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The Contemporary American Family >> Content Detail



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Readings

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Required Books

Amazon logo Coontz, Stephanie. The Way We Really Are: Coming to Terms with America’s Changing Families. Basic Books, 1997. ISBN: 9780465077878.

Amazon logo Hutter, Mark, ed. The Family Experience: A Reader in Cultural Diversity. 4th ed., Allyn & Bacon, 2003. ISBN: 9780205389209.

Amazon logo Skolnick, Arlene S. and Jerome H. Skolnick eds. Family in Transition. 12th ed., New York: Longman, 1996. ISBN: 9780673525123.

Amazon logo Stack, Carol. Call to Home: African Americans Reclaim the Rural South. New York: Basic Books, 1997. ISBN: 9780465008087.

Amazon logo Wolf, Marjorie. The House of Lim: A Study of a Chinese Farm Family. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1960. ISBN: 9780133949735.

LEC #TOPICSREADINGSSTUDY QUESTIONS
1Introduction to Course
2The Origin of the FamilySkolnick and Skolnick. "Introduction."  in Skolnick and Skolnick, pp. 1-14.

Giddens. "The Global Revolution in Family and Personal Life." in Skolnick and Skolnick, pp. 17-22.

Coontz. "Introduction," and "Getting Past the Sound Bites: How History and Sociology Can Help Today's Families." in Coontz, pp. 1-32.
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3The Family in the Past ISkolnick. "The Life Course Revolution." in Skolnick and Skolnick, pp. 23-30.

Demos. "The American Family in Past Time." in Skolnick and Skolnick, pp. 59-77.

Cott. "Divorce and the Changing Status of Women in Eighteenth-Century Massachusetts." in Skolnick and Skolnick, pp. 347-363.

Morgan. "The Puritans and Sex." in Skolnick and Skolnick, pp. 311-320.
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4The Family in the Past IIWelter. "The Cult of True Womanhood: 1820-1860."in Hutter,  pp. 372-387.

Hareven. "Continuity and Change in American Family Life." in Skolnick and Skolnick, pp. 29-37.

Gutman. "Persistent Myths about the Afro-American Family." in Hutter, pp. 459-479.

Hutter. "Immigrant Families in the City." in Hutter. pp. 22-29.
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5Definition of the Family IGiele. "Decline of the Family: Conservative, Liberal, and Feminist Views." in Skolnick and Skolnick. pp. 57-75.

Coontz. "What We Really Miss about the 1950s." in Coontz, pp. 33-50.

Wolf. The House of Lim: A Study of a Chinese Farm Family. pp. iv-xii; 1-22.
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6Definition of the Family IIWolf. pp. 23-98.
7Definition of the Family III: Culture and IdeologyWolf. pp. 99-148.
8Definition of the Family IV: Ethnic and Social Class VariabilityTaylor. "Diversity within African American Families." in Skolnick and Skolnick, pp. 365-388.

Zinn, Baca, and Wells. "Diversity within Latino Families: New Lessons for Family Social Science." in Skolnick and Skolnick, pp. 389-414.

Sudarkasa. "Interpreting the African Heritage in Afro-American Family Organization." in Hutter, pp. 30-40.

Sherif. "Islamic Family Ideals and Their Relevance to American Muslim Families." in Hutter, pp. 183-189.

Pyke. "'The Normal American Family' as an Interpretive Structure of Family Life among Grown Children of Korean and Vietnamese Immigrants." in Skolnick and Skolnick. pp. 436-456 and in Hutter. pp. 300-318.
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9Definition of the Family V: Gay and Lesbian Families; AdoptionBenkov. "Reinventing the Family." in Skolnick and Skolnick, pp. 415-435.

Dalton, and Bielby. "'That's Our Kind of Constellation': Lesbian Mothers Negotiate Institutionalized Understandings of Gender."  in Hutter, pp. 161-182.

Shanley. "Transracial and Open Adoption: New Forms of Family Relationships." in Skolnick and Skolnick, pp. 255-262.

