ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the linkages between theories and empirical research on the black family and the implications of these linkages for developing models of intervention. It reviews research in selected areas of black family functioning, selected in terms of their relevance to current social problems and their clear implications for social policy and/or social service delivery systems. In developing intervention models to address these problems, four levels of intervention must be considered: macro-level policies, mezzo-level programs and services, micro-level support systems, and individual level change. The chapter describes the relationship between theoretical perspectives and empirical research on black families. Several scholars have proposed classificatory schemes for the analysis of the black family; these schemes are very similar and generally have overlapping categories. George Allen makes the important distinction between conceptual approaches and ideological perspectives in the study of black families, noting that there are three major ideological perspectives: the cultural deviant, the cultural equivalent, and the cultural variant.
