The Family

The sociological perspective encourages us to see childhood, marriages, families, and family life as socially constructed and historically grounded, thus differing across social locations, cultures and time. This simply means that all social things associated with marriages and families are integrated with other social institutions and takes a distinct form as they fit their historical time and location in society. What we call “the family” does not occur in a cultural or political vacuum, nor can this social institution exist independently of other institutions such as religion, employment or policy-making.

This course uses a social, demographic and socio-historical perspective to explore the changing nature of sexuality, motherhood and fatherhood, and family life in U.S. society. We will examine changes taking place inside and around American families – how courtship is regulated, how gender ideologies invade both family life and family law, and the bearing of a nation’s economy on family life. The course is more theoretically than practically oriented, designed to clarify how you can interpret family issues as a sociologist. Most readings concentrate on the dramatic changes in the family during of the second half of the 20th century but attention is also given to changing meanings of marriage and parenthood over a longer historical period. You will be introduced to a “cohort” perspective – thinking about change across generations and across the life course. You are also encouraged to think about the broader social and historical changes in family life in the context of their own lives: both the families in which they were raised and the families that hope to form in the future.

This remains a fascinating time to study the family, largely because change in this social institution has been so rapid and dramatic. People are delaying entry into first marriage, fertility is lower than it was the past few generations, more years of life are being spent in unmarried cohabitation, and remarriage is an ordinary social phenomenon. Marriages and families continue to be highly valued, yet still many people worry that “the family” is no longer the cornerstone of society. Was it ever? Should it be? One practical thing you will hopefully learn from the course is a healthy skepticism about what is alleged to be an expert opinion.

In lieu of also purchasing a “reader” (e.g., Susan Ferguson’s exceptionally well organized Shifting the Center, 3rd edition, McGraw Hill, $66.75), there are articles regularly assigned which are only available through Electronic Reserve. The authors and articles are designated on the syllabus.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

Ground rules: Because many people learn best when they learn together, you are encouraged to discuss the readings, concepts, and assignments with other members of the class. But you are also expected at some point to stop collaborating and present your own original work. The same applies to writing. Collusion, plagiarism, fabrication of observations and findings, and other cheating violate academic integrity. Few offenses against the academic community and the integrity of the faculty-student relationship are as serious as academic dishonesty. Improper use of others’ work (whether obtained from printed, electronic, or oral sources) is a violation of standards. The Department of Sociology & Anthropology adheres to the College’s policy on academic honesty. If you are unfamiliar with the policy, consult the College Catalogue (pp. 13-14; http://www.holycross.edu/catalog/academic-honesty-policy.pdf). Any act of academic dishonesty committed by a student enrolled in this class will be treated in accordance with college regulations.

The requirements for this course include a midterm (worth 25% of the course grade) and final exam (worth 25%) one book review (worth 10%), participation in one collaborative group presentation and a group debate (each worth 5%), and a semester research paper or journal (worth 30%). In sum, the requirements are:

The course is based on both lecture & discussion, and class attendance is expected. Missing class once every other week is unacceptable and will affect your grade. I expect you to have read & thought about the materials prior to class and participate actively in discussion. The success of this course depends upon how engaged all students are in working with the ideas. The reading assignments often provoke and encourage reflection and reconsideration of one’s opinions and beliefs. You are encouraged to ask questions, make comments, bring up a reading, compare course materials to newspaper or magazine articles, and bring these ideas to the attention of the class. Simply put, preparation and active participation are pivotal to the success the course and spirit of the class.

Read the assigned materials for themes, oddities, public policy issues, unanswered questions, new ideas, troubling conclusions, alternative interpretations, and things that arouse feelings. Class sessions never permit enough time to thoroughly discuss the readings. To get the most out of each class session, reading beforehand and think about the reading(s) are absolutely essential. Questions to think about while you are reading:

Thinking about her own course Suzanne Bianchi (University of Maryland) remarked: “One of my biggest concerns about the readings I have chosen for this class is that we will [most often] concentrate on dominant, middle class, two parent families and neglect the variation in family life. One way to counteract this is to ask each of you to [think in terms of different] family types (gay/lesbian families; military families; single parent families; grandparent-grandchild families; African American families; Asian families; immigrant families, etc.) or family relationships (step-parent/step-child; siblings; unmarried partners; remarriages) of particular interest to you.” I share Professor Bianchi’s concern. Each person should try to become the class “eyes and ears” for information on that family, bringing into lectures and discussions items news articles, things you read for other courses, information you located on the web, conversations with other students about the course.

In this course, we will read books about childhood, the history of families, and family violence. Everyone is expected to submit one 3-4 page book reviews on the first day we discuss the book. Hard copy is mandatory, and you should also send a copy electronically. Your assignment is to integrate your own understanding of the issues addressed by the author with the theoretical and factual information provided in other course readings. The review is worth 10% of your course grade.

