What Is Family Diversity? Objective and Interpretive Approaches

Abstract

This article differentiates two ways of understanding family diversity— objectively and interpretively. The search for objective diversity is rooted in the assumption that there are many different kinds of families in the United States and around the world; the search for interpretive diversity is rooted in the assumption that any given “family” may be described in different, often contradictory ways. These divergent assumptions can lead relatively objective or interpretive scholars to produce divergent analyses, even as they use seemingly identical concepts to address similar explanatory concerns. Recognizing the difference between objective and interpretive family diversity can help illuminate the distinctive contributions of existing scholarship and open up potential avenues for future research.