SOCIOLOGY 273 OFFICE: 211 COLLEGE HALL
FAMILIES IN SOCIAL CONTEXT PHONE: EXTENSION 4207
CHRIS CARLSON OFFICE HOURS: MW 11- 12
TuTh 3- 4

COURSE OBJECTIVES

We all have individual experiences in families, and our experiences are unique in many ways. However, our family experiences are shaped by a wide variety of social factors that create similarities among our families. Therefore, our individual experiences are also manifestations of broader social patterns that characterize families of others who share our particular social backgrounds, defined by history, class, ethnicity, gender, and sexual orientation.

In this course we will explore the ways in which the characteristics of families are rooted in social context. The focus of the course will be family patterns in the United States. We will begin with an examination of the historical development of the characteristics of contemporary U.S. families. We will then consider some contemporary family patterns and how they are changing.

Some specific questions the course will consider are:

1. How did families in the past differ from families today? How are families, past and present, the same?

2. Why have families changed over time? What are the main sources of change in the families?

3. Are contemporary families in the United States in crisis? Are families simply in a process of transition?

4. How do family patterns differ by ethnicity and class in the United States?

5. How does gender influence family experience? How does "His" family differ from "Her" family?

6. What is the explanation for the rate of divorce in the United States? What is the impact of divorce on adults and children?

TEXTS

The following three books are available at the Cornell bookstore:

Coontz, Stephanie. The Way We Never Were
Hochschild, Arlie. The Second Shift
Furstenberg, Frank Jr. and Andrew Cherlin. Divided Families

SOFTWARE

Copies of Student CHIP software are available for purchase in the Bookstore. This software is required for the data analysis exercise and the data analysis projects.

RESERVE READING

Several copies of Perspectives on the Family (Christopher Carlson) and Domestic Revolutions (Steven Mintz and Susan Kellogg) are on reserve in the library. The articles and chapters from these books are followed by the letters PF or DR on the reading list. Some readings will be distributed as handouts.

CLASS FORMAT

Class meetings will be devoted primarily to discussions of the assigned readings. The reading assignments are listed on the following pages. They are to be completed before class on the day listed. Class hours will be 9:00-11:00 each day except on the days underlined on the syllabus. On these days, class will meet at the the times indicated.

EVALUATION

Exams - Two take-home exams will be given. Each exam will be composed of essay questions on the reading and class discussions. The questions will test your understanding of the material covered in class and in the readings by asking you to summarize, explain, integrate, and draw conclusions from this material. The exams will be handed out at 11:00 A.M., and your typed answers will be due by 12:00 P.M. the following day. The final exam will be comprehensive.

Data Analysis Exercise: A data analysis exercise using U.S. Census data to trace changes in U.S. families over time is required.

Data Analysis Projects: Groups projects using U.S. Census Data are required. These projects will not be graded, but their careful completion is required.

Mini-Research Projects - Two short projects in which you report the results of interviews with a few people about issues relevant to the reading are required. The results of these interviews will be reported in brief papers of two-three pages. These projects will not be graded, but their careful completion is required.

Class Participation - Attendance and participation are expected and will count in the determination of the final grade. I will
assign points on the basis of your participation in class discussions, contributions in the form of questions, and responses to my questions. Obviously, you cannot make these contributions if you are not in class; unexcused absences from class will lower your participation grade.

FINAL GRADE

I will determine your final grade by adding together all the points on the various assignments and tasks listed above. Ninety percent of all possible points is required for an A, and 60 percent of the points is required to pass the course.

The possible points on the various assignments are as follows:

Data Analysis Exercise - 40 points
Midterm Exam - 90 points
Final Exam - 90 points
Mini-Research Project - 30 points
Data Analysis Projects - 30 points
Participation - 40 points
320

LATE AND MAKE-UP WORK WILL BE ACCEPTED WITHOUT PENALTY ONLY IN CASES OF ILLNESS OR EMERGENCY. A WRITTEN EXCUSE FROM THE HEALTH CENTER OR PRIOR APPROVAL BY ME IS REQUIRED. THE TIMES LISTED ON THE SYLLABUS ARE THE LATEST THAT WORK WILL BE ACCEPTED WITHOUT PENALTY.

Many movies are relevant to the content of the course. Four that I think are particularly good are: The Joy Luck Club, Crooklyn, Mr. and Mrs. Bridge, and A Wedding Banquet. You may wish to watch some of these during the term. You may know of other movies to recommend to the class.

COURSE TOPICS AND READING LIST

WEEK I
PART ONE: THE MAKING OF MODERN FAMILIES

"When I use a word," Humpty Dumpty said in a rather scornful tone, "it means just what I chose it to mean-neither more nor less." "The question is," Alice said," "whether you can make words mean so many different things." "The question is," said Humpty Dumpty, "which is to be master--that's all." (Lewis Carroll)

To study the history of the American family is to conduct a rescue mission into the dreamland of our national self-concept. No subject is more closely bound up with our sense of a difficult present--and our nostalgia for a happier past. (John Demos)

Monday - What is Family?

