Important Links
Other links will be added during the course of the semester.
4/17/06 - Where Does Your Tax Money Go?
- Home page listing all of my courses
- Resource page from the Coalition for Marriage, Family, and Couples Education
- FYI
ANNOUNCEMENTS
March 13, 2008 - All my classes are cancelled this week. I have pneumonia.
4/26/07 - About the Gender Wage Gap
Sociology of the Family/Marriage and Family
Robin Brownfield - Instructor
Texts
Lamanna and Riedmann. Marriages and Families: Making Choices in a Diverse Society, 9th Edition.
Course Objectives
This course will cover the study of marriage and family life with sociological theory and research . The course will provide a comprehensive overview of the progression from dating to marriage and family, as well as the alternatives to “traditional” marriage and family arrangements.
Evaluation
1. There will be 2 exams (a midterm and a final exam) in this class. Each will count as 20% of your grade. I will no longer allow make-up exams more than one (1) week after the scheduled exam date.
2. You will write a 2-page book review of "A Child Called It. Counts as 20% of your grade.
3. You will be writing one term project where you will do an extensive analysis of your own family, its structure, and various issues that have affected its life course. You will be given guidelines for this shortly. This will be a rather lengthy project that should take AT LEAST 7-8 pages, plus research and documentation. This project is worth 20% of your grade.
3. Attendance and participation can affect your grade. You are allowed 2 “free” absences during the semester. If you arrive late, leave early, and spend class time texting friends outside of class, that can impact on this grade. (20% of your grade)
Schedule of Assignments
1/22 - 24 – Introduction
Varied Perspectives on the Family
1/29 - 31 - American Families in Social Context; Exploring the Family.
2/5 - 7 - Our Gendered Identities
2/12 - 14 - Loving Ourselves and Others; Our Sexual Selves.
2/19 - 21 - Committing to Each Other; Marriage, A Private and Public Relationship.
2/26 - 28 - Alternatives to Marriage.
3/4 - 6 - To Parent or Not to Parent; Parents and Children Through the Life Course.
Midterm handed out at the END of class, 3/6/08. Please do not ask me for the test at the beginning of the class. Schedule your doctor's appointment, court dates, and your great-aunt's third funeral for another day or time. If you have a problem with getting the exam on this date, inform me ahead of time - NOT ON MARCH 6.
3/11 - 13 - Work and the Family.
Midterm Due - 3/11/08
3/18 - 20 - SPRING BREAK!!!
3/25 - 27 - Communication and Managing Conflict in Marriages and Families; Power and Violence in Marriages and Families
4/1 - 3 - Family Stress, Crises and Resilience; Divorce: Before and After.
4/8 - 10 -Step-Parenting/Families
4/15 - 17 -Aging Families; Death and Dying.
4/22 - 24 -Families and Public Policy.
4/29 - 5/1 -End of Days.
TERM PAPER - SOCIOLOGY OF THE FAMILY
For your term paper, you will write a biography of your family,
analyzing the relationships between family members. The
information in these papers will be confidential, so do not worry
about discussing family issues that you would not discuss
with other people. This is a project geared toward getting
you to look at your family from the outside in.
In your paper, consider the following:
Who is in your family? Try to give a brief history of the people in
your family - as far back as you can go in researching it. If you
know things about your great-great-great grandmother,
then that is...great! But if you can only find information
as far back as your grandparents or even your parents
(or whoever raised you), then that is acceptable.
Focus on your family of orientation (birth or adoptive family). If you
are married and/or have children, you may focus on your family
of procreation (the family you create) if that is preferable.
You MAY do both if you are ambitious!
Consider the following issues as well when doing your analysis:
Gender Socialization
Do you think your family was very traditional in raising you to be
masculine or feminine? Consider as many different angles
regarding gender socialization in your family as you can.
