“This is the most systematic and illuminating book on the family that I have ever seen.”–Morton A. Kaplan, Professor of Political Science Emeritus, University of Chicago, Publisher, The World & I magazine.
An excellent book with balance
“Timely indeed, and relevant, as the Western
family continues its 20th century trajectory of
change, diversification, shrinkage and–in
the view of a majority of observers–decline.
Anderson’s reader gives us an excellent overview
of this debate, and much more. The book has balance. The book is of great
value in forcing the reader to look at the issues squarely in the face.
It will be highly appropriate as a required reading in any undergraduate
class in family sociology.”–Tom M. Kando, Professor of Sociology,
California State University, Sacramento, author of Sexual Behavior and
Family Life in Transition.
An important reference book
“It will be an important reference book in
libraries large and small, as well as a useful source
of information about family life for courses
on the subject.”–Ralph Segalman, Professor of Sociology Emeritus,
California State University, Northridge.
This book is comprehensive look at the family. It examines the forms
and functions of the family from foraging and hunting societies, ancient
empires and feudal societies to the contemporary family. It describes how
the various cultures of the world–African, Chinese, Islamic, Latin American,
Hindu, Jewish, Western and East-Bloc–are responding to the challenges of
modern life to the family. It examines hotly contested issues–gender roles,
welfare reform, homosexuality, abortion–and their affect on law, policy,
and social stability. This book will leave the reader with an understanding
of what the family is, and how families can better perform their role of
childrearing in this time of global transition.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
- Introduction, Gordon L. Anderson
- Chapter 1: The Family in Pre-State Societies, Elliott P. Skinner
- Chapter 2: The Family in Antiquity, Jan Knappert
- Chapter 3: The Family in the Holy Roman Empire:The Influence of Christianity in Reshapingthe Ancient and Medieval Family, Anthony J. Guerra
- Chapter 4: The Family in Early Modern England, Jean La Fontaine
- Chapter 5: The Family in Modern Society: From the Tyrannyof Rules to the Whim of Relationships, Jon Davies
- Chapter 6: Modern Crises and the Renegotiation of African Familial Relations, Gwendolyn Mikell
- Chapter 7: The Family Revolution in China, Kate Zhou and Marion Levy
- Chapter 8: The Hindu Family: Constraints of the Past, Strains on the Present, Sushil Panjabi
- Chapter 9: The Family in the Jewish Tradition, Richard L. Rubenstein
- Chapter 10: The Muslim Family: Idealism and Realism, A. M. Khattab
- Chapter 11: Some Thoughts on the Family in Latin America, Armando de la Torre
- Chapter 12: The Former East Bloc Family in the Modern World, Jaroslav Macháek
- Chapter 13: The Decline of the Western Family Thesis:A Critique and Appraisal, William R. Garrett
- Chapter 14: Reflections on the Family at Century's End, Jean Bethke Elshtain
- Chapter 15: Feminism and the Family, Patricia Lança
- Chapter 16: Fatherlessness in the United States, Mitchell B.Pearlstein
- Chapter 17: Homosexual Households and Social Stability, Carl Pfluger
- Chapter 18: Race, Gender, "Family Values," and Public Policy, Twila L. Perry
- Chapter 19: The Future of the Family in an Age of Change, Jerry E. Pournelle
- Chapter 20: Policy, Law and Family Stability: From Antiquity to the Dawn of the Third Millennium, Nicholas N. Kittrie
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
GORDON L. ANDERSON is Secretary General of Professors World Peace Academy, and Editor of International Journal on World Peace. He earned his Ph.D. in Philosophy of Religion at the Claremont Graduate School. He is editor of The World Wide State of the Family and co-editor of Morality and Religion in Liberal Democratic Societies. He has published numerous articles on Religion and Society.
JON DAVIES is head of the Department of Religious Studies and Norman Dennis is Leuerhulme Emeritus Fellow at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom.
ARMANDO DE LA TORRE, Professor of Sociology, Francisco Maroquin University, Guatemala City, Guatemala
WILLIAM R. GARRETT has been Professor of Sociology at St. Michael’s College in Colchester, Vermont since 1969. He chaired the department from 1978-1984. He is the author of Seasons of Marriage and Family Life (1982) and over 200 articles and book reviews on religion, family life, peace, and globalism. He has been editor of Sociological Analysis and the area editor for sociology and anthropology of religion for Religious Studies Review; He served as president of the Vermont State Conference of the American Association of University Professors, and chaired the Research and Planning Committee of the Vermont Ecumenical Council. Professor Garrett is also an ordained Baptist minister.
ANTHONY J. GUERRA is Dean Graduate and Undergraduate Studies at the University of Bridgeport. He earned his Ph.D. from Harvard University in New Testament Studies.