Tuesday(8:30-11:00) - Families Then and Now

Coontz, 1-22 Mintz and Kellogg, 1-42 DR Popenoe, "Scholars should be concerned about family decline" handout

OPTIONAL SESSION ON Student CHIP - 1-2

Wednesday(9-11 and 1-2:30) - Modernization and the Family

Coontz, 22-67 Mintz and Kellogg, 67-80 DR

Thursday - Modernization and the Family

Coontz, 68-79, 93-106, 122-148 Mintz and Kellogg, 83-95 DR

Friday - Contemporary Changes

Coontz, 149-179 Strasser, "Selling Mrs. Consumer" 245-252 PF

DATA ANALYSIS EXERCISE DUE BY 4 P.M.

WEEK I I

Monday(8:30-11:30) - Contemporary Changes

Coontz, 180-206
 

FIRST MINI-RESEARCH PROJECT DUE AT 9 AM

PART TWO: MARRIAGE AND CHILDREN

Do you love me? I 'm your wife. But do you love me? Do I love him? For twenty-five years I've lived with him, fought with him, starved with him. Twenty-five years my bed was his: If that's not love what is? Then you love me? I suppose I do? And I suppose I love you too. ( Tevye and Golde in Fiddler on the Roof)

The housewife is held to her work by duty and by love; also by necessity. She cannot "better herself" by leaving; and indeed without grave loss and pain, she cannot leave at all. So the wife struggles on, too busy to complain; and accomplishes, under this threefold bond of duty, love, and necessity far more than can be expected of a comparatively free agent. (Charlotte Perkins Gilman)

Childrearing in the United States today stands out as an activity that is conducted despite, rather than because of, economic self- interest. The decision to raise a child imposes truly phenomenal costs upon parents and provides virtually no economic benefits. The fact that these costs continue to be incurred bears testimony to the intrinsic benefits of parenthood. These rewards may be misperceived or misunderstood, and women may pay more than an equal share of the price for them. But parenting constitutes one of the few truly craftlike activities of modern life, where process is as important as productivity and where happiness of individuals overrides most other concerns. (Nancy Folbre)

Tuesday - The Housewife and the Good Provider

Hochschild and Machung, vii-xiii, 1-74

Wednesday(9-11 and 1-2:30) - Gender Ideologies and Gender Strategies

Hochschild and Machung, 74-142, 173-215

DATA ANALYSIS PROJECTS DUE AT 9 A.M.

Thursday - Sharing the Second Shift

Hochschild and Machung, 216-270

Friday - TAKE HOME EXAM DUE BY 12 P.M.

WEEK III

Monday - Having Children

Carlson, Introduction to Chapter 6, "Fertility and childbirth" PF, 295-302 (top) Rowland, "Technology and motherhood" 340-354 PF

Tuesday(8:30-11:00) - Raising Children

Coontz, 207-231
Gill and Gill, "A parental bill of rights" handout

SECOND MINI-RESEARCH PROJECT DUE AT 8:30 A.M.

PART THREE: DIVORCE, FAMILIES IN POVERTY, DOMESTIC ABUSE AND REPRISE

Divorce from the bonds of matrimony shall not be allowed in this state. (South Carolina divorce statute, circa 1900 )

The significance of race in the American past can scarcely be exaggerated. Those who seek to diminish its critical role invariably dismiss too much history-the depth, the persistence, the centrality of race in American society, the countless ways in which racism has embedded itself in the culture, how it adapts to changes in laws and public attitudes, assuming different guises as the occasion demands. (Leon Litwack)

From the vantage point of more than three hundred years of American history, the family has become a less hierarchical institution. It is no longer viewed as a little kingdom but as an intimate grouping of individuals bound by affection and companionship. Women have acquired a separate legal identity not subsumed by their husbands. A wife, no longer expected to be submissive, is thought to possess even the right to refuse intercourse with her husband....These changes, however, have not reduced family violence. Indeed, it may flourish as much in the context of disappointed hopes for warmth, support, and love as in a climate of authoritarianism. There is thus no simple relationship between family norms and the frequency and character of contemporary family violence. (Elizabeth Pleck)

Wednesday(9-11 and 1-2:30) - Divorce: Personal and Economic Consequences

Carlson, "Divorce" PF, 435-443
Furstenberg and Cherlin, 1-41
Gerstel, "Divorce and Stigma" PF, 460-478
FILM: Divorce Wars

DATA ANALYSIS PROJECTS DUE AT 9 A.M.

Thursday(9-11 and 1-2:30) - Divorce: Effects on Children

Furstenberg And Cherlin, 62-120
FILM: The Vanishing Father

Friday - Families in Poverty: Scapegoating the Black Family

Coontz, 232-254, 79-92 Jencks and Edin, "Do Poor Women Have A Right to Bear Children?"

WEEK IV

Monday(8:30-11:30) - Domestic Violence

Film: My Husband is Going to Kill Me
Movie at Carlson's House: A Wedding Banquet

Tuesday - Reprise: What is Family

Coontz, 255-270
Rosen, "What is family?" handout
Whitehead, "A new familism" handout

Wednesday - TAKE HOME EXAM DUE BY 12 P.M.