Each person will be assigned to a debate team immediately after add/drop. Your team will be responsible for arguing either in favor of or against one policy question. The team participates as if it is comprised of a set of expert witnesses who have come together to argue for a commonly shared point of view, even though you might not otherwise endorse the argument. Each team member assumes the perspective of the team, speaks to the issue from that value position, and presents a unique type of “expert opinion.” In effect, each member presents her or his argument from the vantage of being “in role” and not (necessarily) your own personal point of view. You become the “expert” (e.g., counselor, family court judge, minister, physician) and assume that voice.

Students are expected to get together with the other members of their debate group prior to the debate to decide on a format and the roles to be taken by each group member. The format is open. The only requirement is that you present the arguments for each side and that all students within the debate team actively participate in some “expert” capacity. The two teams should plan to spend between 40 and 50 minutes presenting their material and use the remaining 25-35 minutes in debate. During the debate/ discussion, participants should remain “in role” and be prepared to take questions from the other students and instructor. Your contribution and oral presentation are worth 5% of the course grade.

During the week of October 7-9, the class will be engaged in discussion of your collaborative self-study. Four working groups will assess the relationship between families and religion, medicine, schools, and the military. Each instructional group will present its findings to the class during the week. Two groups become “the faculty” for each day, and each group will assign one reading for the entire class. Each group will use reference material in the library (and the web) – journal articles, census data, research monographs – to find relevant, contemporary information on the topic. For example, how does the military perceive families – as an asset and support system to military personnel, as a benign cancer that diverts attention from military concerns, as a…. Another collaborative group begins by asking how religious groups perceive the family?
Each group is welcome to consult experts, even invite an expert to assist the group for their half of the class day. The primary objective is for the entire class to critically assess four “institutional cases” that individually and collectively reveal the relationship between the family and other social institutions. Your contribution and oral presentation are worth 5% of the course grade.

Early in the course you must decide on one of two writing options: either developing a portfolio of essays you write throughout the semester or developing a semester research paper that also requires a full semester’s work. My objective is to coach you as you develop your analytical skills.

Portfolio. The portfolio must be started by the end of the first week of class, September 8-12. Over the semester, your portfolio will reveal what you have thought about when you are (re)examining families and family life. You will not have a shortage of things to write about. The portfolio’s essays are not diary-type entries summarizing personal feelings and thoughts. Rather, each entry is a critically reflective short paper (3-4 pages in length) that reveals what you are learning from the course as you analyze issues and events outside the classroom from a perspective that studies families and family life.

At the end of the semester, you submit your entire portfolio for evaluation. It is worth 30% of the course grade. Do not delay starting. You are expected to write one entry a week beginning the first full week of classes and ending December 2. Several of the individual entries will have already been graded when the complete portfolio is submitted, because I will collect a journal entry from three to five students each week. Yours could be randomly selected several weeks in a row. Everyone developing a portfolio must bring her/his entire portfolio to class each Thursday. No exception. Each the time you submit the portfolio for evaluation, you identify the recent entry you wish to be graded from among the ones you have written. At the close of the semester, you again submit the entire portfolio. It is graded on the quality of each of the best five entries you have identified, plus the overall quality of a journal. I read the entire journal. Your weekly entries ought to reveal detailed analysis; the portfolio should reveal that you have in fact spent the semester thinking about different aspects of the course. The final portfolio is due December 2, no exceptions. Late submissions will be penalized; this is a semester long project.

Research Paper. This assignment is also a semester project, and it involves at minimum a significant literature review yielding a 15-page manuscript that combines the literature review with your original research. The research paper option is designed to provide you the freedom to select one topic/issue which is of interest to you and to study it in some depth. For students interested in family studies, hands-on research makes studying family relations much more intriguing. You will come away from the research with a deeper understanding.

Hardly ever can someone submit a quality paper earning at least a B- grade by trying to complete the work in the three weeks of a semester. Early in the semester (by the beginning of the second week) you are expected to identify yourself as one of the students doing a research paper. Repeating this: The fork-in-the-road decision point for you to choose a research paper or a portfolio is the beginning of the second week (no later than September 16).

A research project requires a good number of invisible hours, initially in the library. To assure the project begins with enough time to complete it, you must consult with me outside of class before September 25. Following this, a one-page prospectus with at least the abstracts of 6-8 journal articles you will likely use as references is due no later than October 9. The final paper is due December 5. Guidelines and information will be further discussed during the initial office visit, and you are encouraged to consult me more than the one time. Late papers will be penalized; this is a semester assignment and working on it continuously is expected. The paper constitutes 30% of the course grade.

