Why are Americans so bad at marriage? It's certainly not for lack of trying. By the early 21st century Americans were spending billions on marriage and family counseling, seeking advice and guidance from some 50,000 experts. And yet, the divorce rate suggests that all of this therapeutic intervention isn't making couples happier or marriages more durable. Quite the contrary, Ian Dowbiggin tells us in this thought-provoking book: the "caring industry" is part of the problem.

Under the influence of therapeutic reformers, marital and familial dynamics in this country have shifted from mores and commitment to love and companionship. This movement toward a "me marriage," as the "New York Times" has termed it, with its attendant soaring expectations and acute dissatisfactions, is rooted as much in the twists and turns of 20th-century history as it is in the realities in the hearts and minds of modern Americans, Dowbiggin argues; and his book reveals how effectively those changes have been encouraged and orchestrated by a small but resourceful group of social reformers with ties to eugenics, birth control, population control, and sex education.

In "The Search for Domestic Bliss," Dowbiggin delves into the stories of the usual suspects in the founding of the therapeutic gospel, exposing little known aspects of their influence and misunderstood features of their work. Here we learn, for instance, that Betty Friedan did not after all discover "the problem that knows no name"--the widespread unhappiness of women in mid-century America; and that, like Friedan, one of the pioneers of marriage counseling was an open admirer of Stalin's Russia. The book also explores the long overlooked impact of sex researchers Alfred Kinsey and Masters and Johnson on the development of marriage and family counseling; and considers the under-appreciated contributions to the marriage counseling movement of social reformer and activist Emily Mudd.

Through these and other reform-minded Americans, Dowbiggin traces the concerted and deliberate way in which the old order of looking to family and community for guidance gave way to seeking guidance from marriage and family counseling professionals. Such a transformation, as this book makes clear, has been a key part of a major revolution in the way Americans think about their inner selves and their relations with friends, family, and community members--a revolution in which once deeply private concerns have been redefined as grave matters of public mental health.

The Sick Child in Early Modern England is a powerful exploration of the treatment, perception, and experience of illness in childhood, from the late sixteenth to the early eighteenth century. At this time, the sickness or death of a child was a common occurrence - over a quarter of young people died before the age of fifteen - and yet this subject has received little scholarly attention. Hannah Newton takes three perspectives: first, she investigates medical understandings and treatments of children. She argues that a concept of 'children's physic' existed amongst doctors and laypeople: the young were thought to be physiologically distinct, and in need of special medicines. Secondly, she examines the family's' experience, demonstrating that parents devoted considerable time and effort to the care of their sick offspring, and experienced feelings of devastating grief upon their illnesses and deaths. Thirdly, she takes the strikingly original viewpoint of sick children themselves, offering rare and intimate insights into the emotional, spiritual, physical, and social dimensions of sickness, pain, and death. Newton asserts that children's experiences were characterised by profound ambivalence: whilst young patients were often tormented by feelings of guilt, fears of hell, and physical pain, sickness could also be emotionally and spiritually uplifting, and invited much attention and love from parents. Drawing on a wide array of printed and archival sources, The Sick Child is of vital interest to scholars working in the interconnected fields of the history of medicine, childhood, parenthood, bodies, emotion, pain, death, religion, and gender.

Gender often influences the type of occupation that individuals choose, as well as the way they work and the outcomes of that work. Home-based employment is no different. The proximity of these workers to their families' living activities provides an unique opportunity to study the effects of work-at-home on family interaction and the role that gender plays in this traditionally female-dominated situation.

The chapters provide a range of gender considerations from the perspectives of the workers and the workers' families, with emphasis on either the workers, the family, or the work/business. The first chapter provides an overview of the subjects being covered and defines several of the concepts used. The range of viewpoints is extensive: Chapter 2 considers home-based employment from a global perspective, while Chapter 8 narrows the focus to one particular location and type of home-based worker. Chapters 3, 4, 5, and 7 examine in various ways the data from a 9-state study, basing their analyses in theoretical and conceptual frameworks related to gender. Chapter 6 explores the dilemma of parents who have to hire child care in order to complete their home-based work. Also included are recommendations for public policy considerations.

By supporting and influencing their families and communities, grandparents--and those who act as grandparents--can play a key role in today's society. Their special mission is derived from a strong sense of purpose and direction that develops from making significant contributions to family life. These include compiling and recounting family histories, maintaining meaningful relationships among different generations, opening up family communications, explaining social changes, and participating in community life. With the aid of real-life examples of intergenerational family dynamics, the author--a clinical sociologist who has practiced family therapy for more than 25 years--presents principles, techniques, and perspectives for today's grandparents.

