Tackling issues relevant to family life today, this authoritative
Companion shows why studying social change in families is
fundamental for understanding the transformations in individual and
social life, across the globe.
* Contains original essays by expert contributors on a wide range
of topics relating to the sociology of families.
* Includes coverage of social inequality, parenting practices,
children’s work, the changing patterns of citizenship, and
multi-cultural families.
* Gives special attention to European and North American
examples.
* Discusses previously neglected groups, including immigrant
families and gays and lesbians.
* Explores how revolutionary changes in aging, longevity, and
sexual behavior have radically affected the experience of different
generations, and the relationships between them.
Table of Content
List of Contributors.
Preface: (Jacqueline Scott, Judith Treas, and Martin
Richards).
Part I: Families in a Global World:.
1. Globalization and Western Bias in Family Sociology: Don
Edgar.
2. Changing European Families: Trends and Issues: Kath Kiernan
(University of York).
3. Recent Demographic Trends in the US and Implications for
Well-Being: Sinikka Elliott and Debra Umberson (University of
Texas).
4. Children, Families, States, and Changing Citizenship: Hilary
Land (University of Bristol).
5. Families and Local Communities: Graham Crow (University of
Southampton) and Catherine Maclean.
Part II: Life Course Perspectives on the Family:.
6. Generations, the Life Course, and Family Change: J. Beth
Mabry, Roseann Giarrusso, and Vern L. Bengtson (all University of
Southern California).
7. Children’s Families: Jacqueline Scott (University of
Cambridge).
8. Aging and the Life Course: Chris Phillipson and Graham Allan
(both Keele University).
9. Parenting Practices: Duane F. Alwin (Pennsylvania State
University).
10. Time, Through the Life Course, in the Family: Jonathan
Gershuny (University of Essex).
Part III: Inequality and Diversity:.
11. Inequality and the Family: Philip N. Cohen (University of
North Carolina at Chapel Hill) and Danielle Mac Cartney (Webster
University).
12. Families of the Poor: Robert Walker and Claire Collins (both
Nottingham University).
13. Social Capital and the Family: Frank F. Furstenberg and
Sarah B. Kaplan (both University of Pennsylvania).
14. Family, the State, and Health Care: Changing Roles in the
New Century: Ronald J. Angel and Jacqueline L. Angel (both
University of Texas at Austin).
15. Immigrant Families in the US: Karen Pyke (University of
California, Riverside).
16. Immigrant Families in the UK: Alison Shaw (University of
Oxford).
Part IV: Changing Family Forms and Relationships:.
17. Religion, Romantic Love, and the Family: Bryan S. Turner
(National University of Singapore).
18. Trends in Formation and Dissolution of Couples: Joanne J.
Paetsch, Nicholas M. Bala, Lorne D. Bertrand, and Lisa Glennon (all
University of Calgary).
19. Children, Families, and Divorce: Jan Pryor (Victoria
University of Wellington) and Liz Trinder (Newcastle
University).
20. The Lesbian and Gay Family: Jeffrey Weeks, Brian Heaphy, and
Catherine Donovan (all Southbank University).
21. Couples and Their Networks: Eric Widmer (University of
Geneva).
22. Men in Families and Households: David H.J. Morgan
(University of Manchester).
Part V: Changing Social Contexts:.
23. Sex and Family: Changes and Challenges: Judith Treas
(University of California, Irvine).
24. Feminism and the Family: Michelle Budig (University of
Massachusetts).
25. Work and Families: Shirley Dex (University of London).
26. Public Policy and Families: Wendy Sigle-Rushton and
Catherine Kenney (both Princeton University).
27. Assisted Reproduction, Genetic Technologies, and Family
Life: Martin Richards (University of Cambridge).
28. Families in a Runaway World: Ulrich Beck (University of
Munich) and Elisabeth Beck-Gernsheim (University of Erlangen).
Bibliography.
Index
About the author
Jacqueline Scott is a Reader in Sociology at the University
of Cambridge and Co-Director of the Cambridge Interdisciplinary
Research Centre on Ageing. Her recent publications examine youth
and disadvantage, inter-generational attitudinal change and
cross-national comparisons of family and demographic change.
Judith Treas is Professor of Sociology at the University
of California, Irvine. A Fellow of the Gerontological Society of
America, she is recognized for research on the life course and
aging, family, sexuality, inequality, and population. Her recent
publications investigate cross-national differences in gender
beliefs and family behavior, the lives of elderly immigrants, and
the determinants of change in sexual attitudes.
Martin Richards is Director of the Centre for Family
Research and Professor Family Research at the University of
Cambridge. His publications include Sexual Arrangements:
Marriage and Affairs (with Janet Reibstein, 1963), What is a
Parent: A Socio-Legal Analysis (2001) and Body Lore and
Laws (2002), both edited with Andrew Bainham and Shelley
Day-Sclater.