This compilation of the best thinking about adoption by both historical and current authorities reveals a vital, ever-changing practice affecting the lives of millions of people around the globe. The ancient practice of adoption has changed significantly through history. In colonial America, parents adopted out their unwanted children-those who were "rude, stubborn, and unruly"-to other families. Today, Americans go abroad looking for children to adopt, and have adopted more than a quarter million internationally. Adoption: A Reference Handbook, Second Edition not only traces the development of expert thinking about adoption, it also looks at both sides of the latest controversial issues. Should adoptions be open or closed? Should the government regulate adoptions more closely-or less? This updated second edition offers an international perspective with a new chapter on how countries outside the United States provide adoption services. This work is an indispensable resource for those thinking about adoption or researching its history. Primary sources include testimony from hearings and court cases, and case studies explain and illuminate concepts A chronology of events and milestones includes coverage from the time of Moses to the present day

This book examines the role of the family in intra and inter-generational social movement. The authors take a genealogical approach to researching social mobility, using a university chemistry department as a case study to explore participants' motives for pursuing a STEM undergraduate degree and the influences that have shaped them. Assessing the roles of genealogy, family and higher education in shaping their aspirations and careers, the authors examine the contributions of these variables to the students aspirations. With a wealth of empirically rich qualitative data, the authors identify areas where work is required to achieve greater equality of access to high performing chemistry departments and enhance career outcomes, which could be applied more widely. This book will appeal to scholars of educational inequalities and widening access, particularly in terms of STEM education.

Accounting for Affection examines the multifaceted nature of early modern motherhood by focusing on the ideas and strategies of Roman aristocratic mothers during familial conflict. Illuminating new approaches to the maternal and the familial employed by such women, it demonstrates how interventions gained increasing favor in early modern Rome.

While the so-called 'honey trap' is a Hollywood cliche, it is also an enduring piece of tradecraft in the real-life world of spy versus spy. Employed by virtually every intelligence service in times of war and peace, the work of femme fatales and Romeo spies have shaped policy and history through seduction, betrayal and scandal. Perhaps the most well known though least understood element of espionage, the use of honey traps can be found throughout history in religious texts, lurid headlines and pop culture mythology. Honey Trapped is the first book to fully examine the oldest and consistently effective piece of tradecraft, from the ancient world to cyber seductions. Honey Trapped tells the stories of those spies, both famous and obscure, who used sex and leveraged love to acquire sensitive information. From Greek mythology to recent investigations, the potent mix of sex and espionage is sure to enthral and entertain.

For many years, government policy has associated young people 'being NEET' (Not in Education, Employment or Training) with educational underachievement, worklessness, generational poverty, poor health, antisocial behaviour, and reduced life expectancies. Researchers and policymakers continue to debate whether young people become NEET as a result of their own choices (i.e. their personal agency), or as a result of external factors (i.e. social, political and economic structures). Most recognise that the truth is somewhere between the two, but a clear understanding of how each interacts in causing young people to become NEET has so far been elusive, making the development of effective policy and practice problematic. Agency, Structure and the NEET Policy Problem makes headway against this problem through an original approach that draws on social cognitive theory and the lived experiences of young people themselves. Investigating the lives of NEET young people between the ages of 17-21 in London, this book elucidates the interactions between agency and structure that lead to them becoming NEET, and in doing so, offers a new perspective on the phenomenon. It offers a valuable critique of existing policy, providing both breadth and detail on the factors affecting the trajectories of young people in their transitions to continued education, training, or employment. It offers a way forward for all who are interested in developing, supporting and implementing a revitalised approach to NEET policy and practice, and a framework around which a coherent multidisciplinary approach to addressing NEET could be developed.

