Book Description
This best-selling reader on families and intimate relationships identifies the most current trends and places them in historical context. The reader balances cutting-edge scholarship with perennial favorites. Many selections support the authors¿ claim of a “triple revolution” transforming contemporary family life: the move to a postindustrial service and information economy; a life course revolution brought about by reduced mortality and fertility; and psychological changes rooted in rising educational levels. Anyone looking for a collection of classic and contemporary readings on the sociology of the family.

From the Back Cover
This best-selling reader on families and intimate relationships identifies the most current trends and places them in historical context. The authors, who are leading scholars in the field, balance cutting-edge scholarship with perennial favorites. Sixteen readings are new to this edition, including: Lynne M. Casper and Suzanne M. Bianchi on cohabitation. Mary Ann Mason on modern American stepfamilies. Dan Clawson and Naomi Gerstel on child care in the U.S. and Europe. Joan B. Kelly and Robert E. Emery on children's adjustment following divorce. Nicholas Townsend on fatherhood. Arlie Hochschild, with Anne Machung on working parents.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

The classic reader on family life that reflects current trends, places them in historical context, and balances cutting-edge scholarship with time-honored pieces. With every edition, this best-selling reader has chronicled changes in the contemporary American family. The popularity of this book speaks to the authors' ability to find articles that are timely and germane to the subject on one hand, and accessible to the reader on the other. While the selections vary from one edition to the next, they all demonstrate in various ways how family life is bound up with the social, economic, and ideological circumstances of particular times and places. The authors provide a general introduction to the book, as well as to each of the four major parts For Sociologists, Counselors and Therapists.

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