One midterm examination and one final are scheduled. The midterm will cover all assigned materials to that point of the course and comprises 25% of the course grade. The midterm consists of two essays, designed to evaluate your ability to use course materials as you systematically analyze issues we have been addressing; and, short answer questions, written to determine how well you understand concepts and issues found in the readings and lectures. The final exam will be a take-home exam covering the latter part of the course, and it comprises 25% of the course grade.

COURSE OUTLINE

Part I. Confronting the Family

Introduction (September 4)

Why do family studies scholars often cringe when “the family” is mentioned in the public press? What will the course cover? What are the requirements? What can you expect to gain?

Putting Contemporary (Postmodern) Families into Perspective (September 9 – 18)

Three distinct “social things” must be considered simultaneously to discuss American families. Otherwise, no one will understand when the ‘family’ is the focus rather than the FAMILY or families. The former, the ‘family,’ is the image you internalized and usually project when you think about “family.” Families are what we observe. The FAMILY is both an ideology and a social institution. Considering the two social forms – families v. the FAMILY, how much have the two changed since Colonial America? Is the history of the FAMILY more continuous than discontinuous? And, has the evolution of family life away from public control and toward privately negotiated relationships resulted in better family health?

Sep 9:        Putting families into perspective
                  Gittins, “The family in question” (ER)
                  Popenoe, “American family decline, 1960-1990: A review and appraisal” (ER)
                  Coltrane and Adams, Chapter 1

Sep11:        Recognizing differences
                  Scanzoni, “From the normal family to alternative families to the quest for diversity with interdependence” (ER)
                   Bengtson, “Beyond the nuclear family: The increasing importance of multigenerational bonds” (ER)
                 Pattillo-McCoy, “Black picket fences” (ER)

Reflection Exercise – Your ‘family’: More like the one you live in or the hegemonic standard in our culture?

Sep 16: From fortified households (his) to a market economy (his & hers)
Coontz, Introduction and Chapters 1-5 (Pp. 1-121)

Sep 18:       From a market economy (his & hers) toward a partnership (theirs)
                  Coontz, Chapters 6-8, 11 and Epilogue (Pp. 122-206, 255-288)
                  Gerson, “Children of the gender revolution” (recommended, ER)

Reflection Exercise – Is the private troubles - public issues argument Coontz makes new information? disturbing?

Part II. Families in Society

Social, Cultural & Economic Capital (September 23 – October 2)

The political economic of family life: Class privileges are those advantages and options available to many middle and upper class families, yet not all. Why? How does class position structure family experiences? Does one’s socioeconomic status at birth yield different aspirations and ideas about love and marriage?

Sep 23:      Social capital
                  Lareau, Appendix B (Pp. 275-278)
                  Furstenberg, “Banking on families: How families generate and distribute social capital” (ER)
                  Lareau, Appendix A and Chapters 1 and 2 (Pp. 259-274, 1-32)

Sep 25:      Accomplishment of natural growth: The life of working class and poor children
                  Lareau, Chapters 4, 5, and 7 (Pp. 66-103, 134-160)
                  Edin & Lein, Chapter 8, Making ends meet (ER)

Sep 30: Concerted cultivation: The (over?) scheduled life of a middle class child
Lareau, Chapters 3 and 6 (Pp. 38-65, 108-133)

Reflection Exercise – Your childhood: Concerted cultivation or accomplishment of natural growth?

Oct 2:        How much does social class matter?
                  Lareau, Chapters 8, 10, and 12 (Pp. 163-181, 198-220, 233-257)
                  Rapp, “Family and class in contemporary America: Notes toward an understanding of ideology” (ER)

Families and Social Institutions – Collaborative Self -Study (October 7 - 9)

The section is designed for you to explore the types and degree of interdependence between the family and four social institutions: religion, medicine, the military, and schools. How is the family perceived by, for example, elementary and secondary schools? Is it a partner in the mission to educate, or is it a recurring hindrance that must be acknowledged, tolerated, and ignored?

Oct 7:         Family linkages with religion, education, medicine, and the military
                  Coltrane and Adams, Chapter 9
                  Campbell, “Health and illness in families through the life cycle” (recommended, ER)
                  Miller, “Religion and families over the life course” (recommended, ER)

Oct 9:         Family linkages with religion, health care and other social institutions (continued)

Columbus Break (October 14)

Part III. The Architecture of Family Life

Love & Sex, Dating, and Partnering (October 16-21)

Marriage emerged as a social institution to identify men’s sexual property and rightful heirs. Has the love revolution stripped men and kinship systems of their unconditional authority? Have the various sexual revolutions eroded church and societal authority to regulate sexuality? How is power implicated in sexuality? Is married life equally benefiting women and men?

