SOAN 202 | Families in Society

This course challenges students to learn to 'see' families sociologically and to think critically and comparatively about the family as an ideological construct and as a complex social institution. Rather than assuming a universal model of the family, course readings examine families in the United States and elsewhere in the world as diverse entities shaped by economic and political factors, gender ideologies, racial and class inequalities, sexual norms, and cultural changes. Family ideals frequently clash with contemporary family realities; social science is a powerful tool for illuminating the implications and meanings of family continuity and change.