Social class and changing families in an unequal America
By: edited by Marcia J. Carlson and Paula England
Series: Studies in social inequality
Publisher: Stanford University Press
Published: 2011
Place of publication: Stanford, California
Language: eng
Number of pages: 230
ISBN-13: 9780804770880; 9780804770897
Copyright date: 2011
Subjects: Families; Equality; Social classes
Description: American families are far more diverse and complex today than they were 50 years ago. As ideas about marriage, divorce, and remarriage have changed, so too have our understandings about cohabitation, childbearing, parenting, and the transition to adulthood. Americans of all socioeconomic backgrounds have witnessed changes in the nature of family life, but as this book reveals, these changes play out in very different ways for the wealthy or well off than they do for the poor. The book offers an up-to-the-moment assessment of the condition of the family in an era of growing inequality. Highlighting unique aspects of family behavior, it reveals the degree to which families' varying experiences are shaped by social class. It offers an assessment of contemporary family life amid the turbulent economic changes in the United States.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: Introduction : social class and family patterns in the United States / Marcia J. Carlson and Paula England; title: Birth control use and early, unintended births : evidence for a class gradient / Paula England, Elizabeth McClintock, and Emily Fitzgibbons Shafer; title: Thinking about demographic family difference : fertility differentials in an unequal society / S. Philip Morgan; title: Between poor and prosperous : do the family patterns of moderately-educated Americans deserve a closer look? / Andrew J. Cherlin; title: Daddy baby, momma maybe : low income urban fathers and the "package deal" of family life / Kathryn Edin, Timothy Nelson, and Joanna Miranda Reed; title: Family instability and complexity after a nonmarital birth : outcomes for children in fragile families / Sara McLanahan; title: Social class and the transition to adulthood : differences in parents' interactions with institutions / Annette Lareau and Amanda Cox; title: Family change, public response : social policy in an era of complex families / Timothy M. Smeeding and Marcia J. Carlson; title: The recent transformation of the American family : witnessing and exploring social change / Frank F. Furstenberg, Jr.