Coontz. "How Holding on to Tradition Sets Families Back." in Coontz, pp. 109-122.
10The Effects of Changing Gender Roles on the FamilyJackson. "Destined for Equality." in Skolnick and Skolnick, pp. 95-102.

Hays. "The Mommy Wars: Ambivalence, Ideological Work, and the Cultural Contradictions of Motherhood." in Skolnick and Skolnick, pp. 40-56.

Gerson. "Children of the Gender Revolution: Some Theoretical Questions and Findings from the Field." in Skolnick and Skolnick, pp. 103-114.

di Leonardo. "The Female World of Cards and Holidays: Women, Families, and the Work of Kinship." in Hutter, pp. 63-71.

Rossa, La, Jaret, Gadgil, and Wynn. "The Changing Culture of Fatherhood in Comic-Strip Families: A Six-Decade Analysis." in Hutter, pp. 275-289.
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11Sexuality: The Social Context IClark. "Dating on the Net: Teens and the Rise of "Pure" Relationships." in Hutter, pp. 115-131.

Schalet. "Raging Hormones, Regulated Love: Adolescent Sexuality in the United States and the Netherlands." in Skolnick and Skolnick, pp. 129-133.

Berkowitz, and Padavic. "Getting a Man or Getting Ahead." in Hutter, pp. 132-146.

D'Emilio, and Freedman. "The Sexualized Society." in Hutter, pp. 351-365.
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12Sexuality: The Social Context IICancian. "The Feminization of Love." in Hutter, pp. 151-160.

Ericksen. "Premarital Sex before the 'Sexual Revolution'." in Skolnick and Skolnick, pp. 134-142.

Llaner, and Ventrone. "Dating Scripts Revisited." in Skolnick and Skolnick, pp. 143-151.

Lessinger. "Asian Indian Marriages - Arranged, Semi-Arranged, or Based on Love." in Hutter, pp. 147-150.
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13Marriage: Definitions, Functions, VariabilityKamen. "Modern Marriage: From Meal Ticket to Best Friend." in Skolnick and Skolnick, pp. 152-160.

Coontz. "The Future of Marriage." in Coontz, pp. 77-95.

Furstenberg. "The Future of Marriage." in Skolnick and Skolnick, pp. 171-177.

Sanchez, Nock, Wright, and Gager. "Setting the Clock Forward or Back? Covenant Marriage and the 'Divorce Revolution'." in Hutter, pp. 41-62.
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14ParentingCollins. "Shifting the Center: Race, Class, and Feminist Theorizing About Motherhood." in Hutter, pp. 244-257.

Cowan, and Cowan. "Becoming a Parent." in Skolnick and Skolnick, pp. 218-230.

Mannis. "Single Mothers by Choice." in Hutter, pp. 231-243.

Mason, Fine, and Carnochan. "Family Law in the New Millennium: For Whose Families?" in Skolnick and Skolnick, pp. 76-90 and in Hutter, pp. 433-447.
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15Parenting: ChangesHertz. "A Typology of Approaches to Child Care." in Skolnick and Skolnick, pp. 231-254.

Hernandez. "Revolutions in Children's Lives." in Skolnick and Skolnick, pp. 263-272.

Galinsky. "What Children Think about Their Working Parents." Edited by Skolnick. pp. 273-283.

Coltrane, and Adams. "Men's Family Work: Child-Centered Fathering and the Sharing of Domestic Labor." Edited by Skolnick. pp. 115-128.
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16Parenting: ProblemsLuker. "Why Do they Do It?" in Skolnick and Skolnick, pp. 479-492.

Kaplan. "Black Teenage Mothers and Their Mothers: The Impact of Adolescent Childbearing on Daughters' Relations with Mothers." in Hutter, pp. 258-274.

Arditti. "Rethinking Relationships Between Divorced Mothers and Their Children: Capitalizing on Family Strengths." in Hutter, pp. 368-387.
17Divorce ICoontz. "Putting Divorce in Perspective." in Coontz, pp. 97-108.

