In 1982, one BYU professor stood on the brink of creating a new discipline. As the Sunstone Review reported in its November 1982 issue, “Dr. Wesley Burr has suggested a new term—famology—for a new academic field.”
And what does famology study? Coming from a BYU professor, there can be only one answer: families!
Burr was the president of the National Council on Family Relations at the time and delivered his idea to 5000 NCFR conference attendees. The next year, Burr published an article in the NCFR’s Journal of Marriage and the Family titled “Famology: A New Discipline.”
Forty-two years later, the first result that pops up in a web search for “famology” is a sleepwear company. The second and third results link to a work clothing company.
And, finally, the fourth result reads, “What Happened to Famology?”
At the time of Burr’s original speech, the field of family studies was interdisciplinary. In other words, it drew on the methodologies of various disciplines—such as anthropology, economics, and psychology—because it had not developed its own. Burr was trying to make the study of families its own discipline by—first—figuring out what to call it.
The field had been calling itself variously “family studies” and “family science.” But “family studies” was problematic because one could not call oneself a “family studies-ist” (as one can call oneself an anthropologist). One could call oneself a family scientist, but taking on the term “family science” seemed to tighten the focus too much. So, just as earlier in the 20th century the term gerontology was coined to bring the study of the aged under one umbrella, Burr pitched famology.
According to “What Happened to Famology?” an NCFR task force held many meetings from 1983–1985 to discuss what to call the discipline and initially floated the term “familiology” but then landed on “family science” as their preferred moniker.
But not even that stuck. In a 2013 analysis, it was found that “family studies” outnumbered “family science” in a survey of university department names with “family” in the title. Some scholars even argued that “family” was too restrictive a term, preferring “relationship” studies.
Famology never did stick, and these two charts were the final nails in its coffin.
Even BYU strayed from Burr’s term, naming its department the School of Family Life.
But that didn’t stop Burr from publishing many academic articles and books on family studies throughout his career and contributing to a raft of LDS marriage and family handbooks.