Who did what in your family? Were (are) gender roles overtly
taught, taught by example, or not taught in a traditional
way at all? Were (are) males and females treated
differently in your family? If so, how?
Division of Labor
Again, who did/does what in terms of work in your household?
Were/are there any issues regarding the division of labor
that affected your family (positively or negatively).
Power Relationships
Analyze your family in terms of the power relationships that exist.
Who has/had what kind of power? How was that power
exerted? Were/are there power struggles between family
members? If so, what are some of the results of that struggle?
Parenting
How were your parents as parents? Describe their parenting
style(s), the issues that came up for them as parents, the
struggles you may have (had) with your parents, etc. If you are
a parent, try to analyze your own parenting style and
skills.
Single Parenting
Were you raised in a single parent home? Are you, or have you
been a single parent? Do you think that your experiences
with single parenting are different than for parents who raise
children with partners? If so, how?
Adoption
Were you or any of your family members adopted? Have you
adopted a child or children? What are some of the experiences
you’ve had being an adopted child or an adoptive
parent related to the issues of adoption?
Gay or Lesbian family members and the issues of Sexuality in General
Has your family had experience with relating to a Gay or Lesbian
family member (including yourself, if this is appropriate to your
life)? Were you raised by Gay or Lesbian parents?
(Note: If this or other issues suggested are not applicable to
your family, you do not have to address them.)
How did your family handle the issue of sex education?
Divorce, Remarriage, Step-Parenting, Step-Siblings
Has your family had experience with divorce or separation?
Remarriage? Do you have step-parents and/or step-siblings?
How would you characterize the relationships
between yourself and step-family? Similar questions
if you are an adult who has experienced your
own divorce, etc...
Dramatic Events in Your Family Life
Have there been any dramatic (or traumatic) events in your
family’s life? Examples: (positive) were there any multiple
births, weddings, adoptions; (negative) death in the family from
a catastrophic illness, accident, suicide, murder/homicide,
war. Were there problems with child or spousal
abuse and/or substance abuse (drugs, alcohol)?
THIS IS YOUR FAMILY STORY, so I don’t expect any two papers
to be alike. You may choose the style or format to tell this story,
but be sure to use the textbook as reference to various
concepts (such as gender roles, Gay/Lesbian issues,
power issues, etc.). You may also use outside references
to help you organize your paper.
(Note: I do not share any of the information in your papers with
others. Everything in them is strictly confidential. If this
paper is too personal or may cause you discomfort, please
speak to me and I will give you an alternate assignment.)
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How I grade: Family Analysis Paper
Utilizing the materials introduced in this course so far, analyze
your family sociologically. Specifically, address the ways your
individual family has been “socially constructed.” Situate your
family in social, historical, and economic contexts and
discuss how these forces may have shaped courting, marriages
and other partnerships, family structures, divorces,
and childbearing/childrearing in your family. Does your family
conform to the social trends in the above areas about which
we have been learning? How? If your family differs greatly from
these trends (and those differences are not addressed
in course materials), you may draw on your emerging
(or maybe well-developed) “sociological imagination”
to sociologically interpret your family patterns in ways not fully
articulated in the course materials. However, use this
option in a manner which demonstrates that you are
familiar with course materials.
You should also consider how race, class, and gender have
impacted your family’s forms and paths. Finally, address
whether the examples provided by your family support or refute
the idea of a “monolithic family form” or a “stable and
harmonious family of the past.”
Note that it is not sufficient to assert that your family is a social
anomaly which does not reflect any social trends or is
outside the impact of social forces. You may rely on the concept
of “social agency” but be sure to explain fully both the concept
and the attributes or resources available to your family.
Use data from your own life as well as from the lives of your
grandparents and your parents. It is acceptable to use data from
only one set of grandparents. Speak to me if you are not able
to gather any information about any of your grandparents.
Note from the description above that you may need to gather
more data on family members than we have used for class activities thus far.
