Customer Reviews

The Expanded Family Life Cycle: Individual, Family, and Social Perspectives (3rd Edition)

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

I used this book, which came highly recommended, to teach a graduate-level course in Family Therapy. At first glance it seemed like a useful text, having earned a great deal of praise from other professors. However, the book was a disappointment to both myself and my students.

While I would not go so far as to say that the book contained no useful information, much of the book's potential utility was overshadowed by the authors' transparent political agenda. An example of good clinical advice provided by the authors was to ask wealthy families, in an initial interview, how they are using their funds to help the poor. Coming across with this overtly judgmental and clinically irrelevant question in the first interview is clearly not the way to win over a troubled family.

When studying the book, it was often possible to forget that families seeking therapy may actually have troubles of their own. The articles in the book focused largely on sociopolitical issues. Obviously, one cannot discount the influence of the larger context; however, struggles with gender unfairness in the workplace are rarely the presenting problem which drives an entire family into a therapist's office. Perhaps it was for this reason that focused, practical clinical advice for the budding clinician was nearly absent from many of the articles.

Pragmatics aside, the book was also lacking in terms of scholarship. A variety of grand claims were made by various authors with limited citations to support these claims. Despite the reference lists at the end of each chapter, I found it jarring to read several consecutive paragraphs without footnotes describing, for example, the "typical" presentation of clients from different cultural groups. There was also a surprising tendency on the part of some authors to make detailed references to their personal lives in the article. While anecdotes can certainly be illustrative, they should not serve as the basis of an article.

Overall, I was very disappointed in this book and would not assign it again. While there was some useful information embedded in a few of the articles, on the whole this book attests to the need to keep textbooks agenda-free.

I had to read this book as part of my grad school program, but found every chapter a chore. As has been said before, the authors' political bias and agenda permeates nearly every page, and the chapters that aren't directly written by McGoldrick and Carter, although more promising, are still etched with this harmful bias. Having read other writings by McGoldrick especially, I was not entirely surprised by this bias, but to find it so codified and oppressive in a textbook is inexcusable.

Another huge complaint is how dated the book is. Yes it received a new edition, but most of the academic references are no more recent than 1997 or so, and the cultural references are so horribly out of date (at least 2 references to the Dan Quayle/Murphy Brown controversy in a 2005 book anyone?) that its usefulness is in question. It is unfortunate that there is apparently no better textbook dealing with the family life cycle than this angry, biased, pessimistic, closed-minded and out-dated textbook. There is some good information scattered here and there, but I think most critical thinkers will be working so hard to see it through the political haze they will have a hard time finding it.

I am very disappointed, could not force myself to finish it! This book should not be recommended for University programs. It is biased, full of stereotyping, and has "popular", rather than scientific references (with all my respect to Daniel Goldman's Emotional Intelligence commercial success). Textbooks should be professional and free of political agendas.

Okay, after reading comments on this book and the 4th ed. I thought I would write one. When utilizing this book for a class I did notice some baises of the authors, especially the comments they made about African Americans, and women. I remember one comment stating, psychological health of women goes down once they are married, and for men it increases, which can be translated into "women suffer more in marriages compared to men." I found the book interesting because it gave me an idea on how some people's opinions are. Some people may feel the quality of their life is decreased once they get married. Also, the comments made about African Americans just made me realize other individuals view point on African Americans. Now, maybe this book should not be used as a credible learning tool for some people who can't think for themselves or have no other experince with different cultures, but I think this book can be used to open readers eyes to some opinions the writers, and other authors may have. Actually, I hit a down point and sold this book back because I knew I could get the most money from it. I only logged on to buy the book back because I enjoyed it so much and enjoy a great debate and this book provides some interesting debates.

The lack of practical, usable information in this book was unbelievable. Maybe if you have never, ever, in any way considered these issues it would be helpful, but I doubt it, as there was nothing that delved beyond surface, common sense information. The gross overgenderalizations about race and culture were offesive and shocking coming from people in the field. The only thing I took from the book was a heightened awareness of the judgemental biases of people -- even those claiming to be fighting against those things.

As a psychology intern who has worked with families for teh last year, I have found this book to be extremely helpful in understanding the families that I work with. It has helped me keep their life cycles in perspective, and has allowed me to understand the not-so-conventional families. We used this book in class, and I have been surprised at the amount of times I have turned to it since. In my quest to do the best job possible, I have read many other books on family therapy. This book was extremely valuable and helpful to me, and offers realistic content that is not found in most other books.

I taught a course using this book as a text. I was very satisfied in how comprehensive the book is (covering many topics and in enough depth). I was surprised so many students also gave excellent feedback on the content. We agreed it helped us to become aware of our own prejudices, what our own thoughts of "normal" were and it also helped us to help our clients by being aware of their contexts. Complete, comprehensive and VERY readable! I highly recommend it!

This disappointing book
is pretentious and
transparently biased.

I prefer a textbook
I can learn from and trust,
to one where I find myself tolerating
stale slogans and stereotypes.

I think this may be the best book I've read on the family life cycle events we are told to anticipate (marriage, motherhood, launching of children, aging) as well as the unexpected difficulties life plunks down in our path. It is so clearly written that I recommend it not only to family therapists, but also to just plain folks who want to learn more about how families work. It's rich, comprehensive, pioneering, bold,inclusive and very helpful.

This book provides readers with comprehensive, well researched and up-to-date information on the family through all of its stages. It offers thoughtful challenges throughout about how the politics of oppression affect ALL families. I disagree heartily with the above reviewer who suggests the book is anti-men, anti-marriage or racist. Rather, the author supports families of all types and encourages readers to look beyond their own cultural upbringing and consider how a family's life cycle is affected by issues of race, class, wealth, divorce and sexual orientation.