Western societies face many challenges. The growing inequality and the diminishing role of the welfare state and the rapid accumulation of the resources of a finite planet at the top 1% have made the world an inhospitable place to many families. Parents are left alone to deal with the big societal problems and reverse their impact on their children's educational achievement and life chances. The 'average' working family is sliding down the social ladder with a significant impact on children's learning and wellbeing. We now know that parental involvement with children's learning (although important in its own right) is not the primary mechanism through which poverty translates to underachievement and reduced social mobility. Far more relevant to children's learning and emotional wellbeing is their parents' income and educational qualifications. The mantra of 'what parents do matters' is hypocritical considering the strong influence that poverty has on parents and children. We can no longer argue that we live in a classless society, especially as it becomes clear that most governmental reforms are class based and affect poor families disproportionately. In this book, Dimitra Hartas explores parenting and its influence on children's learning and wellbeing while examining the impact of social class amidst policy initiatives to eradicate child poverty in 21st Century Britain.

For decades, mothers were thought to be the only real influence on a child. Now we recognize that the father's involvement also has a profound impact, but how sons affect their fathers is too-often overlooked. In "My Father Before Me" psychoanalyst Michael J. Diamond firmly establishes fatherhood as an essential event for both the son's and the father's development. With chapters analyzing the father/son relationship throughout the life cycle, and demonstrating the powerful influence between them, Diamond calls for a more inclusive notion of masculinity, thus allowing men to access parts of themselves they previously ignored. He argues that sons are largely responsible for helping their fathers embrace this more flexible notion of manhood, making them better partners and better parents. Diamond has written an important book that enables us to make sense of the question: what does it truly mean to be a man.

Brothers and sisters remain, for those that have them, an inextricable part of existence. In adult life they may never be in contact but they cannot be formally divorced. Brothers and sisters are frequently life's longest relationship. Yet until recently, historians have scarcely noticed.
Thicker than Water is a pioneering history of sibling relationships in the long nineteenth century, from the last decades of the eighteenth to the first decades of the twentieth. The principal focus is on Britain, the first major capitalist society, and its middle classes, who were at the core of the nascent new order. It was their extensive family networks that provided the capital, personnel, skills, and contacts crucial to the rapidly expanding commercial and professional enterprises of the Victorian era.
Davidoff examines what we know about sibling relationships at this time, before delving deeper, looking at their uses and meaning for British middle class families, how they operated within the economic, social, cultural, and religious constraints of their place and time, and how they changed as families became smaller from the end of the nineteenth century onwards.
The issues raised throughout the book are grounded in an exploration of some specific themes, sibling intimacy and incest, sibling death, as well as in case studies of famous sibling relationships, such as that between William Gladstone and his sisters, and a revealing account of the household relations of perhaps the most influential interpreter of personal and familial life in modern society, Sigmund Freud.

Gender and Parenting in the Worlds of Alien and Blade Runner is a comparative, gendered analysis study of Ridley Scott's contributions to the genre of science fiction and horror cinema. Observing that while Ridley Scott's science fiction classics Blade Runner and Alien each feature future worlds in which space travel and off-earth colonies are commonplace, the author showcases how patriarchal and gendered expectations regarding women, usually associated with the past, still run rampant. Amanda DiGioia argues in this book that Scott has shifted from focusing on the future, and what humanity may be able to obtain from it, to a focus on facing mortality: what occurs after death and the futility of human existence. The opening chapter provides the necessary theoretical framework and background for the rest of the book, defining the Blade Runner films as science fiction works with elements of horror, from the corporeal to the existential, and the Alien universe as a collection of horror texts. The following chapters go on to discuss the idea of gender, across the works, ruminating on how humanity is in some instances nothing but a social construct that reinforces patriarchal myths about gender and power.

This is the first comprehensive and up-to-date study of how inmates and their wives cope with incarceration and to what extent conjugal visit programs help their marriages. The findings of a family support program in upper New York State compares different groups and has implications for social welfare and corrections professionals. The authors review the historical background of family support programs for prison inmates, the related literature, and raise questions about the kinds of policies, programs, and services that affect inmates and their families. They point to the effects of clinical intervention on different ethnic groups and make recommendations for the future to help the couples better cope.

Through the use of a historical-institutional perspective and with particular reference to the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia; this study explores the state of family policies in Post-Communist Europe. It analyzes how these policies have developed and examines their impact on gender relations for the countries mentioned.

