Families in America

In this accessible, engaging, and up-to-date course book,SusanL. Brownemploys ethnographic vignettes and demographic data to introduce students to twenty-first century perspectives on contemporaryfamilies.Appropriate as a primary or secondary text in classes onfamily and marriage, this book probes momentous shifts in the definition of family, such as the legalization of same-sex marriage and policy debates on welfare reform and work-family issues.Brown also explores the rise in nonmarital childbearing and single-motherfamiliesand the decline of ';traditional' marriage by delving into the historical roots offamilychange, current trends offamilyformation and dissolution, and the implications offamilychange for the well-being of adults and children. With a lens toward socioeconomic inequality and racial-ethnic variation infamilypatterns,FamiliesinAmericaillustrates howfamily diversity is now the norm.The Sociology in the Twenty-First Century series introduces students to a range of sociological issues of broad interest in the United States today, with each volume addressing topics such as family, race, immigration, gender, education, and social inequality. These booksintended for classroom usewill highlight findings from current, rigorous research and demographic data while including stories about people's experiences to illustrate major themes in an accessible manner. Learn more about the Sociology in the Twenty-First Century Series.