Family Theory and Research in Norway

Abstract

Norwegian family research was initiated on a broad scale after the Second World War. Researchers were in this period no doubt often inspired by American scientists who visited the country and taught how to do quantitative empirical studies. However, family-related research was also present before this through the pioneering work by Eilert Sundt. Sundt was engaged in policy-oriented studies on poverty among unwed mothers and their children in the 1850s as well as in descriptive demographic studies. Broadly speaking the two trends that were initiated by Eilert Sundt are identified as characteristic of family research also in our times: one which is rather descriptive and broad-scale oriented and one based on qualitative data-often discussed in a critical context. To some extent these differences in orientation reflect the position of the researcher. Descriptive studies are mainly initiated by applied research institutions while the more independent position of university researchers seems to encourage work that is both theoretical and empirical. Norwegian family research in the 1980s is characterized by its gender focus. Critical appraisal of sex roles is identified as a strong in family-related research in Norway also in the 1960s and 1970s. Few studies have the family as such as unit of analysis. Much of the research is related to major demographic changes such as fertility decline, cohabitation, divorce, as well as to changes in gender roles such as working mothers and child care arrangements. Other studies go into socialization processes related to gender or to parent-child interaction from a developmental point of view. There have been few coordinated research programs in the field. An exception, however, is a program on family violence and sexual abuse of children. The fact that the Norwegian society is becoming multi-cultural is so far not reflected in family research. Comparative family research is on the whole still left to be done. Nor has policy-oriented research resulted in coordinated governmental programs and strategies. This situation is briefly commented. The paper concludes that the gender focus of the 1980s has revitalized the field and increased its theoretical relevance. It contributes to the illumination of major social changes in modern societies.