They go by many names: helicopter parents, hovercrafts, PFHs (Parents from Hell). The news media is filled with stories of well-intentioned parents going to ridiculous extremes to remove all obstacles from their child's path to greatness . . . or at least to an ivy league school. From cradle to college, they remain intimately enmeshed in their children's lives, stifling their development and creating infantilized, spoiled, immature adults unprepared to make the decisions necessary for the real world. Or so the story goes.

Drawing on a wealth of eye-opening interviews with parents across the country, Margaret K. Nelson cuts through the stereotypes and hyperbole to examine the realities of what she terms "parenting out of control." Situating this phenomenon within a broad sociological context, she finds several striking explanations for why today's prosperous and well-educated parents are unable to set realistic boundaries when it comes to raising their children. Analyzing the goals and aspirations parents have for their children as well as the strategies they use to reach them, Nelson discovers fundamental differences among American parenting styles that expose class fault lines, both within the elite and between the elite and the middle and working classes.

Nelson goes on to explore the new ways technology shapes modern parenting. From baby monitors to cell phones (often referred to as the world's longest umbilical cord), to social networking sites, and even GPS devices, parents have more tools at their disposal than ever before to communicate with, supervise, and even spy on their children. These play important and often surprising roles in the phenomenon of parenting out of control. Yet the technologies parents choose, and those they refuse to use, often seem counterintuitive. Nelson shows that these choices make sense when viewed in the light of class expectations.

Today's parents are faced with unprecedented opportunities and dangers for their children, and are evolving novel strategies to adapt to these changes. Nelson's lucid and insightful work provides an authoritative examination of what happens when these new strategies go too far.

This book serves as a training manual for mental health professionals and other community members who desire a practical "handbook" to guide their work with adult children from dysfunctional families in both individual and group counseling. An approach to the resolution of trauma is offered, along with prevention and intervention techniques for use with children and adolescents from dysfunctional families in school and other community-based settings. Group psychoeducation is highlighted as a tool for the delivery of curricula, covering diverse topics such as how to engage in healthy parenting behavior, how the stress of immigration/migration contributes to the creation of dysfunctional families, how to attain cultural sensitivity, as well as how to prevent or stop violent behavior. Always practical, Dr. Wallace provides a timely and comprehensive guide for community mental health promotion at a time when multiple, overlapping epidemics undermine family functioning.

This comprehensive, cross-disciplinary encyclopedia explores the developmental nature of social interactions and is designed for a broad range of readers in college, institutional, and public library settings. The lifespan perspective illuminates how relationships change throughout the course of human development from family interactions and friendships to dating and work relationships. In the process a diversity of topics are explored, such as aging experiences, divorce, family violence, gender roles, grandparenthood, HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases, marriage and alternative lifestyles, parenthood, and sibling relations. A variety of perspectives are provided, including psychological, sociological, family studies, historical, anthropological, and religious views. The reader is also exposed to how lifespan relationships are shaped by international, racial, ethnic, and class differences. Over 500 easy-to-read entries analyze terms, concepts, themes, theories, and policies, as well as current, historical, and multicultural perspectives, and provide over 1,500 sources for further study. An appendix listing over 100 professional journals of note and a selected bibliography of the latest publications of importance to the topic overall further enrich this volume designed for students, teachers, practitioners, and general readers in all the social sciences.

"Survival of the Black Family" critically examines the social policies that arose from the civil rights movement. Jewell proposes new steps to economic independence for black families that would place this responsibility within all sectors of society, arguing that social policies and their absence have affected the status of black family structures. She refutes the myths of significant black progress that emanated from the civil rights era, including the belief in equity for minorities in societal institutions. Attention is focused on the extent to which black families have been adversely affected by a process of assimilation, which was sociopsychological rather than economic. Jewell also discusses how neoconservatism in the 1980s has affected the status of black families. Finally, Jewell offers guidelines to the formulation of a social policy that could enhance the status of black families in the United States.

This book provides insightful sociological analyses of Japanese demography and families, paying attention not only to national average data, but also to regional variations and community level analyses. In analyzing Japanese family issues such as demographic changes, courtship and marriage, international marriage, divorce, late-life divorce, and the elderly living alone, this book emphasizes the significance of two theoretical frameworks: the dual structure and regional variations of the community network in Japan. By emphasizing the extensive cultural diversity from one region to another, this book represents a paradigm shift from former studies of Japanese families, which relied mostly on national average data. The method of analysis adopted in the study is qualitative, with a historical perspective. The book is thus an invitation to more in-depth, qualitative dialogue in the field of family sociology in Japan. This book will be of great interest not only to Asian scholars, but also to other specialists in comparative family studies around the world.

