Authorised by Academic Registrar, April 1996
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 Three essays (3000 words each): 30% each + Seminar participation: 10%