Using sociological theory to problematize family business research

Eric R. Kushins and Elaina Behounek

Journal of Family Business Strategy, 2020, vol. 11, issue 1

Abstract: This article critiques several taken-for-granted assumptions in family business research. We recommend the use of sociological theories to problematize the phenomenon of family business and to push beyond dichotomies in the field. To begin, we complicate the very definition of family—implicitly defined in most family business research as a heterosexual, conjugal family—by discussing socio-legal, socio-biological, and role-based ways of defining “families.” Next, we suggest critical ways to research value and worth beyond the financial wealth-socioemotional wealth (SEW) trade-off, by considering major themes in the sociology of value and evaluation (SVE), including: the intergenerational transmission of various forms of capital, conflict over equivalent systems of accounts, and the blending of the intimate and the economic. The groundwork presented here through a focus on the family, provides important theoretically complex questions to help launch transformative research to move the field of family business forward.

Keywords: Sociology; Families; Socioemotional wealth; Value and worth; Social capital (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (10)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1877858518301840
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:fambus:v:11:y:2020:i:1:s1877858518301840

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/719791/bibliographic
http://www.elsevier. ... 719791/bibliographic

DOI: 10.1016/j.jfbs.2020.100337

Access Statistics for this article

Journal of Family Business Strategy is currently edited by J.H. Astrachan

More articles in Journal of Family Business Strategy from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().