Beau Weston               Introduction to Family Life                             Crounse 447 (x8789)

Centre College             SOC 103                                 Hours: after class (Hub), appt.

Spring 2007                                                                                        Phone: 238-7580 (h)  

 

An introduction to marriage, childrearing, and family life in their microsocial and macrosocial aspects.

 

 

Books

David Buss, The Evolution of Desire (Revised ed. 2003)

Deborah Tannen, You Just Don't Understand (1990)

Linda Waite and Maggie Gallagher, The Case for Marriage  (2000)

Elizabeth Marquardt, Between Two Worlds: The Inner Lives of Children of Divorce (2005)

Kathryn Edin & Maria Kefalas, Promises I Can Keep:  Why Poor Women Put Motherhood Before Marriage (2005)

James Q. Wilson, The Marriage Problem (2002)

 

We will be reading some articles that you can download from WebCT:

 

Norvall Glenn and Elizabeth Marquardt, ÒHooking Up, Hanging Out, and Hoping for Mr. Right: College Women on Dating and Mating Today.Ó2001; 88pp

 

Annette Lareau, "Invisible Inequality: Social Class and Childrearing in Black Families and White Families" 2002; 31pp

 

W. Robert Beavers and Robert Hampson, "The Beavers Systems Model of Family Functioning." 2000; 16pp

 

Dan Cere, ÒThe Future of Family Law: Law and the Marriage Crisis in North AmericaÓ 2005; 51pp

 

We will also read two chapters from Frank Sulloway, Born to Rebel: Birth Order, Family Dynamics, and Creative Lives; ÒBirth Order and Personality" and ÒFamily Niches.Ó On reserve in the library will be one copy of the book, and several copies of these chapters.

 

 

Work (and grading)

 

Timed Homework (40%)

Each week, more or less, I will set a question through WebCT based on the readings we are about to discuss.  You will need to do the reading before you open the question, which will normally be on the main point of the reading.  You will have 20 minutes to write your reply and submit it before 9 p.m.   Write the answer as a Word document, save it, paste it into the answer space, save it again, and submit.

 

Reflection and Participation (30%)

You will type a journal entry of 300 – 600 words every day that class meets, starting with the first day of class.  The journal should include your responses to the readings and class discussion.  You should also write about how what you are learning helps you think about your own family and the role of families in society; be as specific as you can stand to be.  I will respond to each journal, and usually to each entry. These will be graded on a simple scale: 3 = unusually thorough and insightful; 2 = satisfactory to good; 1 = skimpy; 0 = not submitted.  I expect that the great majority will be 2.

 

I will collect the journals as noted below, roughly every two weeks.  For each two-week set of journals there will be one specified assignment, which may serve in place of your regular entry for any class day in that period.  Write your journal as one continuous Word document, with your name in the title.  Submit the journal by uploading it to WebCT.  Be sure to save your copy before submitting.  Journals are due by 9 p.m. on the day specified in the syllabus, and should include that dayÕs class.

 

Class participation helps you learn and helps others learn. 

 

Final Exam (30%) You will have the option of a comprehensive take-home exam or an alternative minimum exam.   The alternative exam will take a set of the main points that I give you in each class, ask you to complete them, and write one or two sentences explaining what each point means.  This is an easy test.  The catch is that maximum possible score is 75.

 

 

PART ONE:  WHY WE MAKE FAMILIES

 

2/2       Marriage and family life: general and particular, microsocial and macrosocial

 

2/5       Mate Selection: Buss, ch. 1 - 3 (about 75 pages)

2/7       Buss, chs. 4 & 5 (50)

2/9       Buss, chs. 6 - 8 (60) [Film clip from ÒBrain Sex] [Whitney Owen '06, too]

 

2/12     Buss, chs. 9 & 10 (40)

2/14     Family Communication: Tannen chs. 1 -3 (50).

2/16     Guest Couple:  Kevin and Amy Jones '04 and '04 [confirmed]

Journal due 9 p.m.  One entry should be an interview with a serious Centre couple about how they met and courted.

 

2/19     Tannen chs. 4 & 5 (50) [Film clip from "He Said, She Said"]

2/21     Tannen chs. 6, & 7 (55)

2/23     Class discussion:  gendered communication (students bring examples)

 

2/26     Tannen chs. 8 –10 (85)

2/28     Marriage: Waite and Gallagher, chs. 1 – 3 (50)

3/2       Guest Couple: Bob and Lisa Nesmith '91 and '95 [c]

 

3/5       Waite and Gallagher, chs. 4 - 6 (50)

3/7       Waite and Gallagher, chs. 7 - 9 (45)

3/9       Waite and Gallagher, chs. 10 - 14 (60)

Journal due 9 p.m.  One entry should be an interview with a married couple about how they met and courted.  The husband and wife should be interviewed separately.  It would be appropriate to interview your parents.

 

3/12     Film: ÒMarriage:  Is it just a piece of paper?Ó[meet in Vahlkamp Theater]

3/14     Glenn and Marquardt, ÒHooking Up, Hanging Out, and Hoping for Mr. RightÓ(88) [WebCT]

3/16     Guest Couple:  Beau and Susan Weston [c]

 

SPRING BREAK

 

PART TWO:  WHY OUR FAMILIES ARE DIFFERENT

 

3/26     Birth Order Sulloway, ÒBirth Order and PersonalityÓ (30) [library reserve]

3/28     Sulloway, ÒFamily NichesÓ (35) [library reserve]

3/30     Class and Race Annette Lareau, "Invisible Inequality" (31) [WebCT]

 

4/2       Family systems: Beavers & Hampson, "Beavers Systems Model É" [WebCT]

4/4       Film: "Constructing the Multigenerational Family Genogram" [in class]

4/6       Guest Speaker: Kathy Miles '71, LMFT, college counselor [c]

Journal due 9 p.m.  One entry should be your family genogram.

 

4/9       Divorced Families: Marquardt, Introduction, chs. 1 – 4 (75)

4/11     Marquardt, chs. 5 – 6 (60)

4/12     Public Lecture:  Elizabeth Marquardt, author, Between Two Worlds

4/13     Marquardt, chs. 7, 8, and Conclusion (60)

            Guest:  Elizabeth Marquardt [c]

 

4/16     Unmarried Mothers: Edin & Kefalas, Introduction & chs. 1 – 3 (100)

4/18     Edin & Kefalas,  chs. 4 – 6 (80)

4/20     Guest speakers: Jane McKune,  LCSW, domestic violence counselor,  and

LaToya Payne '02, Amachi Case Manager, Big Brothers Big Sisters [c]

Journal due 9 p.m.  One entry should be about either divorced or unmarried parents; if possible, this should be based on an interview or interviews.

 

4/23     The Marriage Problem: Wilson, 1 & 2 (40)

4/25     Wilson, 3 & 4 (60)

4/27     Guest couple:  George and Mary Rodelius '48 [c]

 

4/30     Wilson, 5 – 7 (70)

5/2       Wilson, 8 & 9 (45)

5/4       Guest speaker: Judge Bruce Petrie, Family Court

 

5/7       Dan Cere, ÒThe Future of Family LawÓ(51)

5/9       Your family and American families class discussion

Journal due 9 p.m.  One entry should connect the microsociology of families we have been studying with the macrosociological marriage problem.

 

5/11a   FINAL EXAM 1:00 – take home due (both sections)

5/14b   FINAL EXAM 10:00 – alternative minimum exam (both sections) [or see me]