Study Guide: Primary Groups

Readings:

An Essay on the Erosion of Commitment

An Essay on the Decline of Communities

Glossary:
Look these words up in the Glossary of Social Science; study them and be ready for fill-ins on the next exam:

marriage	primary group	community
values	serial monogamy	Gemeinschaft
polygyny	socialization	patriarchy
neo-local residence	extended family	nuclear
elderly abuse	kinship	subcultures
family of procreation	cohabitation	Gesellschaft
family of orientation	blended families	underclass
dual-career families	domestic violence	arranged marriage
matrilineal decent	polyandry	monogamy
polygamy	egalitarian family	domestic labor
family	agencies of socialization

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Essays:

On your next exam you will be asked to demonstrate that you have read and mastered the course material.  You should take the time now to answer the following essay questions to create your study guide for that exam. Address the questions fully and completely in your own words and voice. Prepare your answers now. 

1. What is the effect of women entering the outside workforce on ideal traditional families?

2. According to Postman, how has childhood changed in America in the last fifty years? Why?

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Short Answers:

The following short answer questions are from your readings and may well appear on your next exam. Each can be answered with a short paragraph of three or four sentences; please use your own words and voice. You are encouraged to answer these questions now to create your study guide for that exam.

1. What constraints are there on the selection of marriage partners in America?
2. What is the "Romantic Love Complex"?
3. How is our mate selection process compatible with a hyperindustrial society?
4. What problems does our mate selection process pose for marriage?
5. What are the traditional expectations on the three status positions within the nuclear family?
6. Why has the birthrate declined in America in recent years?
7. How does a declining birthrate affect family stability?
8. How have the coping resources of the nuclear family changed in the last 100 years?
9. What are the functions of the American family today?
10. What is serial monogamy? Why is it becoming the most popular form of marital relationship?
11. According to Stark, why does the process of secularization within mainline church groups?
12. Describe the religious economy of the U.S.
13. How is the weakening of religious commitment related to deviance?
14. According to Putnam, characterize the recent shift in community life in America.
15. How has technological change affected social connectedness?
16. How is hyper-specialization and globalization related to social connectedness?

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Demonstrations, Illustrations, & Examples:

Surviving as a single mother

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Names to Know:

Neil Postman

Robert Nisbet

Robert Putnam

Bibliography:

Aries, P.  1962.  Centuries of Childhood:  A Social History of Family Life. London: Cape. 

Berger, Bridget. and Berger, Peter. 1983.  The War over the Family. London: Hutchinson. 

Blankenhorn, D. (ed.)  1990.  Rebuilding the Nest: A New Commitment to American Family Life. New York: Family Service America. 

Blumberg, R. L. (ed.)  1991. Gender, Family, and Economy: The Triple Overlap.  Newbury Park, Calif.: Sage Publications. 

Cancian, F. M. 1987.  Love in America. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 

Campbell, C. 1987.  The Romantic Ethic and the Spirit of Consumerism. New York: Blackwell. 

Giddens, Anthony.  1992.  The Transformation of Intimacy: Sexuality, Love, and Eroticism in Modern Societies. Cambridge: Polity Press. 

Harlow, Harry F. 1959 "Love in Infant Monkeys," Scientific American (June), pp. 2-8. 

Putnam, Robert D. 1995.  "Bowling Alone: America's Declining Social Capital," Current 373 (June): 3-9. 

Lasch, Christopher.  1979.  The Culture of Narcissism.  New York: Warner. 

Spitz, Rene A.  1965.  The First Year of Life: A Psychoanalytic Study of Normal and Deviant Development of Object Relations. International Universities Press.