Set against the backdrop of a country which upholds a heteronormative and narrow view of family, this book provides insights into the lives of Hungarian same-sex couples and their heterosexual relatives. Beres-Deak utilizes the theoretical framework of intimate citizenship, as well as findings from ethnographic interviews, participant observation and online sources. Instead of emphasizing the divide between non-heterosexual people and their heterosexual kin, the author recognizes that these members of queer families share many similar experiences and challenges.Queer Families in Hungary looks at experiences of coming out, negotiation of visibility, and kinship practices, and offers valuable insights into how individuals and families can resist heterosexist constraints through their discourses and practices. Students and scholars researching kinship studies, LGBT and queer studies, post-socialist studies, and citizenship studies, will find this book of interest.

When gay couples become parents, they face a host of questions and issues that their straight counterparts may never have to consider. How important is it for each partner to have a biological tie to their child? How will they become parents: will they pursue surrogacy, or will they adopt? Will both partners legally be able to adopt their child? Will they have to hide their relationship to speed up the adoption process? Will one partner be the primary breadwinner? And how will their lives change, now that the presence of a child has made their relationship visible to the rest of the world? In Gay Dads: Transitions to Adoptive Fatherhood, Abbie E. Goldberg examines the ways in which gay fathers approach and negotiate parenthood when they adopt. Drawing on empirical data from her in-depth interviews with 70 gay men, Goldberg analyzes how gay dads interact with competing ideals of fatherhood and masculinity, alternately pioneering and accommodating heteronormative "parenthood culture." The first study of gay men's transitions to fatherhood, this work will appeal to a wide range of readers, from those in the social sciences to social work to legal studies, as well as to gay-adoptive parent families themselves.

Relying on women's own words in letters and journals, Rosenzweig refutes the prescriptive literature of the times with its dire predictions of inevitable rifts between Victorian mothers and their daughters, the new women of the twentieth century. Instead Rosenzweig shows us mothers who rejoiced in their daughters' educational successes and, while they did not always comprehend the nature of the changes taking place, were only too happy to see their daughters escape some of their own restrictions and grief.

Extremely useful to scholars and teachers of women's history and family history, "The Anchor of My Life" should also be fascinating to the general public for the accurate window that it provides on these complicated family relationship in our history.
--Laurie Crumpacker, Department of History, Simmons College

"Drawing on a broad array of historical sources, "The Anchor of My Life"challenges the common assumption that mother-daughter relationships invariably are characterized by tensions and conflicts. This lively and moving book deserves a wide audience."
--Emily K. Abel, author of "Circles of Care: Work and Identity in Women's Lives"

The relationship between mothers and daughters has been the subject of much research and study, in such fields as psychoanalysis, sociology, and women's studies. But rarely has the history and evolution of this relationship been examined.

In "The Anchor of My Life," Linda W. Rosenzweig draws on a wide range of primary sources--letters, diaries, autobiographies, prescriptive advice or self-help literature, and fiction--to reveal the historical nuances of this pivotal relationship. Rosenzweig's distinctive approach focuses on the interaction between mothers and daughters of the American middle class at the turn of the century, revealing that mothers and daughters managed to sustain close, nurturing relationships in an era marked by a major female generation gap in terms of aspirations and opportunities. Illustrated with photographs and portraits of the time, "The Anchor of My Life" provocatively challenges the facile, late twentieth-century assumption that the mother-daughter relationship is necessarily defined by hostility, guilt, and antagonism.

This book examines ways to ensure that the rights, interests and concerns of young people are properly represented in Western democracies. One new proposal is the introduction of youth quotas in political institutions in order to counter the possible marginalization of young people caused by demographic ageing and, thereby, an overrepresentation of the interests of the elderly. The book explores key questions regarding the implementation of youth quotas from different perspectives, including philosophy, political science, sociology and demography. It examines whether youth quotas and other measures that give the young more voice and influence in political institutions are a good means for promoting the cause of intergenerational justice. In particular, it investigates how and if youth quotas can be used to ensure that the environmental interests of young and future generations are being taken into account. In addition, the book introduces an innovative model that would give a right to vote to minors without voting age boundaries. The book also discusses suffrage reforms through lowering the voting age in Western countries, as well as introducing methods especially aimed at raising the skills of children necessary for societal citizenship and empowerment of young citizens. The volume will help raise awareness and knowledge about the intergenerational implications of demographic changes in Western democracies, where ageing societies are increasingly turning into gerontocracies. It offers readers deep insight into how youth quotas in particular (and others forms of youth participation in general) might be efficient methods to ensure that younger generations are included in the political decision making process and other activities in society.

