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...studies above seek identify and examine the changing roles and statuses of French Canadian families affected by the forces of urbanization, industrialization, capitalism and materialism. The difficulty with many of these researches, however, is that they fail to explore and fully document the qualitative changes occurring within French Canadian family life through grounded, empirical research.
This paper seeks to examine the changes to French Canadian family relationships in the bicultural community of Penetanguishene in Southern Ontario. It operationalizes a generic sociological definition of social change that may be utilized for a variety of sociological research in the area. Macionis and Gerber (1999), in their introductory sociology text, for example, define social change as "the transformation of culture and social institutions over time" (p. 608). Social change is an inclusive term referring to alterations over time in both material and non-material culture in areas such as communications, transportation, technology, culture, and values.
To examine the impact of social change on families in Penetanguishene, we rely upon data drawn from qualitative interviews. The study finds that although the forces of social change, and its concomitant processes such as technological change and materialistic values have had an impact upon attitudes, behaviors and lifestyles, it has not significantly altered the bonds of family life which are reinforced by the churches and community. The family continues to have vitality for French Canadian families in Penetanguishene. Family life serves to reinforce a sense of belonging and solidarity guarding individuals against anomie (Durkheim 1955) and alienation (Marx) in a changing world. In other words, family relationships in Penetanguishene continue to act as a barrier against capitalism, materialism, and a loss of identity among the French Canadian families in the study.
Three aspects of family life in Penetanguishene are explored. The patterns include relationships between husbands and wives, parents and children, and extended relatives. Each pattern is explored through interview data and the use of techniques of an "insider" (Schwartz and Jacobs 1979) in an attempt to more precisely determine the changes that have occurred in families of the group over three generations. It is the aim of the paper to contribute to an understanding of the changes in the French Canadian family produced by the forces of social change.
Family Relationships: A Qualitative Approach
Beginning with the works of Charles Horton Cooley (1902) George Herbert Mead (1934 [1962]) and Herbert Blumer (1951), sociologists have attempted to understand social reality using qualitative methods. The basic position of this orientation is that "to understand social phenomena, the researcher must discover the 'actor's definition of the situation'--that is, his perception and interpretation of reality and how these relate to his behaviour" (Schwartz and Jacobs 1979: 7). There are two basic ways of studying an actor's definition of the situation. One approach is the "first person method" in which each person studies "self" and compares their selfhood with the perception of others. Every human being makes use of this approach to a certain extent to function and survive in a social context. The other approach is "third person method" in which the social scientist studies "others," either by making direct inferences about them from observed actions or through the use of other secondary sources (Schwartz and Jacobs 1979: 109). The second approach is sociological and consistent with the paradigm of symbolic interactionism that "emphasizes the need to take the subjective experience and behaviour into consideration when explaining human conduct" (Blumer 1969: 3). For the second type of analysis, the sociologist is required to develop procedures and to make inferences from the research subjects. He or she must find useful ways to "interpret" the emotions, goals, and purposes of the participants. One of these techniques is the qualitative interview in which the researcher not only relies upon notes directly from the respondents but he/she also pays attention to subtle cues, gestures, and normative behavior throughout the process. The qualitative approach to interviewing is an in-depth and complex methodology designed to access the member's point of view.
The qualitative approach is valuable in the study of the French Canadian community and its family relationships. Although sociologists such as Lambert, Yackley, and Hein (1971) and Tremblay (1973) have explored the Francophone community on the level of divorce rates and family size; little has been done to explain why, in spite of social change, the family continues to have significance for the group. Therefore, this paper adopts a qualitative orientation and seeks to examine the elements that contribute to the strength and persistence of...
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