Families as They Really Are

Barbara J. Risman is professor and head of the department of sociology at the University of Illinois at Chicago. She was previously Alumni Distinguished Research Professor, as well as the Founding Director of the Gender and Women’s Studies Program at North Carolina State University. Risman is the author of Gender Vertigo: American Families in Transition and over two dozen journal articles. She is also the president of the board of The Council on Contemporary Families, a national organization whose mission is to bring new research findings and clinical expertise to public attention. In 2005, Risman was honored with the Katherine Jocher Belle Boone Beard Award from the Southern Sociological Society for lifetime contributions to the study of gender. In 2013, she was elected vice president of the American Sociological Association. She is currently testing theories about whether hormonal exposure in utero influences gendered selves in adulthood. Risman strongly believes that sociologists have a responsibility both to do good research and to teach about it in the classroom and to the public at large.

Introduction: Springing Forward from the Past

Barbara J. Risman, Springing Forward from the Past

Andrew J. Cherlin, One Thousand and Forty-Nine Reasons Why It's
Hard to Know When a Fact is a Fact

Philip A. Cowan, When Is a Relationship between Facts a Causal
One?

Linda Burton, Uncovering Hidden Facts That Matter in Interpreting
Individuals' Behaviors: An Ethnographic Lens

In the News: Not Much Sense in Those Census Stories (Washington
Post)

Part I: How We Got Here

Stephanie Coontz, The Evolution of American Families

Steven Mintz, American Childhood as a Social and Cultural
Construct

In the News: A "Golden Age" of Childhood? (Christian Science
Monitor)

In the News: How We Took the Child Out of Childhood (New York
Times)

Donna L. Franklin, African Americans and the Birth of the Modern
Marriage

Karen Struening, Families "In Law" and Families "In Practice": Does
the Law Recognize Families as They Really Are?

M. V. Lee Badgett, Briefing Paper: Will Providing Marriage Rights
to Same-Sex Couples Undermine Heterosexual Marriage? Evidence from
Scandinavia

In the News: Experts Question European Studies Cited in FMA Debate
(Washington Blade)

Kerry Ann Rockquemore and Loren Henderson, Interracial Families in
Post-Civil Rights America

Michael Rosenfeld, Briefing Paper: The Steady Rise of
Nontraditional Romantic Unions: The Case of Interracial and
Intercultural Marriage

In the News: Interracial Marriage: A Cultural Taboo Fades (Chicago
Tribune)

Part II: Making Families and Intimate Relationships in the 21st
Century

Pepper Schwartz, Why Is Everyone Afraid of Sex?

Pamela J. Smock and Wendy, Manning New Couples, New Families: The
Cohabitation Revolution in the United States

Joshua Coleman, Parenting Adult Children in the 21st Century

Naomi Gerstel and Natalia Sarkisian, Briefing Paper: Marriage
Reduces Social Ties

In the News: The Greedy Marriage: Two Scholars Argue That Good
Spouses Can Make Bad Neighbors (Boston Globe)

Virginia E. Rutter, The Case for Divorce

In the News: How to Stay Married (Times of London)

Allen Li, Briefing Paper: The Impact of Divorce on Children's
Behavior Problems

In the News: Divorce May Not Cause Kids' Bad Behavior (USA
Today)

In the News: The Good, Bad, and Ugly of Divorce (Washington
Times)

Patrick Heuveline, Briefing Paper: How Do They Do That? Estimating
the Proportion of Marriages That End in Divorce

Stephanie Coontz and Nancy Folbre, Briefing Paper: Marriage,
Poverty, and Public Policy

In the News: A Poor Excuse for Marriage (Washington Post)

Robert-Jay Green, From Outlaws to In-Laws: Gay and Lesbian Couples
in Contemporary Society

Mignon R. Moore, Independent Women: Equality in African American
Lesbian Relationships

Fact Sheet: Myths and Realities about Same-Sex Families

Etiony Aldarondo and Edward Ameen, The Immigration Kaleidoscope:
Knowing the Immigrant Family Next Door

In the News: The Picture-Perfect American Family? These Days, It
Doesn't Exist (Washington Post)

Part III: Unequal Beginnings: Social Class and America's
Children

Philip A. Cowan and Carolyn P. Cowan, Beyond Family Structure:
Family Process Studies Help to Reframe Debates about What's Good
for Children

Valerie Adrian, Opinion Piece: A Mother's Day Gift That Makes a
Real Difference

Fact Sheet: Military Childcare: A Government Success Story

Frank F. Furstenberg, Jr., Diverging Development: The
Not-So-Invisible Hand of Social Class in the United States

Annette Lareau, Briefing Paper: Unequal Childhoods: Inequalities in
the Rhythms of Daily Life

In the News: Both Sides of Inequality (New York Times)

Kevin Roy and Natasha Cabrera, Not Just Provide and Reside: Engaged
Fathers in Low-Income Families

Paula England and Kathryn Edin, Briefing Paper: Unmarried Couples
with Children: Why Don't They Marry? How Can Policy-Makers Promote
More Stable Relationships?

In the News: Marital Mythology: Why the New Crisis in Marriage
Isn't (Reason Online)

In the News: Book Examines Trend of Unmarried Parents (National
Public Radio)

In the News: It Takes a Wedding (New York Times)

Andraé L. Brown, Melina Dimitriou, and Lisa Dressner, Rituals
as Tools of Resistance-From Survival to Liberation

Part IV: The Unfinished Gender Revolution

Barbara J. Risman and Elizabeth Seale, Betwixt and Be Tween: Gender
Contradictions among Middle Schoolers

Elizabeth A. Armstrong, Paula England, and Alison C. K. Fogarty,
Orgasm in College Hookups and Relationships

Kathleen Gerson, Falling Back on Plan B: The Children of the Gender
Revolution Face Uncharted Territory

Oriel Sullivan, Changing Men's Contribution to Family Work

Oriel Sullivan and Scott Coltrane, Briefing Paper: Men's Changing
Contribution to Housework and Child Care

In the News: Chores for Two? Men Are Pitching in with Domestic
Duties More Than Ever Before (Christian Science Monitor)

Molly Monahan Lang and Barbara J. Risman, Briefing Paper: A
"Stalled" Revolution or a Still Unfolding One?

In the News: Signs of Détente in the Battle Between Venus and
Mars (New York Times)

David Cotter, Paula England, and Joan Hermsen, Briefing Paper: Moms
and Jobs: Trends in Mothers' Employment and Which Mothers Stay
Home

In the News: Working Moms More the Norm Than Exception (Palo Alto
Online)

Sanjiv Gupta, Briefing Paper: Women's Money Matters: Earnings and
Housework in Dual-Earner Families

In the News: Wealthier Women Do Less Housework (Daily
Collegian)

Lynn Prince Cooke, Briefing Paper: "Traditional" Marriages Now Less
Stable Than Ones Where Couples Share Work and Household
Chores

In the News: Matrimonial Bliss Lies in the Mop Bucket and Broom
(Seattle P-I)

Rhea V. Almedia, Domestic Violence in Heterosexual
Relationships

Conclusion

Barbara J. Risman, Families: A Great American Institution