Modern Family Analysis

Modern Family takes a sarcastic and ironic look at the trials that three families face in their day to day lives. Each family strives to win the battles set forth by life in their own unique ways, some more comedic than others. Family one consists of Claire, the wife, Phil, the husband, and Luke, their son. Family two consists of Cameron, his life partner Mitchell, and their adopted daughter, Lilly. Lastly, in family three, Jay is the father, Gloria is his wife, and Mannie is Gloria’s son. The Internet Movie Database gives a short synopsis of this episode:
Jay has problems trying to bond with Mannie, but takes advantage of Mannie's father not showing up in an effort to make peace with him, even though Gloria believes there's real peace in the household.
Phil goes behind Claire's back and gets a bike for Luke, then really ends up lying about it when the bike gets stolen. Mitchell and
Cameron begin daycare classes with Lilly.
Symbolic
Interactionism, the Systems Theory, and the Exchange Theory are proven to be part of family life, exemplified by these three families.
Symbolic Interactionism [Sim-ball-ick In-ter-act-shun-is-um] People act based on symbolic meanings they find within situations.
The human brain interprets what we observe and then translates it into actions along with a personal meaning. Primarily, Phil finds what he thinks is Luke’s bike outside of a store and interprets this as his son being irresponsible yet again. Phil acts on his hunch by stealing this bike hoping to teach his son a lesson. Next, as Phil is riding the stolen bike home, Desiree (neighbour) stops him for a favour. While Phil is in her room the bike is stolen from him and soon after, while he is at home with his wife, Desiree returns it to him stating “My neighbours found it and put it in my garage while you were in my room.” Hearing this upsets Claire because she automatically assumes that her husband was doing something ‘wrong’ with Desiree. Claire acts on this by giving her husband the evil eye and walking away. Consequently, these are two perfect examples or Symbolic Interactionism in a Modern
Family.
Systems Theory [Sis-tems Thee-or-ee] This theory attempts to explain how people interact as a system in which different parts work together and influence one another in a stable manner. The basic principal is feedback (members interact to maintain stability.) In each and every family there is a lack of feedback which in turn makes it hard to maintain stability within the relationships. First, Cameron and Mitchell have a fear of being treated differently by parents at the daycare and therefore Mitchell encourages Cameron to dress and act like a straight man instead of encouraging him to be himself. As another gay couple walks into the daycare, they come to realize that no matter what gender they practice they will be accepted. Second, Phil goes behind Claire’s back and buys his son a bike, which turns into a catastrophe involving Desiree. If Phil and Claire had even bothered to talk about getting their son a new bike they could have avoided the whole situation with Phil being in Desiree’s house. Finally, there is an obvious lack of co-operation between Jay and Mannie. Mannie is not willing to give Jay a chance as a father and Jay is only interested in Mannie’s life because his wife wants him to be. This family is not very stable because Jay and Mannie do not get along. If they continue living this way the marriage between Gloria and Jay may fall apart. Ultimately, each family in Modern Family has their own feedback complications which causes family stability to crumble.
Exchange Theory [Ex-chain-ge Thee-or-ee] A psychological theory that looks at how individuals make choices within roles by weighing costs and benefits. Benefits are rewarding because they meet needs and costs are actions such as providing physical or emotional support or sharing goods and services. For example, Gloria makes Jay help Mannie to put together his fan. Jay and Mannie do not get along very well but she is trying to get them to like each other. She succeeds and Jay’s temporary dislike towards Mannie turns into him being able to stand Mannie, which is Gloria’s benefit. The cost in this situation is Jay having to do something he doesn’t want to. In addition, Mitchell and Cameron sacrifice their emotional security for Lilly. As they are taking Lilly to her first day of daycare they are frightened that they will be treated differently by other parents because they are homosexual. Therefore, the two men try to act straight, key word here is try. They do this in hopes that Lilly will learn, so ultimately, Mitchell and Cameron’s sacrifice is Lilly’s benefit. Hence, two families show cases of cost vs. benefit and in both cases the benefit outweighs the cost.
Finally, Modern Family takes a comedic look at the lives of three different families and their daily struggles. Within each struggle, Symbolic Interactionism, the Systems Theory, and the Exchange theory are all found. Ultimately, each and every family deals with daily struggles and each school of sociological thought can be found within them.