Families : A Social Class Perspective

by Shirley A. Hill

• ISBN13: 9781412998017
• ISBN10: 1412998018
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2011-06-30
• Publisher: SAGE Publications, Inc

Summary

A brief, impactful book that provides a contemporary analysis of how economics and social class affects the concept of family today. This book focuses on the impact of economic systems and social class on the organization of family life. Since the most vital function of the family is the survival of its members, the author give primacy to the economic system in structuring the broad parameters of family life; that is, the economy shapes the prospects families have for earning a decent living by determining the location, nature, and pay associated with work. Taking a broad global and historical approach, the book recognizes and explores how the broader economy shapes family life and examines the organization of family life across the social class hierarchy.

Table of Contents

Series Preface: Contemporary Family Perspectives	p. ix
Author Preface	p. xiii
Introduction	p. xv
Family Studies and Social Inequalities	p. xv
Understanding Families in Social Context	p. xix
Social Inequality: The Seeds of Discontent	p. xxi
The Revolutions of the 1960s and 1970s	p. xxiii
Making Social Class Visible	p. xxviii
Defining Social Class	p. xxix
Brief Overview of Chapters	p. xxxii
The Evolution of Families and Marriages	p. 1
Families and Marriage: A Brief History	p. 3
The Concept of Marriage	p. 4
Early Hunting and Gathering Societies	p. 5
Settled Agricultural Societies: The Rise of Social Inequalities	p. 6
Transformations in Families and Marriages	p. 7
The Merging of Religion, Law, and Family Life	p. 8
Institutionalizing Inequalities: Gender and Race	p. 9
Racial and Ethnic Stratification	p. 11
Social Inequalities in Colonial America	p. 12
Confronting the Racial ôOtherö	p. 15
African American Families	p. 16
Industrialization and the Modern Family	p. 18
The Spread of Industrialization to the New World	p. 19
Racial and Ethnic Inequality in Industrial America	p. 20
Gender in Industrial America	p. 21
The Sociological Study of Families	p. 22
The Modern Isolated Nuclear Family	p. 23
Middle-Class America: Realities, Myths, and Transitions	p. 25
The Post-Industrial Economy and Growing Class Inequality	p. 27
Theorizing Social Inequalities	p. 29
Structural Functionalism	p. 32
Structural Functionalism and Social Inequality	p. 33
Structural Functionalism and the Family	p. 34
Symbolic Interactionism	p. 35
Symbolic Interactionism and Social Inequality	p. 35
Symbolic Interactionism and the Family	p. 37
Conflict Theory	p. 37
Conflict Theory and the Family	p. 38
Theorizing Gender Inequality	p. 39
Feminist Theories of the Family and Social Class	p. 41
An Intersectionality Approach to Gender	p. 42
Theorizing Race and Ethnicity	p. 43
Race and Family Theories: The Case of African Americans	p. 45
From Social Class to Culture: Racial Minorities in Family Studies	p. 47
Bringing Social Class Back In	p. 49
Elite and Upper-Class Families	p. 53
Defining the Upper Class	p. 54
Economic Elites: Historic Origins	p. 58
The Industrial Elite	p. 59
Family Life in the Upper Class	p. 61
Marital and Gender Relations	p. 62
Socializing Children	p. 64
Conclusion	p. 68
Middle-Class Families: Stability and Change	p. 69
Origins of the Middle Class	p. 72
The Modern Middle-Class Family	p. 73
The Golden Age of the Family	p. 75
Postmodern Middle-Class Families	p. 76
Renegotiating Family Work	p. 78
Balancing Work and Family: Beyond the Housework Dilemma	p. 81
Having and Rearing Children	p. 82
Gender and Racial Socialization	p. 86
Racial Socialization	p. 87
The Decline of the Middle Class	p. 88
Economically Marginal Families: Living on the Edge	p. 91
Who Are the Economically Marginal?	p. 92
Explaining Poverty	p. 95
The Culture-Structure Nexus	p. 95
The Post-Industrial Decline and Resurgence of Culture	p. 97
The Marriage Decline	p. 99
Strained Gender Relations	p. 101
The Perils of Marriage	p. 103
Having and Rearing Children	p. 105
Life in Single-Mother Families	p. 108
The Well-Being of Children in Single-Parent Families	p. 109
Social Policy and the Poor	p. 112
Is Marriage the Answer?	p. 113
Conclusion	p. 115
Families in Global Economic Context	p. 117
Theorizing Global Inequalities	p. 119
Race and Ethnicity in Global Perspective	p. 121
Families Across the Globe	p. 122
The Persistence of Economic and Social Class Inequality	p. 124
Bibliography	p. 127
Index	p. 145
About the Author	p. 149
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