ABSTRACT
Over the first half of the twentieth century, sociologists came to reassess the place of the family as a key social institution in American society. The first major reassessment of the idea that the family was the necessary source of stability and social order came in the midst of a general revision of American sociology in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The current state of family sociology is ambiguously divided between two perspectives and approaches. On the one hand, a societal-level or macrosociological perspective is still needed to account for the prevalence and functions of families in the larger social order. The micro-level analysis of family roles and interaction, on the other hand, has gained in popularity as the emotional importance of family life has increased. This book portrays four essays about key life stages in American families. Childhood, adolescence, adult married life, and old age are the platforms on which this overview of US family history rests.