This book explores research on processes that influence family-school partnerships in support of student learning and education. It highlights research related to culture, contexts, and development as families and schools work together to promote smooth transitions and academic achievement. The volume discusses research related to family and community engagement with schools, and describes the various mechanisms by which partnerships may support students' long-term developmental outcomes and success beyond school. Each chapter sets forth a forward-thinking research agenda aimed at further understanding and implementing the processes by which family-school partnerships promote children's healthy adjustment. In addition to examining critical and emerging issues, this unique book also provides robust strategies, data, and rationales across the following areas: Cultural processes and the connections among home, school, and community. Family-school relationships during adolescence. Achievement mediators of family engagement in children's education. Continuities and consistencies across home and school systems. Uncovering processes and pathways in family-school research. Strengthening networks and attachments to promote child development. Processes and Pathways of Family-School Partnerships Across Development is a must-have resource for researchers, scientist-practitioners, and graduate students in child and school psychology, educational policy and politics, family studies, developmental psychology, sociology of education, and other interrelated disciplines.

Researchers recognize that theoretical frameworks and models of child development and family dynamics have historically overlooked the ways in which developmental processes are shaped by socio-cultural contexts. Ecological and acculturation frameworks are especially central to understanding the experiences of immigrant populations, and current research has yielded new conceptual and methodological tools for documenting the cultural and developmental processes of children and their families. Within this broad arena, a question of central importance is on how gender roles in immigrant families play out in the lives of children and families. Gender Roles in Immigrant Families places gender at the forefront of the research by investigating how it interplays with parental roles, parent-child relationships, and child outcomes.

Sex is often regarded as a dangerous business that must be rigorously controlled, regulated, and subjected to rules. Sexual acts that defy acceptable practices may be seen as variously defiling, immoral, and even unnatural. They may challenge and subvert both cultural preconceptions and the social order in a politics of sexual transgression that threatens to transform permissible boundaries and restructure bodily engagements. This collection of essays explores acts of sexual transgression that have the power to reconfigure perceptions of bodily intimacy and the social norms of interaction. Considering issues such as domestic violence, child prostitution, health and sex, teenage sex, and sex with animals across a range of settings from contemporary Oceania, the Pacific, South Africa, and southeast Asia to Euro-America, this book should interest all those who question the "naturalness" of sex, including public health workers, clinical practitioners and students of sex, sexuality, and gender in the humanities and social sciences.

The first line of responsibility for children lies with their parents, but what if the parents fail to look after their children? Who else is involved, and what should they do? Children in the International Political Economy examines the moral responsibilities of different individuals and agencies towards children and argues that some responsibilities should be codified as concrete legal duties. If all else fails, children must look to the international community for help. Thus international agencies should recognize specific obligations to look after the well-being of children around the world.

