What Is Parenthood?: Contemporary Debates about the Family

by Linda C. McClain (Editor), Daniel Cere (Editor)

Overview

Extraordinary changes in patterns of family life—and family law—have dramatically altered the boundaries of parenthood and opened up numerous questions and debates. What is parenthood and why does it matter? How should society define, regulate, and support it? Is parenthood separable from marriage—or couplehood—when society seeks to foster children’s well-being? What is the better model of parenthood from the perspective of child outcomes?

Intense disagreements over the definition and future of marriage often rest upon conflicting convictions about parenthood. What Is Parenthood? asks bold and direct questions about parenthood in contemporary society, and it brings together a stellar interdisciplinary group of scholars with widely varying perspectives to investigate them. Editors Linda C. McClain and Daniel Cere facilitate a dynamic conversation between scholars from several disciplines about competing models of parenthood and a sweeping array of topics, including single parenthood, adoption, donor-created families, gay and lesbian parents, transnational parenthood, parent-child attachment, and gender difference and parenthood.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780814789421
Publisher:	New York University Press
Publication date:	01/14/2013
Series:	Families, Law, and Society , #7
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	405
File size:	4 MB

About the Author

Linda C. McClain is Professor of Law and Paul M. Siskind Research Scholar at Boston University School of Law. She is the author of The Place of Families: Fostering Capacity, Equality, and Responsibility, co-author of Ordered Liberty: Rights, Responsibilities, and Virtues (with James E. Fleming), and co-editor of Gender Equality: Dimensions of Women’s Equal Citizenship (with Joanna L. Grossman).
Daniel Cere is Associate Professor of Religion, Ethics and Public Policy in the Faculty of Religious Studies, McGill University and the Director of the Institute for the Study of Marriage, Law&Culture. His publications include Divorcing Marriage and The Future of Family Law.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments Introduction Part I 1. Toward an Integrative Account of Parenthood  2. A Diversity Approach to Parenthood in Family Life and Family LawPart II 3. Uncoupling Marriage and Parenting 4. The Anthropological Case for the Integrative ModelPart III 5. Legal Parenthood, Natural and Legal Rights, and the Best Interests of the Child: An Integrative View  6. Family Diversity and the Rights of Parenthood Part IV 7. A Case for Integrated Parenthood 8. Developmental Outcomes for Children Raised by Lesbian and Gay Parents Part V 9. Biological and Psychological Dimensions of Integrative Attachments  10. Parenting Matters: An Attachment PerspectivePart VI 11. Gender and Parentage 12. Can Parenting Be Equal? Rethinking Equality and Gender Differences in ParentingPart VII 13. Transnationalism of the Heart: Familyhood across Borders 14. Transnational Mothering and Models of ParenthoodPart VIII 15. Of Human Bonding 16. The Other Side of the Demographic Revolution Epilogue About the Contributors Index 

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

I highly recommend this thought provoking and compelling book. It examines parenthood at a time when the concept of the family is radically changing, most notably stemming from the rise of single-parent households and divorced and blended families. And it proposes a number of intelligent and important solutions. After all, the long-term health of our representative democracy is dependent on our ability, as parents, to prepare our children for the future."-Leah Ward Sears,former Chief Justice, Georgia Supreme Court

"This book is a much needed model for how to bring civility and reason into the culture wars. It is a frank but non-polemical exploration of the science, ethics, and politics that affect our views about when and how we should regulate parenthood—one that opens up rather than shuts down the conversation."-Katharine Bartlett,A. Kenneth Pye Professor of Law, Duke Law School

"What is Parenthood? is an invaluable resource for anyone who wishes to think critically about modern parenthood and what the government can and should do to improve families. In bringing together eminent figures from different disciplines and from different political or cultural views about the family, it maintains an important dialogue about the best way forward."-Brian Bix,Frederick W. Thomas Professor, University of Minnesota

Editorial Reviews

"I highly recommend this thought provoking and compelling book. It examines parenthood at a time when the concept of the family is radically changing, most notably stemming from the rise of single-parent households and divorced and blended families. And it proposes a number of intelligent and important solutions. After all, the long-term health of our representative democracy is dependent on our ability, as parents, to prepare our children for the future."

Leah Ward Sears

"This book is a much needed model for how to bring civility and reason into the culture wars. It is a frank but non-polemical exploration of the science, ethics, and politics that affect our views about when and how we should regulate parenthoodone that opens up rather than shuts down the conversation."

Katharine Bartlett

"This book is a valuable contribution to a critically important, current societal debate on childrens rights with respect to who their parents are and the family structure in which they are reared. It should be read by all involved in that debate, and especially those who will decide on the law and social and public policy that will determine the future of the family and the family of the future."

International Journal of Jurisprudence of the Family - Margaret Somerville

"Well-balanced consideration of two different views of parenthood as a social institution."

Choice

"What is Parenthood? is an invaluable resource for anyone who wishes to think critically about modern parenthood and what the government can and should do to improve families. In bringing together eminent figures from different disciplines and from different political or cultural views about the family, it maintains an important dialogue about the best way forward."

Brian Bix

"This book is a much needed model for how to bring civility and reason into the culture wars. It is a frank but non-polemical exploration of the science, ethics, and politics that affect our views about when and how we should regulate parenthood—one that opens up rather than shuts down the conversation."-Katharine Bartlett,A. Kenneth Pye Professor of Law, Duke Law School

"This book is a valuable contribution to a critically important, current societal debate on children’s rights with respect to who their parents are and the family structure in which they are reared. It should be read by all involved in that debate, and especially those who will decide on the law and social and public policy that will determine the future of the family and the family of the future."-Margaret Somerville, International Journal of Jurisprudence of the Family

From the Publisher