Class and Family Structure in the United States

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.

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[flex2000i]

It is called personal responsibility...If the head of the household does not make intelligent decisions then the house will crumble.

[ls1z28chris]

This guy is not a compelling speaker, that's why. I don't think the lack of stars is an indictment of the content.

[Thedarksecret1]

@Kang5030 Whatever.

[Kang5030]

@Thedarksecret1

I could say the same about blacks. A white person saying something is a racist, or just ignored. A black person saying the same damn thing is a hero.

You know that yin-yang symbol with the black and white droplets? It goes in a circle both ways.

[cornel10]

@amessofpottage I think you've missed something, children have nothing to say in this equation. It is not their fault that their parents are losers, but they will suffer from this cause, by lack of access to higher education. Thus, they have fewer opportunities in life.

[amessofpottage]

"Class?" - "families in poverty" would be a better description. Lack of ability to form stable reaktionships causes poverty in most cases. "Class" is a difficult concept that has a value judgement component, whereas "poverty" is easily defined and fact-based. Lack of ability to form relationships not only ends relationships. It causes people to quit school, quit jobs, quit their partners and abandon their kids. Lack of skills = poverty, not "class" = lack of skills.

[Thedarksecret1]

It's funny how white people are so quick to listen to a white man speak about this but when a black person speaks about the exact same thing he/she is largely ignored. I find this very disturbing indeed.

[CfdrBvgfnm]

Russian Lady needs to meet you ** leefoxnow.info **

[mykole84]

thats a good man.

[Antiks72]

@flex2000i You forgot the luck factor, and being poor is not the result of one's "personal responsibility". I'm tired of people using this excuse to bash people they don't even know. How the fuck can you blame people for their brain chemistry?