Married and family life around the world has undergone a revolution in the last several decades: the radical democratization of intimacy in spousal and parent-child relationships. Previous principles of hierarchy, inequality, and duty that defined the relationships between husband, wife, and children have been challenged and often replaced by more fluid bonds of equality, intimacy, emotional self-disclosure, communication, and mutual trust. The key question that has emerged for our times, then, is how exactly do families sustain genuine mutuality, democracy, and strong relationships? Figuring out good answers to this question is the major theme of this book and the origin of the title Mutuality Matters. Three common strategies for creating just marriages have arisen: political and legal reform, smarter negotiating by women, and new cultural perceptions of marriage. While the authors in this book attend to all three strategies to different degrees, the primary focus is the third strategy: changing our cultural understanding of women and men in marriage. Moreover, to effect genuine cultural change, the authors recognize the need to enlist the help of religion as a key culture-forming element. Mutuality has become a common way for theologians from a variety of perspectives to talk about a more just love, a love that combines affection and justice. But many questions have been left unanswered: What exactly do people believe they have promised when they align themselves with Christian claims about love in their rituals of marriage and partnership? Do Christian views of love include the ideal of justice in marriage? Because accommodation or sacrifice is inevitable in any intimate human community, how can families insure that it will be mutual and just? How is marriage strengthened if justice is added to love at the core of mutuality? What does mutuality mean across time and distance, when participants are parents and children, when fathers are absent, when parents should be honored, or within a violent context? Is it possible to have democratic families without mutual sacrifice? Can submission be mutual? On these and other questions, the authors of this volume claim distinctive responsibility for rethinking Christian convictions about love and family life around the theme of mutuality and for strengthening the ministry of religious communities as those communities seek to empower and support families in their practice of mutuality. The essays written for this volume reflect the development of practical theology as one method for exploring the religious meanings of family and enhancing the practice of family living by 1) assuming that all theory has implications for practice and all practices are theory laden and 2) drawing into dialogue the knowledge and interpretations of a variety of perspectives including philosophy, biblical criticism, anthropology, liturgical studies, pastoral care, ethics, cross-cultural studies, and religious education. This collection of essays is noteworthy for both this interdisciplinary scope and its richly ecumenical representation.

Italian Family Matters examines the debates and political priorities that led to significant changes in the law and its relation to women and the family in postwar Italy. Informed by the feminist debates on these issues, it shows that both the need for and the limits to the demand for equality before the law can be used to show what a different ordering of the relations between the sexes could mean.

This work assembles a group of international scholars to address issues on marriage and the state, motivations to marry, partner selections, marriage ceremonies, religion, kinship ties and marriage, sexual interaction and marriage, and divorce.

This book addresses the recent marginalisation of class theory in youth sociology. The authors argue for the importance of reinstating class analysis as central to understanding young people's lives in the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand. Their analysis recognises that in periods of social change, class relationships and processes can and do get reconfigured, but by drawing on the work of Pierre Bourdieu, they show that class, while being dynamic, remains core to shaping the everyday lives of young people. Students and scholars across a range of areas including the sociology of youth, sociology of education, social work and social policy will find this book of interest.

This book explores what a sense of belonging-its components and state-means for the adopted children and those in care. It contributes to reader's understanding of these children's emotional well-being, mental health, and potential for success in life through education and beyond.

Both research and policy on balancing work and family life have tended to focus on mothers' lives. There has been a general lack of comparative research to the complex intersection between old and new forms of masculinity; and between fatherhood, work-life balance, gender relations and children's well-being. As a result, men's fathering roles and their struggle with work-life balance have often been neglected. These cultural challenges should be better theorized within family and social policy research. This volume examines how fathers fulfill their roles both within the family and at work and what institutional support could be of most benefit to them in combining these roles.

The significant changes in early modern German marriage practices included many unions that violated some taboo. That taboo could be theological and involve the marriage of monks and nuns, or refer to social misalliances as when commoners and princes (or princesses) wed. Equally transgressive were unions that crossed religious boundaries, such as marriages between Catholics and Protestants, those that violated ethnic or racial barriers, and those that broke kin-related rules. Taking as a point of departure Martin Luther's redefinition of marriage, the contributors to this volume spin out the multiple ways that the Reformers' attempts to simplify and clarify marriage affected education, philosophy, literature, high politics, diplomacy, and law. Ranging from the Reformation, through the ages of confessionalization, to the Enlightenment, Mixed Matches addresses the historical complexity of the socio-cultural institution of marriage.

Although interest in mother/daughter relationships has led to a plethora of books on the subject, these books all consider situations found in the mainstream white population. In this book, relationships between mothers and daughters from 13 ethnic groups, including Asian, Black, Latino, and Native American, are explored. The voices of 17 highly successful mothers, in different stages of their life, and their 19 daughters are heard. The reader will learn of their values, intergenerational relationships, and the mother's influence as a role model. The research that confirms and validates these women's life stories is discussed. The book provides valuable insight into the issues facing minority women in the United States.

