American Families

Stephanie Coontz is Professor of Family History at the Evergreen State College. She is the author of numerous books, including Marriage, a History: How Love Conquered Marriage.Maya Parson is a doctoral candidate in Cultural Anthropology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Gabrielle Raley is a doctoral candidate in Sociology at the University of California, Los Angeles.

'What a collection of articles! Stephanie Coontz has gathered together the writing of many of the most important scholars of our time to address one of the most important issues of our time – the growing diversity of American families. A great choice for undergraduate classrooms and an addition to any scholar’s bookshelf.' – Barbara J. Risman, Author of Gender Vertigo: American Families in Transition'American Families provides a powerful exploration of the challenges facing contemporary families. From the historical roots of inequality to tools to theorize the meanings of difference, this collection provides engaging readings that illustrate American past and present struggles, laced with hope for the future.' – Jennifer A. Reich, Author of Fixing Families: Parents, Power, and the Child Welfare System 'American Families is a marvel – the authors have identified some the very best and clearest new scholarship. The book affords an accurate, thoughtful and thought-provoking glimpse at family life in the US as it really is.' –- Linda Gordon, Author of The Great Arizona Orphan Abduction'The book is ideal for undergraduate teaching purposes. Family researchers, however, will also want to have this in-depth yet accessible resource on their shelves. Beyond the substantive findings presented, several chapters do a great job of synthesizing a range of scholarship related to family diversity and outlining potentially fruitful avenues for subsequent theorizing and research. I highly recommend this volume. Several articles left me wanting more, excited about the unanswered questions and future research possibilities related to family diversity. Coontz's volume takes a big leap forward in shifting issues of diversity to the center of family research.' –- Jennifer Utrata, Assistant Professor, University of Puget Sound, in the Journal of Marriage and Family

• Introduction to the Second Edition Part I. Who We Were: Diversity and Inequality in American Family History 1. Fictive Kin, Paper Sons, And Compadrazgo: Women of Color and the Struggle for Family Survival 2. Excerpts from Education for Extinction: American Indians and the Boarding School Experience, 1875–1928 3. Excerpt from Born a Child of Freedom, Yet a Slave, "The Threat of Sale: The Black Family as a Mechanism of Control" 4. Split Household, Small Producer, and Dual Wage Earner: An Analysis of Chinese-American Family Strategies 5. Excerpt from Huck’s Raft, "Laboring Children" 6. Excerpts from Becoming Mexican American Ethnicity, Culture, and Identity in Chicano Los Angeles, 1990–1945 7. Excerpt from Interracial Intimacy: The Regulation of Race & Romance 8. Race, Class, and Reproductive Politics in American History 9. Excerpt from Ensuring Inequality: The Structural Transformation of the African-American Family Part II. Race, Ethnicity, Class, and Gender in Family Theory 10. Shifting the Center: Race, Class, and Feminist Theorizing about Motherhood 11. Family and Class in Contemporary America: Notes Toward an Understanding of Ideology 12. Toward a Unified Theory of Class, Race, and Gender 13. Immigrant Families in the US 14. Diversity Within Latino Families: New Lessons for Family Social Science 15. Intersectionality and Work-Family Studies Part III. Global Households: Globalization, Immigration, and Family Life 16. "Management by Stress" -- The reorganization of work hits home 17. Excerpts from Families on the Fault Line: America’s Working Class Speaks about the Family, the Economy, Race, and Ethnicity 18. Migrant Filipina Domestic Workers and the International Division of Reproductive Labor 19. Excerpt from Asian American Youth: Culture, Identity and Ethnicity, "The Making of Culture, Identity, and Ethnicity among Asian American Youth" 20. Gender Displays and Men’s Power: The "New Man" and the Mexican Immigrant Man 21. Migration and Vietnamese American Women: Remaking Ethnicity Part IV. Life at the Margins: Families in Extreme Poverty 22. Poverty in the Era of Welfare Reform: The "Underclass" Family in Myth and Reality 23. Avenue to Adulthood: Teenage Pregnancy and the Meaning of Motherhood in Poor Communities 24. Mothering Through Recruitment: Kinscription of Nonresidential Fathers and Father Figures in Low-Income Families 25. Windfall Child Rearing: Low-income care and consumption Part V. Revisioning Contemporary Family Issues through the Lens of Race, Ethnicity and Class 26. Moms and Jobs: Trends in Mothers’ Employment and Which Mothers Stay Home 27. A War Against Boys? 28. Diversity among same-sex couples and their children 29. Excerpts from Unequal Childhoods: Class, Race, and Family Life 30. A Black Feminist Reflection on the Antiviolence Movement 31. Intimacy, Desire, and the Construction of Self in Relationships between Asian American Women and White American Men 32. Excerpts from Beyond Black: Biracial Identity in America Part VI. Recognizing Diversity, Building Solidarity: Integrating Race and Class Issues into Public Policy 33. The Color of Family Ties: Race, Class, Gender, and Extended Family Involvement 34. Work and American Families: Diverse Needs, Common Solutions Selected Bibliography of Recent Sources, Permissions Acknowledgements