggar family subscribes to the evangelical Christian Quiverfull movement that holds children are blessings and should be viewed as a reward (Mass, 2007). According to one observer, "The most visible aspect of the Duggar family, however, is their strong religious faith" (Standey, 2010, p. 34).

This point is also made on the family's popular Web site (www.duggarfamily.com) wherein the family stresses that: "Our #1 goal is to lead our children to seek a close relationship with God & give Him every area of their lives" (quoted in Stanley, 2010, p. 34). Concept No. 3: "Larger families help instill ethics and values." Each of the Duggar children assumes responsibility for maintaining the household and caring for and teaching younger siblings. As Stanley puts it, "These are all happy, well-adjusted children, in a very loving environment" (2010, p. 34). Concept No.

4: "Reality television's role in shaping American views." A recent study by Assadourian (2009) suggests that the Duggars have an impact on American society that is disproportionate even for a family of their size. According to Assadourian, "Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar, a reproductively energetic family [are] prominently showcased on the Discovery Health Channel" (p. 28). This author emphasizes that encouraging American families to have more children is irresponsible: "The average U.S.

family has 2.1 children, yet from a global resource perspective each of these children uses the resources of 9.4 children in a low-income country. In other words, the average U.S. family has about the equivalent of 20 children (while the Duggars have 169). So the problem is more to be found in rich countries than in poor countries where families are having just three to five children" (Assadourian, 2009, p. 29). Concept No.

5: "Educational advantages of large families." Each of the Duggar children assumes responsibility for mentoring and teaching younger siblings in their high-tech computer-equipped home-schooled environment (Stanley, 2010). b. Discussion of relevant diversity issues. As the "all American family," there are no discernible sexual orientation issues, and the entire family faithfully subscribes to the same religion with identical genetic backgrounds. Nevertheless, there are some ranges of intellect and talent that would be expected from any 21 different people in other settings. 3. Description and illustration of ways in which the social system.