Families and their Social Worlds

by Karen Seccombe

Families and their Social Worlds, 1/E

Karen Seccombe, Portland State University
ISBN-10:      0205516459

 

 Applying the sociological imagination to explore the private, public, and institutional nature of the Family.

 

This text examines the private, personal side of family life as well the public, institutional nature of the Family. Karen Seccombe explores how many family concerns are actually social issues that need to be addressed through sound social policies.

 

Families and Their Social Worlds shows that our conceptions of families are imbedded within our social structure, and that families represent a set of rules, regulations and norms that are situated in a particular culture in a particular historical time. Important policy considerations are imbedded in each chapter to illustrate what is currently being done, and perhaps even more importantly, what can be done to strengthen families and intimate relationships.

 

The author encourages students to think about families beyond their own personal experiences, and even beyond family structure in the United States. Her goal is to impart a passion for critical thinking as students see that families exist within social worlds.  

560 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 2007

About the author

1998-present, Professor, Department of Sociology, Portland State University

1992 - 1998, Associate Professor, Department of Sociology, University of Florida
Associate Research Scientist, Institute for Health Policy Research, University of Florida

1988 - 1992, Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology, University of Florida
Assistant Research Scientist, Institute for Health Policy Research, University of Florida

1986 - 1988, Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology and Social Work, University of Alaska Anchorage

Reviews

[Jennah · Rating 2 out of 5]

The only reason that I had to read this book was for quizzes, tests, and papers in my Dynamics of the Family class. It taught me a lot about families around the world, but it had a lot of disturbing pictures and stuff that I did not even want to know about. I would bump it up to four stars if some of the pictures were taken out.

[Heather · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was the textbook assigned in my Marriage and the Family sociology class. The text was sufficient but nothing spectacular. A good general text.