Hackstaff. "Divorce Culture: A Quest for Relational Equality in Marriage." in Skolnick and Skolnick, pp. 178-189. and in Hutter, pp. 356-367.

Lawson, and Thompson. "Divorce and Fatherhood." inHutter, pp. 409-422.

Mason, Harrison-Jay, Svare, and Wolfinger. "Stepparents: De Facto Parents or Legal Strangers." in Hutter, pp. 423-432.
18Divorce IIArendell. "The Social Self as Gendered: A Masculinist Discourse of Divorce." in Hutter, pp. 388-408.

Cherlin. "Going to Extremes: Family Structure, Children's Well-Being, and Social Science." in Skolnick and Skolnick, pp. 284-298.

Amato. "The Consequences of Divorce for Adults and Children." in Skolnick and Skolnick, pp. 190-214.
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19Violence in the FamilyGoodrum, Umberson, and Anderson. "The Batterer's View of the Self and Others in Domestic Violence." in Hutter, pp. 325-340.

Johnson, and Ferraro. "Research on Domestic Violence in the 1990s: Making Distinctions." in Skolnick and Skolnick, pp. 493-517.

Straus. "Ten Myths that Perpetuate Corporal Punishment." in Hutter,. pp. 341-350.
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20Economic Issues and Problems I: Work - at Home and in the WorkplaceCoontz. "Why Working Mothers are Here to Stay." in Coontz, pp. 51-75.

Fuchs Epstein, Seron, Oglensky, and Sauté. "The Family and Part-Time Work." in Skolnick and Skolnick, pp. 335-348.

Hochschild. "There's No Place Like Work." in Hutter, pp. 190-198.

Gerson, and Jacobs. "Changing the Structure and Culture of Work: Work and Family Conflict, Work Flexibility, and Gender Equity in the Modern Workplace." in Skolnick and Skolnick, pp. 349-364.
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21Economic Issues and Problems II: Economic ChangeCoontz. "Looking for Someone to Blame: Families and Economic Change." in Coontz, pp. 123-140.

Newman. "Family Values against the Odds." in Skolnick and Skolnick, pp. 320-334.

Rubin. "Families on the Fault Line." in Skolnick and Skolnick, pp. 303-319.
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22Economic Issues and Problems III: Poverty, Genteel and BrutalEdin. "Few Good Men: Why Poor Mothers Stay Single." in Skolnick and Skolnick, pp. 161-170.

Vanderstaay. "Karla and the Armstrongs: Two Oral Histories of Homeless American Families." in Hutter, pp. 351-355.

Stack. Call to Home: African Americans Reclaim the Rural South. in Stack, pp. 1-44.
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23Economic Issues and Problems IV: Differential Rates of Poverty in Racial and Ethnic GroupsStack. pp. 45-106.(PDF)
24conomic Issues and Problems V: Diversity in FamiliesStack. pp. 107-152.
25The US and Sweden ("The Ultimate Welfare State") ComparedStack. pp. 153-239.

Pardo. "Mexican American Women Grassroots Community Activists: 'Mothers of East Los Angeles'." in Hutter, pp. 72-82.

Toro-Morn. "Gender, Class, Family, and Migration: Puerto Rican Women in Chicago." in Hutter, pp. 199-211.

Coontz. "How Ignoring Historical and Societal Change Puts Kids at Risk." in Coontz, pp. 141-156.

———. "Working with What We've Got: The Strengths and Vulnerabilities of Today's Families." in Coontz, pp. 157-177.
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26The Longer Life SpanStack. pp. 170-193.

Bengtson. "Beyond the Nuclear Family: The Increasing Importance of Multigenerational Bonds." in Skolnick and Skolnick, pp. 457-478.

Hutter. "Intimate Strangers: The Elderly and Homecare Worker Relationships." in Hutter, pp. 290-300.
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