I expect well-written, grammatically correct, spell-checked, and
properly punctuated papers. They should be 7 to 8 pages, in 12
point font, and double spaced. You need not include a bibliography
but do cite your sources after you refer to them –
for example (Skolnick, p. 45) or (Lecture, 4/21/05).
Grading Criteria:
All written assignments will be evaluated on the basis of these
general guidelines.
A – Great! Superior composition, organization, and style.
Excellent and detailed supporting examples to back up
arguments. Good grasp of the material is demonstrated by the
correct use of important concepts from the class as well
as their complexities. Creative and original. An “A” paper
demonstrates a sociological analysis which goes beyond
simply matching your family to the readings and lectures.
Sources cited. I learned something valuable from you. Your
written work is carefully proofread and with a few exceptions
is free of error.
B – Good work! Skillfully and well-organized. Arguments are
well-supported. Good use of concepts from class. Perhaps
you have more than a couple of mistakes. Perhaps
you could be clearer or more in-depth in you discussion.
On the whole, your written work is good, but I can point
to a few counter-arguments or implications that you are
missing. Your written work is proofread, and contains
no more than 5 errors.
C – OK. Fulfills the requirements of the assignment. Adequate
but uninspired writing. Main points have some sort of support.
Your reference concepts from class and have some arguments.
Perhaps your arguments are unclear. Perhaps you have
a few minor misunderstandings, but no major errors or
misinterpretations. There are some gaps in you logic at times
and perhaps you lack depth in some areas. Your written
work could benefit from a closer proofreading.
D – You can do better! Does not meet all the assignment
requirements and/or has missing sections. Poorly delivered/written
and organized. Poor arguments, large logical gaps,
major misunderstanding of concepts, and analysis that
generally remains at the surface or obvious level. Number
of errors noted were a distraction to the reader and/or
made interpretation of your ideas difficult.
F – Insert your own explanation here!
Note: The two most common (and easiest to fix) mistakes that
students make are 1) not paying attention to the assignment
and leaving out necessary segments of the assignment,
and 2) not having a clear grasp of the assignment
and failing to ask for clarification. If you are confused, talk
to me before or after class or email me.
In our class discussion, there was debate about the gender wage gap. According to this article, in 2006, women made 77% of what men made; however, you have to be aware that the ratio changes from year to year, and may also vary due to the methods of determining the gap. For exam, some reports say the gap in 2004 was 74:100, while another says it was 81:100. Included in what has to be considered is occupational category, and gender segregation in the workforce. Men and women still generally don't work in the same occupations. Even where they do, men tend to make more than women, and in many professions, the gap is much wider than the national average. Another thing to consider is the gap's slight narrowing over time has less to do with women making more money than it has to do with men making less money.
Annual Editions. The Family 08/09.
Pelzer. David. A Child Called “It”
Read: LaManna et al, Ch. 1 & 2.
Annual Editions, Articles 50, 51.
– LaManna, Ch. 3.
Annual Editions, Articles 1 - 5.
LaManna, Ch. 4
Start reading: A Child Called “It.”
LaManna , Ch. 5. 6
Annual Editions, Articles 6 - 9.
– LaManna, Ch. 7 & 8.
Annual Editions, Articles 10 - 12.
LaManna , Ch. 9
Annual Editions, Articles 20 - 22.
Book Review Due: 2/28/08 (A Child Called “It”)
Ch. 10, 11.
Annual Editions, Articles 23 - 27.
LaManna , Ch. 12.
Annual Editions, Article 38.
LaManna , Ch. 13, 14.
Annual Editions, Article 33 - 35.
LaManna , Ch. 15, 16.
Annual Editions, Article 44.
LaManna , Ch. 17.
Annual Editions, Article 45.
LaManna , Ch. 18.
Annual Editions, Articles 39 - 43.
Term Projects Due - 4/15
Annual Editions, Articles 39 - 43.
Final Exam Due - 5/1/08.