American Families Past and Present: Social Perspectives on Transformations / Edition 1

by Susan Ross

Overview

American families today are noted for their wide variety of guises. Among the mix are single-parent families, childless-by-choice marriages, nuclear families, multigenerational families, and same-sex couples. Although this diversity has come under the scrutiny of everyone from politicians to the media, family diversity is not a recent development of contemporary culture. While nuclear families with a mother, a father, and children are the presumed historical norm, people have always resided in an assortment of family formations.

Bringing together essays by twenty-one distinguished scholars who have helped shape the field of family sociology in the last decade, this interdisciplinary anthology examines variation within family experience, especially as it has evolved across racial, ethnic, social, gender, and generational lines. The essays place historical and institutional frameworks at the center of the discussion.

The first part of the book focuses on the development of socially constructed dominant ideologies, demographic shifts in family composition, and historical perspectives on family rituals and mythmaking. Essays in the second part provide a historical perspective on the interdependence between the family as a social institution and other institutions. Selections highlight changes in women’s roles, the impact of economic, racial, and social inequalities on household labor and child care, the effects of war and military service, and the implications of the political climate for family welfare policy.

In-depth chapter introductions along with critical questions to spark class discussion make this an ideal text for courses focusing on family composition, trends, and controversies in the United States.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780813538181
Publisher:	Rutgers University Press
Publication date:	05/16/2006
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	352
Product dimensions:	6.12(w) x 9.25(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

SUSAN M. ROSS is an assistant professor of sociology at Lycoming College in Williamsport, PA.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments
Introduction Family Transformations from a Sociological Perspective

Part I Family Transformations in Social-Historical Perspective
Constructed Meanings From Patriarchy to Androgyny and Other Myths: Placing Men's Family Roles in Historical Perspective / Steven Mintz
Bastardy, Fitness, and the Invention of Adolescence / Kristin Luker
The Modernization of Grandparenthood / Andrew J. Cherlin / Frank F. Furstenberg, Jr.
Changes in Family Composition
Historical Perspectives on Family Diversity / Stephanie Coontz
Fertility on the Frontier: Bringing Women Back In / Anita Ilta Garey
Multigenerational Families in Nineteenth Century America / Steven Ruggles
Developing Family Rituals
Calling Cards and Money / Beth L. Bailey
Making Time for Family: The Invention of Family Time(s) and the Reinvention of Family History / John Gillis

Part II The Interplay of Social Institutions with Family Formations
Changing the Legal Boundaries of Family
The Civil Contract and Family Life in the United States / Lisa J. McIntyre
Do Wedding Dresses Come in Lavender? The Prospects and Implications of Same-Sex Marriage / Angela Bolte
Medicine and Science's Influence on Fertility and Mothering Behavior
Constructing Mothers: Scientific Motherhood in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries / Rima D. Apple
Motherhood Denied: Women and Infertility in Historical Perspective / Margaret Marsh
Families during War
America's Home Front Children in World War II / William M. Tuttle, Jr.
Containment at Home: Cold War, Warm Hearth / Elaine Tyler May
Intersections of Work, Social Policy, and Family Our Mothers' Grief: Racial Ethnic Women and the Maintenance of Families / Bonnie Thornton Dill
The Arduous Transition to the Industrial North / Donna L. Franklin
Who Deserves Help? Who Must Provide? / Linda Gordon
Money and Morality / Sharon Hays
Child Care and Social Citizenship for Women / Sonya Michel
Lessons from Abroad: Leave Policy from an International Perspective / Steven K. Wisensale

List of Contributors