Class and Family Structure in the United States May 5, 2008

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Complete video at: http://fora.tv/2008/04/02/Changing_American_Family

Sociology professor William Doherty examines differences in U.S. family structure across economic classes.

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The Changing American Family

The writings of social scientists and their popularizers reflect the dramatic changes that have taken place in marriage, child rearing, and family life in the United States. Where such writers once spoke simply of "the family," they now speak of "the diversity of family forms" and the rapidity with which those forms can change.

This panel offers objective and unsentimental views of the family and addresses basic questions about family life in the United States today. How do popular myths about family life compare with verifiable realities? What constitutes a marriage or a divorce? How do contemporary adult work patterns affect family life? Featuring Doyle McCarthy, professor of sociology at Fordham University and author of Knowledge as Culture; William Doherty, professor and director of the Marriage and Family Therapy Program, Department of Family Social Science, University of Minnesota; Arlene Skolnick, visiting scholar, Sociology Department, NYU and author of Embattled Paradise; and Andrew J. Cherlin, John Hopkins University professor and author of Public and Private Families: An Introduction - The New School

William Doherty is professor and director of the Marriage and Family Therapy Program, Department of Family Social Science at the University of Minnesota. He is involved in community based projects on families and parenting.