Family Life in Western Societies: A Historical Sociology of Family Relationships in Britain and North America

by J. E. Goldthorpe

Overview

This book was first published in 1987, offering a masterly review and synthesis of the available literature on family life in western societies. This book presents a distinctive approach to family sociology, focusing on two related questions: Why did we have the kind of family life we did when we did? and why did we have the kind of sociology of family life we did when we did? Goldthorpe employs a doubly historical perspective in which both 'family life', as opposed to 'the family', and sociological thought about family life, are alike seen as processes in time and in relation to each other. He draws on earlier sociological studies which he uses as historical evidence both for more recent changes in family life and for the evolution of sociological thought on the family. Meticulous in presenting both sides of controversies in family studies, and forthright in taking a clear position on all of them, Goldthorpe challenges many widely held preconceptions about family life. The book assumes little previous knowledge of sociology, and is easily accessible to students and other readers interested in understanding this fundamental aspect of human experience.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521337526
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	05/07/1987
Pages:	296
Product dimensions:	5.43(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.59(d)

Table of Contents

Preface; Acknowledgements; 1. First principles; 2. Family life in the past: continuity and change in four revolutions; 3. Maternal care and maternal deprivation; 4. Sociological models of western family life in the 1950s; 5. Criticisms and critics of the 1950s models; 6. Family life and mental illness, especially schizophrenia; 7. Exogamy and the avoidance of incest; 8. Age-mates and adolescent socialisation; 9. Women in employment; 10. Careers and couples; 11. Social class, social mobility and family life; 12. Family life among ethnic minorities; 13. Marital adjustment, marital breakdown and divorce; 14. Departures and rejections; Notes; Index.