Sociology of Family - Abstracts

Bibliography, Syllabus, Journals, Books on Sociology of Family

Trends in family sociology.
Huber J, Spitze G - Source citation: In: Handbook of sociology, [edited by] Neil J. Smelser. Newbury Park, California, Sage Publications, 1988. :425-48.
Abstract: Except for the industrial era, family sociology has lacked theories that explain world patterns over time. Recent work in historical demography, social history, comparative sociology, and anthropology now suggest how the variables involving food production permit or encourage monogamy, polygamy, and the conjugal or extended family. The stimuli of industrial technology, retirement plans, improved contraceptives, and wives' employment have caused incentives to marry for life and rear children to erode. The economic cement that once bound spouses for life has been replaced by love, a thin glue for a 50 year contract. Current research confirms that since 1960 age at first marriage, divorce, and untraditional household formation are up. Remarriage and fertility are down. These changes pose new questions. Will the division of household labor shift? Will the divorce rate fall, level off, or rise? Can western countries maintain fertility at levels adequate to support their retirement systems? The direct economic benefits of child rearing currently go to the elderly according to their wage-related contributions. The persons who rear the child receive no direct economic benefits. Is child rearing rewarding enough to offset such costs? Does an innate factor drive humans to reproduce regardless of disincentives?

The Religious Roots of Family Sociology
Adams, Michele - Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Sociological Association
Abstract: Although scholars have situated the birth of family sociology well into the 20th century, I suggest that family sociology has roots in the 19th century religiously-motivated anti-divorce reform movement, as exemplified by the National League for the Protection of the Family and its primary spokesperson, Reverend Samuel Dike. Examining original documents authored by Dike in his capacity as the organization’s corresponding secretary, I suggest that Dike came to act as a bridge between the moral reformers and early family sociologists, aided by sociologist Albion Small’s long-term participation in the League as an Executive Committee member. Implicitly, Small provided Dike and the League with a legitimate sociological footing for their reform discourse at a time when sociology was undergoing initial professionalization in the United States. This footing allowed the reformers to set the tone and frame the “problem of the family” debate for the emerging sub-discipline of family sociology. In many ways, moral reform rhetoric has continued to frame the discourse for family sociologists up to the present.

Critical Feminist Pedagogy and Sociology of the Family Courses - Hirshfield, Laura
Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Sociological Association
Abstract: As a feminist scholar and educator, I am committed to using feminist pedagogical methods. However, the unique nature of the course I teach, Marriage and the Family, poses difficulties for instructors wishing to adhere to the tenets of critical feminist pedagogy. In this article, I identify and explore the sources of this mismatch, reviewing both the origins of critical feminist pedagogy and the peculiarities of Marriage and the Family courses. I conclude that the solution to this problem does not lie within the classroom, but within common definitions of “feminist pedagogy.”

Family Leisure and Changing Ideologies of Parenthood
By Susan M. Shaw, University of Waterloo (January 2008)
Abstract: Examines the significant role that family leisure plays in family life, and the ways in which family time, family activities, and family vacations reflect and contribute to changing ideologies of parenthood (including ideologies of motherhood and fatherhood). Research on this topic has shown family leisure to be a parental commitment, organized and constructed for the benefit of children and for the family as a whole. At the same time, family leisure has contradictory meanings and outcomes, because of the work involved and the difficulties associated with organizing and facilitating positive family experiences. Moreover, the work of family leisure falls disproportionately to mothers, reducing their personal time and personal leisure. It is argued that family leisure is a new obligation of parenthood, and one that has important implications for understanding ideas, beliefs and practices associated with intensive motherhood and involved fatherhood.

Matrimonial Property in Europe: A Link Between Sociology and Family Law
Branka Rešetar, Vol 12.3 ELECTRONIC JOURNAL OF COMPARATIVE LAW
This article questions the justification of the system of community of property (limited and deferred) in the context of the current notion of marriage and de facto relations between spouses in Europe, with the primary goal of the community of property from the first half of the 20th century as its starting point, i.e., the correction of the de facto inequality of men and women in society.
The basic means for such correction was and still is recognizing the value of indirect contributions of spouses in the form of childrearing and housework. Accordingly, one may say that indirect contribution and its equalization with direct contribution are the common issue of a functional approach to various matrimonial property systems in Europe.
This paper provides an insight into the results of the interdisciplinary research of indirect contribution in the above legal systems as well as into the de facto division of childrearing and household duties as the main elements of the contribution. On one hand, the obtained results lead to a (re)defining of the common problem within various European systems: the de facto inequality of spouses which has been most efficiently corrected by the community of property (limited and deferred). On the other hand, new trends in the field of division of childrearing and household duties and in the field of matrimonial contracts as well as new goals of the European Union policy with respect to gender equality, influence a new vision in this matter: will the community of property become a thing of the past?