Although the women in these case studies come from diverse multi-ethnic backgrounds, they have all faced traditional and ethnic barriers and been able to achieve success, becoming role models for their daughters. The book is both a significant contribution to women's and ethnic studies, social sciences and education.

First published in 1981, this title takes a 'sociobiological' approach to the exploration of sexual habits, looking at the fundamental biological nature of humans. The book covers the spectrum of human sexuality, considering love and marriage, variant sexuality and social influences. This is a valuable reissue for any student of sexual psychology or cultural and evolutionary anthropology with an interest in the fundamental influences on human sexuality.

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"A wide-ranging and beautifully dialectical analysis of the modern discourses on love and intimacy. David Shumway overturns some of the usual assumptions about romantic love and, in the process makes original, often surprising observations about literature, movies, pop music, self-help books, and a variety of other texts. Modern Love is a pleasure to read, and it contributes significantly to our understanding of modernity."
--James Naremore, Indiana University

"Fascinating and timely."
--"Intams Review"

"An extremely valuable contribution to the history of that supposedly timeless ideal, the intimate relationship."
--Elizabeth Freeman, author of "The Wedding Complex"

"A cultural study of love and marriage in fiction and film rather than a history of recent marriage, "Modern Love" illuminates the complexities of an important recent development in American marital ideals."
--"The Journal of American History"

"My ideas of romance came from the movies," said Woody Allen, and it is to the movies--as well as to novels, advice columns, and self-help books--that David Shumway turns for his history of modern love.

Modern Love argues that a crisis in the meaning and experience of marriage emerged when it lost its institutional function of controlling the distribution of property, and instead came to be seen as a locus for feelings of desire, togetherness, and loss. Over the course of the twentieth century, partly in response to this crisis, a new language of love--"intimacy"--emerged, not so much replacing but rather coexisting with the earlier language of "romance."

Reading a wide range of texts, from earlytwentieth-century advice columns and their late twentieth-century antecedent, the relationship self-help book, to Hollywood screwball comedies, and from the "relationship films" of Woody Allen and his successors to contemporary realist novels about marriages, Shumway argues that the kinds of stories the culture has told itself have changed. Part layperson's history of marriage and romance, part meditation on intimacy itself, Modern Love will be both amusing and interesting to almost anyone who thinks about relationships (and who doesn't?).

This authoritative book examines current trends in divorce throughout the world, analyzing hitherto inaccessible information on Asian and Arab countries and Eastern Europe, as well as data from Latin America, Western Europe, and the Anglo countries. William J. Goode asserts that these trends over the past four decades challenge previous theories, including his own, first offered in his classic World Revolution and Family Patterns. Among the topics Goode discusses are how divorce rates in different countries are affected by industrialization, dictatorship, civic standards for nations, and easier divorce laws; the relations between divorce and such factors as age and class; the meaning of the worldwide rise in cohabitation; and why people are becoming less likely to remarry. In all these divorce systems he points to the problems caused by divorce: how to get child support from ex-husbands, the increase in mother-headed families (even in Arab countries), and the scanty help (if any) governments give to such families. He argues that modern countries with high rates must learn an important lesson from what he calls traditional "stable high-divorce-rate" systems--that divorce is part of the system, and that we must create and support social norms (not only laws) that reduce its harsh effects.

Drawing on children's narratives about their everyday life this book explores how children understand the process of socialization as an embodied, biographical experience at home, at school and in the neighbourhood. Through close analysis of what children have to say, the book shows how children actively learn from and contribute to the mundane practices and interactions of everyday social life. Through these experiences they get to know about social norms, rules and values and also develop their sense of self and identity. Working from this child-centred perspective and drawing on recent theoretical ideas about personal life and the individual, the book demonstrates the valuable contribution that childhood studies can make to long-standing sociological debates about processes of social reproduction and social change.