Oct 16:       Sexuality norms
                  Coltrane and Adams, Chapter 2
                  Bailey, “Sexual revolution(s),” from The Sixties: From Memory to History (ER)
                  Risman & Schwartz, “After the sexual revolution: Gender politics in teen dating” (ER)

Reflection Exercise – Dating rules: Has there been a decline in dating and a rise in “hooking up?” What are the rules?

Oct 21:       Cohabitation and partnership
                  Coltrane and Adams, Chapter 3
                  Cherlin, “The deinstitutionalization of American marriage” (ER)
                  Lane, “Marriage promotion and missing men” (recommended, ER)

Midterm Exam (October 23)

Married Life and Parenthood & Parenting (October 24-November 9)

Aside from good housekeeping promotions and the sale of SUVs to families, does corporate America pay attention to families and family life? What is the so-called “good provider” role, and is it still the domain of men? How pervasive is the mommy track? Can you imagine a situation wherein you would be willing to forfeit a “peer marriage” and select as its substitute an asymmetrical, traditional marriage? Has raising children become a social problem? Does parenting remain an irrevocable role, or is it one of choice? Why are the normal stresses associated with parenthood and the ordinary family troubles that emerge between generations being perceived as warning signals of societal problems? What is “good parenting”? Should parenthood require a license, too?

Oct 28:       His marriage/her marriage
                  Coltrane and Adams, Chapter 4
                  Schwartz, “Peer marriage” (ER)
                  Deutsch, Francine. “Halving it all: The mother and Mr. Mom” (ER)
                  Hochschild, “The emotional geography of work and family life” (recommended, ER)

Reflection Exercise – Your father(s) and grandfather(s): How involved were they and do you think they were “typical” for their cohort? Your mother(s) and grandmother(s): How “typical” were their marriage, childbearing and employment pattern?

Oct 30:       Debate 1 – Should marriage be restricted to…..heterosexuals? or just the people committed to parenting?
                  Thomas, “The war over gay marriage” (ER)
                  Herdt & Kertzner, “I do, but I can’t: The impact of marriage denial…” (ER)

Nov 4:        Fatherhood
                  Coltrane and Adams, Chapter 5
                  Townsend, “Four facets of fatherhood,” from The Package Deal (ER)
                  Hamer, “Got to make fatherhood work for us,” from What It Means to be a Daddy (ER)

Nov 6:        Motherhood
                  Hays, “The mommy wars,” from The cultural contradictions of motherhood (ER)
                  Lewin “Lesbian mothers: This wonderful decision” (ER)

Reflection Exercise – Thinking about your future: Does the “Package Deal” script still “fit” in 2008 and beyond?

Nov 11:      Engendering children
                  Coltrane and Adams, Chapter 6
                  Bianchi, “Maternal employment and time with children” (ER)

Nov 13:      Debate 2 – What’s the solution: Children first?
                  Crittendon, “How to bring up children without putting women down,” from The Price of Motherhood
                  Stacey & Biblarz, “(How) does the sexual orientation of parents matter?” (ER)
                  Hertz, “Typology of approaches to child care” (recommended, ER)

Part IV. Conflicted Family Relations

Family Violence (November 18-20)

Conflict inside families is normal. Sometimes the way conflict is managed is through interaction that is psychologically & physically abusive. Statistically, experience violence is more likely to occur inside than outside families. In our culture many forms of family violence are perceived as acceptable – sometimes even deemed necessary and justified. Why? Why do family members have the perceived authority to hit? What distinguishes emotional abuse from physical abuse?

Nov 18: Staying or getting out
Goetting, Getting out: Life stories of women who left abusive men

Nov 20:      Emotional abuse, physical violence, and sexual assault
                  Coltrane and Adams, Chapter 8
                  Yllo, “Through a feminist lens: Gender, diversity, and violence” (ER)
                  Bunch, “Violence against women & girls: Intolerable status quo” (recommended, ER)

Nov 25:      Debate 3 – Corporal Punishment: The future of children
                  A letter from a victim, and responses from states still using corporal punishment in schools: http://www.nospank.net/rape.htm#rsponses
                  Straus, Chapter 10, Beating the devil out of them (ER)

Reflection Exercise – Spanking: Were you spanked? Do you see it as physical violence?

Thanksgiving Break (November 27)

Divorce, Remarriage, and Blended Families (December 2 - 9)

Dec 2:        Marital separation and divorce
                  Vaughn, “Uncoupling,” from Uncoupling: Turning Points in Intimate Relationships (ER)
                  Hopper, “The symbolic origins of conflict in divorce” (ER)

Portfolios due (December 2)

Dec 4:        Divorce and remarriage
                  Coltrane and Adams, Chapter 7
                  Amato, “The consequences of divorce for adults and children” (ER)

Research papers due (December 5)

Dec 9: Remarriage & stepfamilies
Mason & Mauldon, “The new stepfamily requires new policy” (ER)

Final Exam – December 13th, 8:30 am