ASM4330

Sociology of the family

Ulla Svensson

12 points -2 hours per week -First semester -Clayton

Objectives Students in this subject are expected to develop an understanding of how people's choices about marriage and parenthood are shaped and constrained by social structures and political ideologies; obtain a cross-cultural understanding by comparison with Scandinavian, socialist and pre-industrial societies; learn to apply a gender perspective on research, theorising, and social policies in the field of family studies; develop the practical skills of oral presentation and learn to debate and defend one's ideas and views.

Synopsis This subject examines how social, political and economic forces structure private domestic life. Topics to be discussed include the politicisation of the family and family reform movements, a comparison of family forms and family policies in capitalist and socialist societies, family forms and personality construction, the social construction of parenthood and childhood, the family as a site of gender struggles. The aim is to critically assess different theoretical explanations within the Marxist, feminist, functionalist and psychoanalytic perspectives.

Assessment Long essay (4500 words): 50% -Book review (2500 words): 30% -Seminar paper and presentation (2000 words): 20%

Recommended reading

Barrett M and McIntosh M The anti-social family Verso, 1982/1991
Delphy C and Leonard D Familiar exploitation: A new analysis of marriage in contemporary western societies Polity, 1992
Fox B (ed.) Family patterns, gender relations OUP, 1993
Gittins D The family in question: Changing households and familiar ideologies Macmillan, 1985/1993
Jaggar A and Rothenberg P (eds) Feminist frameworks: Alternative theoretical accounts of the relations between women and men McGraw-Hill 1978/1984/1993
Thorne B and Yalom M (eds) Rethinking the family: Some feminist questions Longman, 1982

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