OPEN TO UNDERGRADUATES ONLY
MAY NOT BE TAKEN FOR CULTURE STUDIES CREDIT

“This is a family/Let’s count them and see,/ How many there are,/
And who they can be/ This is the mother/ who loves everyone/ And
this is the father/ Who is lots of fun./  This is my sister/ She
helps and she plays,/ And this is the baby/ He’s growing each day./”
(nursery rhyme)
What is a family?  Father, mother, and two children (and a dog)?
But what about single parents, gay and lesbian families  and people
living together without being married?  In this course we will
discuss the different meaning family takes on for different groups
and how the definition of family varies over time
and across cultures.  We will study how people form intimate
relationships and what affects the stability of relationships.  We
will cover cohabitation, marriage, remarriage, and divorce as well
as parenthood, blended families and other non-traditional family
arrangements.  However, the family is more than a group of people.
It is also a social institution that is shaped by cultural,
economic, and political forces.  Are there racial differences with
respect to family structure and family life?  How do economic
circumstances, such as work hours or income, shape family life?  How
do government policies affect today’s families?  To better
understand how social factors matter for families, this class takes
a comparative approach and contrasts trends in the United States
with a variety of other countries.