The Gallagher Family

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The Gallaghers are a large family unit under patriarch Frank Gallagher. Due to Frank’s deteriorating health condition, and social functioning as a result of severe alcohol use disorder, his oldest daughter, Fiona, was thrusted into the role as head of family. Fiona has 5 younger siblings that she cares for, and when Frank attempts to reassert his fatherly role, has to fight for position as the caretaker of the family. Boundaries and Subsystem While Fiona did her best to create a semblance of a traditional family unit, the Gallaghers represent a family system with absolutely diffused boundaries. They are almost always inherently non-existent. One of the identifiers of this would what Wetchler and Hecker (2015) identified parental substance …show more content…

Wetchler and Hecker (2015) identified larger contexts surrounding family units, including both social and physical environment, as having a large potential impact. With little education amongst the family, much of their income is either made from illegal activity, jobs that they may not want to do (exotic dancing, prostitution), or low-paying wages. The environment that encompasses offers few escapes from this reality, and has a strong effect on the family system. One example of this would be younger sibling Karl’s awareness of his and his family’s socioeconomic status, and being drawn into the thrill and quick money of dealing …show more content…

Due to boundary issues, which is mirrored in the Gallagher family structure, family members can bond together to complete familial roles historically carried out by one family member (Boss, 1980). In this example, since Frank Gallagher is typically inebriated or under the influence to the point of unrecognition, the subsystem of Fiona, Ian, and Liam shoulder many interchanging duties within the family (especially in later episodes of the show). This collective effort (minus Frank) appears to have a foundation in one of the only family rules for the Gallagher clan: look out for each other no matter what. This is both an overt and covert rule, as it has not only been said verbally, but demonstrated through the actions of functioning family members (Wetchler and Hecker,

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