Families in trouble / Earl Lomon Koos.

  • Koos, Earl Lomon, 1905-1960
Date:
1946
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)

Credit: Families in trouble / Earl Lomon Koos. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    Intra-Famïly Effects of Troubles 103 dominaiiceJ In the Eduardo family, for example, the depression in the father's dominance was directly accompanied by a role deval¬ uation. In Mr. Eduardo's mind this was unjust: I don't know how to make of it. I earn the same money I did before, I provide the goods for my family just the same, but they don't like it now the way they did. We're always poor, but they don't complain. Now, because they're mad with me about Agnes and the hospital, and don't pay no attention to what I say, now they don't like what I earn. I don't understand—I earn the same. But before, they're satisñed; now, they raise hell and tell me I'm a poor no-good-for-nothing. Now I catch hell both ways—no boss, no good for keeping the family. Mrs. Mergel illustrated this role devaluation accompanying changes in dominance in these words: Maybe, it's too bad, I don't know, but when somebody in the family [talking of her husband] gets you in a jamb, you lose your faith in them a little and they don't seem as important in the fam¬ ily—but there's something else, too. What they did before [the quality of role performance] doesn't seem the same, even if it hasn't changed. I know we get disgusted with the things John does, if we're in a jamb, even if those things are just the same. The individual responsible for the initiating cause suffered twice, then, for his contribution to the family's insecurity; first in his loss of his place in the dominance pattern of his family, and again, in his loss of role evaluation. This was serious, in any family, since it af¬ fected the love-in-action which meant good family life; it was espe¬ cially serious since it most often affected the key member of these patriarchal families, the father. 7. It is not always the case that role devaluations accompany changes in dominance. Dominance may be maintained (even though role devaluations occur) in cases where the dominance results from coercion or other means.
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