Family and Society in American History

Fülszöveg

family ^^ociety in (lAmerican history
Edited by Joseph M. Hawes and Elizabeth I. Nybakken
The internal dynamics of families have altered dramatically as the family has gradually shifted from a unit of economic production to a collection of individuals in pursuit of different goals. Taking examples from the eighteenth through the twentieth centuries, this eclectic reader illuminates changes in the American family and presents some of the methods and approaches used to study families.
Linking family patterns with changing social circumstances, Family and Society in American History considers husband-wife and parent-child relationships in light of language usage, gender roles, legal structures, and other contexts. For example, new legal attitudes toward divorce emerged as marriage came to be seen as a site for individual satisfaction. Marital fertility declined as American society modernized and pregnancy and childbirth came to be seen as medical rather than family issues. Schools... Tovább

Fülszöveg

family ^^ociety in (lAmerican history
Edited by Joseph M. Hawes and Elizabeth I. Nybakken
The internal dynamics of families have altered dramatically as the family has gradually shifted from a unit of economic production to a collection of individuals in pursuit of different goals. Taking examples from the eighteenth through the twentieth centuries, this eclectic reader illuminates changes in the American family and presents some of the methods and approaches used to study families.
Linking family patterns with changing social circumstances, Family and Society in American History considers husband-wife and parent-child relationships in light of language usage, gender roles, legal structures, and other contexts. For example, new legal attitudes toward divorce emerged as marriage came to be seen as a site for individual satisfaction. Marital fertility declined as American society modernized and pregnancy and childbirth came to be seen as medical rather than family issues. Schools and other institutions of the state absorbed flinctions formerly performed by the family, and women's economic contributions to the family disappeared as the social values of the early republic divided the male sphere (work) from the female (home). In the twentieth century, a new domestic role for men—that of "Mr. Do-It-Yourself"—developed in the wake of suburbanization.
In addition to identifying trends within the dominant culture, contributors consider the experiences of ethnic and immigrant families. They reassess generational conflict in Italian Harlem, compare the attitudes of male and female Mexican migrant workers in Kansas, and show how Chinese immigrant women targeted for rescue by Presbyterian mission workers took advantage of the gap between Chinese and American culture to increase their leverage in family and marital relationships.
A diverse compendium of family life. Family and Society in American History provides an intriguing commentary on the permeability of social structures and interpersonal behavior.
Joseph M. Hawes, a professor of history at the University of Memphis, is the author of The Childrem Rights Movement and other books. Elizabeth I. Nybakken, an associate professor of history at Mississippi State University, is the editor of The "Centinel": Warnings of a Revolution. They are coeditors of American Families: A Research Guide and Historical Handbook.
ISBN 0-252-06873-4
University of Illinois Press iijiPimiiPimi
9780252068737 Vissza