A.M. KHATTAB, Director, Islamic Center of Greater Toledo, Toledo, Ohio, USA
JAN KNAPPERT is Senior Fellow, School of African and Oriental Studies at the University of London. He was born in Holland and received a classical education which included Greek and Latin. He studied Oriental Studies at the University of Leyden earning four degrees: Buddhism, Sanskrit, and Hinduism; Arabic, Islamic and Semitic Studies; Southeast Asian, Malayan, and Polynesian languages and culture; and a doctorate in East African literature. He taught at nine universities: Ghent and Louvain in Belgium; Pretoria, South Africa; Kinshasa, Zaire; Kampala, Uganda; Dar es Salaam, Tanzania; Harare, Zimbabwe; Naples, Italy; and, the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London. He is currently writing on cultural history, anthropology, mythology, and religion.
JEAN LA FONTAINE, Department of Social Anthropology, London School of Economics, London, UK
PATRICIA LANÇA (Mary Patrícia Pinheiro Correia e Lança) is a writer who lives in Portugal. She is a frequent contributor to various newspapers and journals in Britain, Portugal, and France. She has a dual nationality: British and Portuguese Parents: Portuguese father, British mother. She obtained her university education entirely in English-speaking countries. Studied Law at the University of Liverpool (1942-43) and McGill University, Montreal, Canada, (1946-1949). She studied two years of Philosophy, Birkbeck College, University of London (1972-74). She has worked in journalism, business, secondary school teaching and educational planning in various countries including Canada, Britain, Algeria and Portugal. She is the author of Oldest Ally: A Portrait of Salazar’s Portugal (with Peter Fryer), O Bando de Argel, and numerous articles. She has translated Portuguese literary works into English. She serves as a deputy in the Portuguese Parliament.
MARION J. LEVY, JR., is Musgrave Professor of Sociology and International Affairs Emeritus at the Woodrow Wilson School of International Affairs at Princeton University.
GWENDOLYN MIKELL, Chair, Department of Sociology, Georgetown University, Washington, DC, USA. She is currently President of the African Studies Association. She is the author of Cocoa and Chaos in Ghana, and numerous publications on African women and family life. She earned her Ph.D. in Anthropology from Columbia University.
JAROSLAV MACHÁEK, Academy of Sciences, Institute of Architectural and Urban Studies, Prague, Czech Republic
MITCHELL B. PEARLSTEIN is President, Center of the American Experiment, Minneapolis, Minnesota. Before his return to Minnesota in March 1990, he served two and one-half years in the US Department of Education. He has been editorial writer and columnist for the St. Paul Pioneer Press. He also has been special assistant for policy and communications to Gov. Albert H. Quie of Minnesota; a research fellow at the Hubert H. Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs, assistant to University of Minnesota President C. Peter Magrath; director of public intonation at the State University of New York at Binghamton. He did his graduate work in educational administration and higher education at the University of Minnesota, and his undergraduate in political science at SUNY-Binghamton.
SUSHIL PANJABI, Calcutta, India
TWILA L. PERRY is Associate Professor of Law, Rutgers University School of Law, Newark, New Jersey. B.A., Mount Holyoke College, 1970, M.S., Columbia University, 1973, J.D., New York University, 1976. She has served as Assistant United States Attorney, in the Civil Division of the Southern District of New York. She has published several articles on family law, children and the law, and transracial adoption in various law journals.
CARL PFLUGER, Author, Piopolis, Canada
DR. JERRY E. POURNELLE is a consultant, lecturer, social critic, and computer columnist from Los Angeles, California. He is a past president of Science Fiction Writers of America. He has authored more than thirty books including Footfall, Lucifcr’s Hammer and The Endless Frontier. Dr. Pournelle writes regularly for Byte and Infoworld magazines. He runs a BIX on-line computer forum on democracy.
RICHARD L. RUBENSTEIN is President of the University of Bridgeport and formerly the Robert O. Lawton Distinguished Professor of Religion at Florida State University. He also serves as President of the Washington Institute and is a Past President of Professors World Peace Academy in the United States. He is author of seven books, including The Cunning of History (Harper and Row, 1975) and The Age of Triage (Beacon Press, 1983), and the editor of several books, including The Politics of Latin American Liberation Theology: The Challenge to U.S. Public Policy (Washington Institute Press, 1988). He received the M.H.L. degree from Jewish Theological Seminary, and a Ph.D. in history and philosophy of religion from Harvard University.
ELLIOTT P. SKINNER, former U.S. Ambassador to Upper Volta, is currently Franz Boas Professor of Anthropology at Columbia University. In granting him their Distinguished Africanist Award, the African Studies Association said “He has been an ardent and vigorous defender of the interests of both Africa as a region and African studies as a discipline. On the African continent, the field of African studies in America is as much identified with Elliott Percival Skinner as with any other American scholar.” His books included Glorious Age in Africa, African Urban Life: The Transformation of Ouagadougou, and Roots of Time: A Portrait of African Life and Culture, and others.
KATE XIAO ZHOU, is Assistant Professor of Political Science, at the University of Hawaii. She earned her Ph.D. in Politics at Princeton University. She has published several article on the life of women in China, and on Chinese politics. She was born in China.
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