Towards a sociology of money and family in the Indian diaspora
Supriya Singh,  RMIT University, Contributions to Indian Sociology, Vol. 40, No. 3, (2006)
The linking of money, family and migration has become increasingly important with the rise in Indian remittances to US$ 21.7 billion in 2004, the largest amount of remittances in the world. The economic importance of remittances has meant that they have primarily been studied as money flows resulting from direct migration. Some attention has been paid to their economic impact at the local, regional and national levels in India. In this article, I argue that sociologists and anthropologists have much to contribute to the study of remittances, as a social phenomenon linked to family and migration. The emergence of a transnational Indian family also means the development of a special kind of transnational family money, where money is equated with or measured against filial care. In the global context of migration, remittances are one of the ways families negotiate shifting arrangements of care, responsibility and security for the young, for women and for the elderly. These perspectives will help develop the sociology of money in India, connecting it to migration, family, marriage and gender relationships.

Soft ideas and hard methods: family sociologist or social psychologist? Stryker, Sheldon
Publisher: Haworth Press, Inc.
Article Abstract: The author examines his undergraduate and graduate education, which helped influence his interest in family sociology and ultimately led to his becoming a family sociologist/psychologist.

Partnership and Parenthood in Post-transitional Societies: Will Specters Be Exorcised?
Nobutaka Fukuda, Aoyama Gakuin University, 5-10-1, Fuchinobe, Sagamihara-shi, Kanagawa-ken, 229-8558, Japan. Copyright © 2008 The Japan Sociological Society
Abstract: The purpose of this article is to reconsider partnership and parenthood in post-transitional societies from the viewpoint of sociology. As is well known, after the end of the Baby Boom, albeit with variations in the tempo and the level, a considerable decline in fertility has occurred in industrialized countries. Furthermore, this decline has occurred in tandem with the transformation of partnership such as an increase in the number of cohabited couples. The causes and effects of this decline in fertility have hitherto been studied by social scientists such as economists and demographers. Although the family has been one of the main research interests for sociologists for a long while, the changes in partnership and fertility behavior in developed countries have not been sufficiently argued from the perspective of sociological theory on family. In this article, we will initially compare and contrast two changes in fertility patterns: the first of these is the fertility decline that occurred around the latter half of the nineteenth century; the second is the change that has been observed in industrialized countries since the second half of the 1960s. We will then discuss the difference between economic and ideational approaches in the explanation of partnership and fertility changes. Finally, we will examine the convergence and the divergence theories on family change. This article will conclude with an emphasis on the importance of the middle-range theories.

Children in Family Sociology Texts: United States and Sweden. The Wisconsin Sociologist. Volume 24, number 1 (winter 1987), p. 49-56.
Abstract: Textbooks from the US & Sweden (N = 18) are examined to determine how family sociologists deal with children when writing for a College reading public. Textbook writers appear to be adult-oriented & -positive, presenting dating & spousal relations & interaction in a generally favorable light, & parent-child relations & interaction in an unfavorable one. Sibling relations & interaction are almost totally overlooked or ignored. There are no marked differences between US & Swedish textbooks in these regards. 4 Tables, 9 References. Modified HA

On the sociology of the family - SIMMEL G. ; RITTER M. ; FRISBY D
Theory, culture & society ISSN 0263-2764
Abstract: In this article on the sociology of family, Simmel locates the study of the family within contemporary sociology. Utilizing current ethnographic material, Simmel seeks to counter simple evolutionary assumptions about the development of the family emerged, in favour of recognition of the variety of its early forms. Arguing that the family emerged from the relation between mother and child, Simmel examines the relationships between private property and monogamy as well as economic aspects of the family and the position of women.

Family Panels to Build a Sociological Perspective on Work-Family Connections
Authors: Michael Gortari, Erik Schwinger, Rebecca M. Thomas, and Clayton D. Peoples, University of Nevada, Reno - wfnetwork.bc.edu/activities_entry.php?id=6369&area=All
Abstract: The relationship between work and family is crucial, and conveying this is one of the key tasks of teaching sociological perspectives on the family. But conveying this reality can be difficult given that directly demonstrating family life situations in the classroom is very difficult. In this paper, we describe an exercise that brings work/family situations into the classroom indirectly via a “family panel” of guest speakers trained in sociology talking openly about their own families. We expound upon a recent family panel we conducted, and evaluate its effectiveness. We find the panel is a positive learning experience for students and makes themes/concepts related to the crucial work/family connection more real and understandable.
Introduction: The dynamic interplay between work and family is undeniably important. From the spillover of work stress into family life to the balancing of family and work responsibilities, the linkages between work and family are immutably significant. In fact, some argue that conveying the reality that work and family are inseparable is a critical task of teaching sociological perspectives on the family (e.g. Baca Zinn and Eitzen 1988). But accomplishing this task can be difficult given that directly demonstrating family life situations in the classroom is very difficult (Gunter 1974).

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