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Course Description:

The distinct personal experience of one's own family life, the unique experience of each marriage partnership are the foundations of any understanding we, individually, have of these states. Yet we recognize that the safety, health, prosperity of our larger communities depends on, as well as profoundly effects, these intimate relationships.

We know that the very notions of what a family is, is undergoing change and reavaluation. Marriage also as a customary institution, one that has served over the past few generations to be the foundational condition for most families, is undergoing rapid change. We will be examining, with great respect for each individual's own experience of family and partnership, the changing nature of families and marriages, the forces that are influencing these changes, and the capacity of individuals to choose and commit to family relationships and marriage relationships at these historically transformative times.

The course will draw on insight from diverse disciplines from the social sciences and philosophies for our studies and our discussions: history, sociology, religion, psychology, anthropology, economics, political science and social work.

Course Objectives

Students will acquire a deeper understanding of the complex of tradition, heritage, law, relationships, experiences and choices that form the partnerships that we call 'marriage', and the unusual human bonds that we refer to as 'family'..

Students will study the choices and commitments that structure consequences, obligations, satisfactions that constitute familiation and marriages.

We will examine the structure, functions  and norms that are associated with the changing idea of 'family'. We will study the requirements that communities place on families and the specific supports that communities grant certain kinds of families and certain kinds of partnerships.

Students will study the importance and the functioning  of sex and gender in marriage and in family life and social reproduction. We will attempt to deepen our understanding of the relationship of sexual conduct, sexual preference, and sexual norms, to the functioning of family and marital relationhships.

Students will acquire a capacity to discern the social, economic, historical differences in role between husband and wife, and how these gendered distinctions are questioned.

Class will gain an understanding of the diminishing structural importance of aunt, uncle, cousin in many modern families, and examine how their functions are replaced.

Students will be able to make a distinction between individual change and social change.

Class will study the personal/social advantages/disadvantages of belonging to groups. We will study to inevitable necessity of the outsider, the alien, 'the other' whenever any kind of group is formed.

Students will examine economic conditions and the relationship of economic patterns and ways of making a living to ideology and belief patterns, and group formation, solidarity and exclusiveness.

Required Texts:

Marriages and Families,Making Choices in a Diverse Society, Seventh Edition, by Mary Ann Lamanna and Agnes Riedmann, Wadsworth Publishing, CA. ISBN# 0-534-52507-5.
This text has been ordered and is available  in bookstore

http://www.blackboard.com/courses/marfamjpf
Enrollment (free for  my students) and participation in this web site will be necessary

Other necessary readings will be distributed in class or be available in library or the internet.

Student requirements

1.  Study readings. Each week there will be readings in the text that will cover subject areas that will be the focus areas of class discussion.

2. Attendance, preparation and participation in class discussions (MWF, 8AM)

3. Participate each week in  net discussions. Each student must make one posting (and no more than three postings) to our class discussions in 'marfamjpf' web site.

4. Submit two research/report papers. There will be two  papers done for course. The body of each paper will be a minimum of 1000 words,  and a maximum of 2000 words (between four and ten double-spaced typewritten pages).  Paper One will be due six weeks after start of class. Second paper will be due the final day of class.  In addition to body of paper, there will be a title page, an abstract, and a bibliography. Papers are to be formatted according to APA.

5. Take tests. There will be four tests given during course. All tests must be taken on time. There will be no late tests available, and no make-up tests. Tests will cover readings in text, assigned articles, and classroom discussions. There will be no final comprehensive exam.
 

Grading basis

Class preparation, attendance and participation: 30% of grade (60 points)
Research papers: up to 30 points each (30% of grade)
Tests:  40% of grade (80 points)

Presence and Participation at all classes, turn in assignments, - expect a C
Workmanlike completion of all exams, demonstrate acquaintance with readings, reports, do assignments in scholarly fashion, plus above - expect a B
Outstanding comprehension of ideas presented, thoughtful participation in discussions, excellent exams, excellent papers, plus the above, -expect an A.
 

A grade of A will be achieved by accumulating 90 or more points
A grade of B will be 80 to 89
A grade of C will be 70 to 79.
A unsatisfactory grade of D will be from 60 to 69 points.

Evaluations

Evaluations of tests and papers will be based on evidence of your effort, signs of comprehension, and your performance:
• Evidence of effort  - indication of acquaintance with ideas of authors, writers and thinkers who have considered society's condition and practiced social work.
• Acquisition of mastery - signs that you comprehend the notions, theories, perspectives, and limitations of the thinkers that you are exploring.
• Performance - your ability to collect, organize and communicate the matter of the course.

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