SOC-20041: Families and Households: Diversity and Change

School of Sociology and Criminology

SOC-20041

Families and Households: Diversity and Change

Co-ordinator:

Dr Emma Head Room: CBC0.012, Tel:33898

Teaching Team:

Ms Deborah Tagg, Dr Andy Zieleniec, Miss Jo-Anne Watts, Miss Claire Lewendon, Garry Crawford

Lecture Time:

See Timetable...

Level:

2

Credits:

15

150

School Office:

Programme/Approved Electives for

Sociology Dual Honours (Level 2)
Sociology Major (Level 2)
Sociology Minor (Level 2)
Sociology Single Honours (Level 2)

Available as a Free Standing Elective

Yes

Barred Combinations

None

None

Description

This module aims to provide a students with a solid understanding of key issues in the sociology of family life. It will be particularly concerned with the ways in which people's experiences of families have been changing over the last 30 or so years.

The first part of the course will be explicitly concerned with the increased diversity there now is in family and household construction, in particular with regard to sexual and domestic partnerships. Demographic changes in family and household organization will be analysed, as will changing notions of commitment. There will also be a focus on the 'democratisation' of relationships and the extent to which new forms of partnership have altered the traditional gendered inequalities that were structural to marriage and parenthood.

The middle part of the module will be specifically concerned with exploring the diverse forms of family that different people now construct. This will entail examining patterns of divorce, exploring the circumstances of lone-parent families (including policy initiatives to improve these circumstances), examining the experiences of gay and lesbian partnerships and families, and analysing the particular issues stepfamilies face.

The final section of the module will focus on kinship, paying particular attention to: a) the role of grandparents in family life in the context of increased diversity in patterns of partnership and parenting behaviour; and b) the ways in which transnational families sustain solidarity following long-distance migration.

The module will be concerned throughout with developing an appreciation of how family relationships are constructed in the context of wider changes in social and economic conditions that constrain and shape the apparently individual and private relational decisions that people make.

Talis Aspire Reading List
Any reading lists will be provided by the start of the course.

http://lists.lib.keele.ac.uk/modules/soc-20041/lists

To enable students to:
understand key theories and concepts in family sociology;
understand how and why the organization of family life has been altering over the last 30 years;
understand the relationship between the organization of family relationships and wider social change

Intended Learning Outcomes

summarize how family relationships have been altering over the last 30 years and relate these changes to wider shifts in social and economic structure will be achieved by assessments: 1, 2, 3
review explanations of the diversity there is in contemporary family and household patterns will be achieved by assessments: 1, 2, 3
summarize the different theoretical approaches that have been used within sociology to explain change in family and household organization will be achieved by assessments: 1, 2, 3
analyze the place of non-household kinship in the organization of contemporary family life, including especially the significance of intergenerational ties
will be achieved by assessments: 1,2, 3
review how family experiences alter across the life course will be achieved by assessments: 1, 2, 3
analyze the complexity of family transitions (eg partnership formation; separation and divorce; widowhood) and link the experience of these transitions to the biographical and social circumstances of those involved. will be achieved by assessments: 1, 2, 3

24 hours contact (12 at 2 hours)
60 hours seminar preparation
66 hours assessment preparation

Description of Module Assessment

01: Essay weighted 40%

A 2000 word essay
Students will select one essay from a list of five titles covering key aspects of family sociology.

02: 2 Hour Exam weighted 60%

2 hour examination
Students will answer 2 from a set of 8 questions on topics covered in the module.

Version: (1.06B) Updated: 03/Oct/2013

This document is the definitive current source of information about this module and supersedes any other information.