Study Guide: Family and Community

 

Glossary:

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 family  egalitarian family
domestic labor agencies of socialization

News:

Please Note:

Internal structure of the family
Romantic love as a foundation for marriage
Working women and tradition
Sexual revolution
Causes of divorce
Changing structure of the family
Divorce rates (recent history)
Singlehood (rates, advantages)
Effects of divorce (children and adults)
Ecomic impact of divorce (women and men)
Single parenthood (rates, effects)
Teenage pregnancy (rates, causes)
Functions of the family



  Practice Quiz

Charting the Problem:

Marriage and Households:
Marriage and Divorce Rates
Median Age of First Marriage
Percent Never Married by Age and Sex
Happiness by Marital Status
Family Structure by Race/Ethnicity
Marital Status by Race/Ethnicity
Home Ownership by Race/Ethnicity
Marital History of Brides and Grooms
Households Headed by Males, Females & Couples

 Divorce:
What Percentage of Americans are Divorced?
Perceived Reasons for Divorce
Relationship Status Two Years Post-Divorce
Divorce by Duration of Marriage

 Dual Career Families:
Labor Force Participation by Wives
Primary Care Arrangements of Working Mothers
Household Chores Performed by Dual-Career Parents
Responsibility for Child-Care Arrangements by Dual-Career Parents

Cohabitation:
Reasons for Cohabitation
Cohabitation in the U.S.

 Children:
Births per 1,000 Women 15-44
General Fertility Rates, 1950-1994
Births to Unmarried Women in Ten Industrial Nations
Percentage of First Births by Age of Mother
Child Custody Arrangements
Children Under 18 with Parents in the Household
Personal Earnings of Custodial Parent
Who Takes Care of the Preeschoolers?  Single Mothers
Who Takes Care of the Preeschoolers?  Married
Children by Presence of Parents
Unmarried Couple Households by Presence of Children
Average Number of Children by Education

 Religion:
Religiosity in Five Countries
Church Attendance and Behavior
Faith in Science
 

Urban Factoids:

The Census Bureau and the federal Office of Management and Budget list 314 metropolitan areas with at least 50,000 people that are that are a part of the city or the surrounding suburban area.
These areas occupy only one-sixth of our land, but contain 80 percent of our population--providing 84 percent of all of the jobs and 83 percent of the gross domestic product.
Eight out of 10 new jobs created between 1992 and 1997 are located in these areas and the average wage-and-benefit package for the metro area worker is almost 50 percent higher than for the small-town or rural counterpart (from David Broder, 4-2-98, The Paducah Sun, p. 4)..

Essay Questions:  

  1. According to Elwell (Industrializing America), what are some of the sociocultural changes that have an impact on our divorce rates? How is this related to social disorganization?
  2. What is the impact of women's liberation on marriage and family life.
  3. According to your instructor, serial monogamy best fits the personal and social needs of hyper-industrial society.  Why and how?
  4. How does the increasing division of labor fit into an explanation of the increasing divorce rate?
  5. Why are families getting smaller in hyper-industrial societies?  What impact does this have on marriage and family?
  6. Discuss the following proposition: "Adolescence is a product of industrialism."
  7. In accordance with Coontz (The Way We Weren't), discuss the functions of the family in colonial times and today.  How has this change affected family structure?

  8. Suppose that an editorial appearing in your local newspaper called for a return to the traditional family values of the 1950s as a way to solve social problems faced by the family.  Write a letter to the editor explaining why this plea is neither feasible nor desirable.

  9. Nock, Wright and Sanchez (America's Divorce Problem) argue that covenant marriage is not the solution to the divorce problem.  What is their argument?  Is it persuasive?

Link:  

Gender and Society

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.

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Continuously updated. ©Frank Elwell