Readings:
Instructor Presentation:
Family
Glossary:
Look these words up at the following web site: Glossary of Social Science
Readings:
Instructor Presentation:
Family
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 | egalitarian family | domestic labor |
| family | agencies of socialization |
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 |
Marriage and Households:
| What Percentage of Americans are Divorced? |
| Perceived Reasons for Divorce |
| Relationship Status Two Years Post-Divorce |
| Divorce by Duration of Marriage |
| 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. |
| Religiosity in Five Countries |
| Church Attendance and Behavior |
| Faith in Science |
Essay
Questions:
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?
What is the impact of women's liberation on marriage and family life.
According to your instructor, serial monogamy best fits the personal and social needs of hyper-industrial society. Why and how?
How does the increasing division of labor fit into an explanation of the increasing divorce rate?
Why are families getting smaller in hyper-industrial societies? What impact does this have on marriage and family?
Discuss the following proposition: "Adolescence is a product of industrialism."
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?
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.
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:
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.
Index
| Syllabus | Course
Outline
Continuously updated. ©Frank
Elwell