Population ageing today affects most industrialised countries, and it will have an impact on many facets of the social system. Intergenerational relationships will play a key role in dealing with the demographical and societal change. This book provides innovative views in the multidisciplinary research field of intergenerational family relations in society, with a focus on Europe. Different, but complementary, perspectives are integrated in one volume bringing together international scholars from sociology, psychology and economics. The book's chapters are grouped into three thematic sections which cover conceptual issues, multigenerational and cross-cultural perspectives, as well as applied issues. Implications for research, policy and practice are addressed and suggestions for future directions are discussed. By raising recent discussions on controversial issues, this book will stimulate the current discourse at various levels. Intergenerational relations in society and family will be equally interesting for researchers, advanced-level students and stakeholders in the fields of social policy, population ageing and intergenerational family relationships.

View the Table of Contents. Read the Introduction.In this dynamic legal context the publication of Janet R. Jakobsen and Ann Pellegrini''s Love the Sin offers a smart, but controversial, intervention. -- Journal of the American Academy of ReligionImportant... a fresh way to argue for gay rights and sexual freedom.--Boston PhoenixLove the Sin is a progressive contribution to discussions about sexual and religious freedom in a country where we find less of both than most politicians, religious thinkers, media moralists, and average Americans want to admit.--Gay TodayA brilliant book, one that can move public conversations about sexual, racial, and religious difference beyond present assumptions and impasses. Love the Sin suggests that religion can become the ground for sexual freedom rather than the justification for sexual repression.--Margaret R. Miles, author of Seeing and Believing: Religion and Values in the MoviesThis impressive book provides analytical and strategic insights on the central obstacle to gay and lesbian freedom today: sexuality''s treatment by religion. The authors'' accessible voice, wide-ranging and original synthesis, and deep knowledge make the experience of reading this book a pleasure.--Urvashi Vaid, former director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Policy InstituteJakobsen and Pellegrini argue convincingly that movements for ethnic, racial, gender, and sexual justice would be well served by using the paradigm of religious freedom instead of biological determinism to make the case for social change. Love the Sin is required reading for all the sinners to whom the title euphemistically refers, and for everyone who dreams of a more just society.--RabbiRebecca Alpert, author of Like Bread on the Seder PlateGives us vital language to escape both the trap of toleration and the seduction of assimilation. Not afraid to challenge the certainties of the secular left on religion, nor willing to settle for a narrow version of gay and lesbian rights, Love the Sin presents a new vision of American sexual and religious freedom.--Laura Levitt, Director of Jewish Studies, Temple UniversityAs ambitious, feisty, and exciting as any new passion, Love the Sin takes its readers on a compelling ride across the volatile landscape of religion and sex in American public life. The authors not only provoke and stimulate, guide and elucidate, but they redefine freedom and democracy as values for our sex lives as well as our sexual politics.--Lisa Duggan, coauthor of Sex Wars: Sexual Dissent and Political CultureJakobsen and Pellegrini do a nice job of showing how the love-the-sinner/hate-the- sin tradition falls dramatically short of the higher aspiration to tolerance.--Stephen Pomper, Washington MonthlyThe authors of this short but succinct study explore the connection between the traditions of Christianity and the political and social regulation of sexuality in America.-- Library JournalLike any trumpet call to pull down the walls, this book serves its purpose by giving the GLBT community a new focus and even a renewed idealism.--The Gay & Lesbian ReviewWe cannot afford to lose the battle for nonpartisan sex education in the schools, sexual freedom for all citizens or a host of other endangered human rights. Love the Sin is essential reading for anyone who cares about these issues.--Women''s Review of BooksLove the Sin is a book that is relevant for anyoneinterested in sexology, religion, and politics. It has the potential to provoke and important dialogue amoung religious institutions, politicians at every level of government, community leader, and families about what it means to live up to the American ideal. -- Journal of History of SexualitySex. Religion. There is no denying that these two subjects are among the most provocative in American public life. Even the constitutional principle of church-state separation seems to give way when it comes to sex: the Supreme Court draws on theology as readily as it draws on cas

Childlessness is not a new phenomenon, but empirical evidence from the demographic field has demonstrated that it is on the increase. Furthermore, childlessness has a number of consequences for both women and men, the communities in which they live, their psychic states, their social networks and the organisations in which they work. Bringing together research from a wide range of scholarly disciplines, including philosophy, psychology, sociology, gender studies, social work and social policy, and underpinned by a feminist ontology this edited collection of original chapters provides an insight into the current state of the art research on the drivers, determinants, manifestations and outcomes of childlessness. The collection is intended to be a key resource for scholars, students and policymakers addressing this issue in a wide range of disciplinary contexts.

