Sociology 2600: Marriage and family

"A culture fixated on female thinness is not an obsession about female beauty, but an obsession about female obedience." -Naomi Wolf      

Course Description

This class examines the nature of marriage and family as an institution in society. Emphasis placed on the effects of modern social structures and cultural values on interpersonal relationships and family life.

  • Identify the various choices that people make about family life.
  • Define families in our changing society
  • Identify how family research is conducted
  • Understand the consequences of gender socialization
  • Examine the theories of communication
  • Understand theories of mate selection 
  • Define the nature of parenthood in a modern society
  • Identify crisis situations in families
  • List the issues involved with the growing elderly in need of care families.
  • Explain how the different problems associated with families in regards to social class, race, and ages.
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The Beauty Myth
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In this course I learned about marriage and family. The title of the course really sums it up, but there is a lot of different types of families out there. Additionally, the modern view on family is function. For example, nowadays you don't have to be blood to be a family, you're a family based on how well you function together. My signature assignment we were assigned a book to read and report our finding. I chose the Beauty Myth by Naomi Wolf, you can argue that it has nothing to do with family, but feminism. However, feminism changed the family view. In the 1950's it was a traditional family were the husband worked and the wife stayed home, but due to feminism it changed the view on women. The Beauty Myth is basically about as women gain power in all aspects we are disregarded unless we are beautiful. As feminism continues and progresses, we will see the image of family change.