The Family Council: Different Styles of Family Deliberation in Two Cultures

The family council is a major Adlerian concept and an important practice for the family’s democratic management. This practice has been disseminated over the past decades to a wide audience of parents around the world through various devices, including books, lectures, and parenting classes. The present study makes use of qualitative analysis to compare the manner in which American and Israeli parents who have taken part in parenting classes interpret the family council practice as offered to them by instructors. While homogenization is observed in instructors’ messages, parents in the two countries interpret the family council practice differently, according to their cultural beliefs and attitudes toward arguments. These findings emphasize the importance of conceptualizing cultural values within Adlerian parent education.