In recent years, there has been an explosion of research on the early origins of adult health. A growing body of evidence documents that maternal health before conception, prenatal and perinatal exposures, and conditions in childhood play critical roles in health over the life course. Scientific understanding of the multiple and interacting influences on child health and their role in later health continues to evolve rapidly, but greater attention to how families shape the conditions of early life that underlie childhood health is needed. This volume aims to advance understanding of this topic, with attention to mechanisms through which health disparities emerge and are sustained across the lifespan.

In Northern Europe almost half of households consist of one person. Rates of living alone are lower in the Global South but the trend is still on the increase. Prevalent first among the elderly, living alone then becomes common at ages associated with partners and children. Fears about the end of family and community combine with stereotypes, the 'sad and lonely' or 'selfish singles', in popular depictions. This groundbreaking and highly original study brings evidence to the core debates about contemporary social change in the context of globalization, exploring individualization and social connection, the future of family formation, consumption and identities, the relevance of place - rural or urban - in mobile worlds, sexuality, belonging and 'community', living arrangements and sustainability. This book presents a systematic sociological analysis of the growing trend of solo living across the globe, while also drawing on the voices of working-age men and women living in urban and rural areas in the UK.

This book presents historical perspectives on single mothers and antipoverty strategies in the US and several other industrial societies. The authors, specialists in family policy, discuss family and personal life of single mothers, their work and income (usually low), and issues such as child care, housing, and stress. The experiences of different types of mothers-only families are examined, and societal concerns for improvement of the situation of such families are addressed. Kamerman and Kahn analyze various policy options and, following a holistic approach, they propose a benefit-service package. . . . Encompassing statistics, case studies, anecdotal insights, and cross-national analysis, this book makes a valuable contribution to understanding the problem and its policy implications. "Choice"

Single-mother families are becoming an increasingly large and diversified group in the United States and other industrialized countries. From the poor, uneducated, unskilled teenager to the middle-class professional mother by choice, single mothers and their children face serious economic and social difficulties. This timely and comprehensive volume considers public policy options that respond to the needs of single mothers and their children, particularly in the areas of income, work, and child care.

This fact-filled book on polygamy and plural unions around the world supports an in-depth consideration of policy options for Western countries. Polygamy and plural marriage have become front-and-center issues in Europe, Canada, and the United States, notably on two religious fronts: among some splinter groups of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and in Islam. Polygamy in the Monogamous World: Multicultural Challenges for Western Law and Policy takes both groups into account as it provides a careful examination of legal polygamy in non-Western countries and plural unions in North America. Comparing these similar, but legally distinct forms of union, it offers a fresh perspective on how Western countries should respond to these relationships. Specifically, the book surveys non-Western countries where polygamy is legally practiced, then provides an overview of plural unions in North America. The problems of polygamy and plural unions are examined, including the potential for tne abuse of wives. The responses of Western governments to such relationships are reviewed, and the most effective solutions are identified to ascertain what policies should be adopted going forward. A bibliography of significant laws, cases, reports, books, and journal articles about polygamy

The election of America's first biracial president brings the question dramatically to the fore. What does it mean to be biracial or tri-racial in the United States today? Anthropologist Stephanie Bird takes us into a world where people are struggling to be heard, recognized, and celebrated for the racial diversity one would think is the epitome of America's melting pot persona. But being biracial or tri-racial brings unique challenges - challenges including prejudice, racism and, from within racial groups, colorism. Yet America is now experiencing a multiracial baby boom, with at least three states logging more multiracial baby births than any other race aside from Caucasians. As the Columbia Journalism Review reported, American demographics are no longer black and white. In truth, they are a blended, difficult-to-define shade of brown. Bird shows us the history of biracial and tri-racial people in the United States, and in European families and events. She presents the personal traumas and victories of those who struggle for recognition and acceptance in light of their racial backgrounds, including celebrities such as golf expert Tiger Woods, who eventually quit trying to describe himself as Cablanasin, a mix including Asian and African American. Bird examines current events, including the National Mixed Race Student Conference, and the push to dub this Generation MIX. And she examines how American demographics, government, and society are changing overall as a result. This work includes a guide to tracing your own racial roots.

Drawing on interviews with UK couples in distance relationships, this book seeks to explain, evaluate and advance sociological debates about intimate life. It provides a rich and human perspective on how bodies, emotions and connections to others are key in maintaining intimate relationships.