What would you like to get out of your time in this course? These are the questions, interests, and topics we came up with upon our first meeting:
- Differentiate between characteristics common to modern and historic families
- Survey cultural variation in the social institutions of marriage and family
- Determine how environmental factors influence family dynamics
- How does birth order affect sibling dynamics?
- Why get married? Explain the benefits and norms associated with marriage
- How does religion influence choices related to marriage and family?
- How do cohort or generational differences influence choices and perspectives on marriage and family?
- Differentiate cohort trends in family formation and dissolution
- Debate the meaning of marriage, including the implications of this for same-sex marriage
- Explain the interrelationship between the social institution of family and other social institutions
- Explore various parenting philosophies and their effects on child development
In conjunction with the above, we’ll draw from the following grab bag of topical goodies. This list will serve as a general outline for our meetings, discussions, and readings:
- Emerging Adulthood (EA): EA as a new stage in the life course; EA as it relates to the history of marriage and family
- Dating: Hook-up culture, Interracial dating and relationships, Cohabitation
- The Marriage Market: Mate selection; Should you wait for the right person or settle?
- Marriage: Marital name change / identity politics; The marital life cycle; Marital conflict and communication, polygamy, polyandry, polygyny, arranged marriage
- Gender Roles: Domestic work: The second shift; Do moms who work outside home have negative effect on their kids?; Stay at home moms (SAHMS)/ dads
- Birth & Pregnancy: Family planning and contraception; Abortion; History of birth: natural, medicated, and medicalized birth; Breastfeeding
- Parenting & Childhood: Birth order and life outcomes; Socioeconomic status and childrearing, including discipline; Gender role socialization
- Sexuality: Sexual Orientation: homosexuality, heterosexuality, social construction of sexuality; STDs; Pornography; Same-sex marriage and adoption
- Divorce: How divorce effects kids; Understanding divorce rates and trends: rates, who initiates divorce, types (e.g. no fault), causes
- Extramarital Relationships: Are will built for monogamy?; Rates of and types of extramarital relationships; The closing gender gap