Courses:

The Contemporary American Family >> Content Detail



Study Materials



Readings

Amazon logo When you click the Amazon logo to the left of any citation and purchase the book (or other media) from Amazon.com, MIT OpenCourseWare will receive up to 10% of this purchase and any other purchases you make during that visit. This will not increase the cost of your purchase. Links provided are to the US Amazon site, but you can also support OCW through Amazon sites in other regions. Learn more.

How to Read Profitably (PDF)

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.
(PDF)
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.
(PDF)
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.
(PDF)
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.
(PDF)
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.
(PDF)
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.
(PDF)
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.
(PDF)
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.
(PDF)
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.
(PDF)
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.
(PDF)
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.
(PDF)
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.
(PDF)
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.
(PDF)
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.
(PDF)
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.
(PDF)
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.
(PDF)
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.
(PDF)
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.
(PDF)

 








© 2009-2020 HigherEdSpace.com, All Rights Reserved.
Higher Ed Space ® is a registered trademark of AmeriCareers LLC.