The State of Family Theory and Research in Finland

Abstract

The history of family research in Finland dates back to 1889, when the famous sociologist Edward Westermarck published his doctoral thesis "The Origin of Human Marriage." After World War II the old anthropological and socio-historical research tradition was effectively superseded by the emerging school of American sociology. By 1952 the focus of attention in sociology was already shifting to the problems of modern society. There appeared hardly any texts during the 1950s that seriously challenged the traditional family institution. Family research invested virtually all its energies in studying the housewife and assuring people that family was alive and well. The entire field of sociological research saw some significant changes in the late 1970s. A new category-way-of-life-took the social sciences and sociology by storm. The arrival of this concept provides one example of the growing influence of Marxist research during the 1970s. Since the 1980s the attention of family researches has been shifting more ...