FSS:SOCb2132 Family and society - Course Information

SOCb2132 Family and society

Extent and Intensity

1/1/0. 6 credit(s). Type of Completion: zk (examination).

Teacher(s)

Mgr. Petr Fučík, PhD. (lecturer)

Guaranteed by

Mgr. Petr Fučík, PhD.
Department of Sociology – Faculty of Social Studies
Contact Person: Ing. Soňa Enenkelová
Supplier department: Department of Sociology – Faculty of Social Studies

Timetable

Wed 8:00–9:40 U43

Prerequisites (in Czech)

!NOW( SOC132 Family and society ) && ! SOC132 Family and society

Course Enrolment Limitations

The course is also offered to the students of the fields other than those the course is directly associated with.
The capacity limit for the course is 25 student(s).
Current registration and enrolment status: enrolled: 0/25, only registered: 0/25, only registered with preference (fields directly associated with the programme): 0/25

fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with

there are 10 fields of study the course is directly associated with, display

Course objectives

At the end of the course students should be able to understand and explain the basic institution of all human societies: the human family. He/she gains an overview of the socially stabilizing, change-resisting character of the family, and of the uninterrupted development of this institution and the dramatic acceleration of this development during recent generations; will work with information on the history of attempts to explain the institution of the family, from the classical theories of the 19th century, the socio-biological theory of the family, social constructivist theory, and structural functional concept of the family, and other currently influential theories; will be able to explain the relationship between the macro-social changes and the micro-world of the family; of the socially-determinist character of marital love, and get an introduction into the sociology of intimacy; of parenthood, childhood as a social phenomenon, generational conflict, phases of family togetherness, and traditional and modern concepts of kinship. He/she will undestand the diversity of forms of the family and alternative behavior, and the challenges the family faces in the post-modern world. Discussions in the class will elaborate a critical stance toward the myths of social rhetoric and the mass media, and is issue-oriented towards the open questions of the transformation of male and female roles, and the relations between genders and generations.

Syllabus

• Class 01 * Introductory seminar. Plan for course work. Family as the object of social and sociological reflection. Is the family a morphostatic institution? The family in traditional and modern society. Crisis of the family at the dawn of the modern age.
• Class 02 * Classical 19th-century theories of the family: Morgan and the historical-legal school, LePlay, Durkheim. Historicizing and anthropologicizing conceptions: Spencer, Engels, Bachofen, Westermarck. Conservative and reformist currents in sociology of the family. The great theories of the 1950s (Parsons a Goode) and criticism of them
• Class 03 * Theory of the family after the fall of the classical theories. Contribution of modern sociological schools and directions on the theory of the family: theory of social changes, theory of systems and symbolic interaction, conflict theory, critical sociology, Marxism and radical economy, sociobiology.
• Class 04 * Founding the family: theory of the marriage market, social and cultural determinants of partnership selection. Sex: empirical research on socially-determined variability, changing cultural models, and the sexual revolution. Love.
• Class 05 * Parents, children, and socialization within the family: Parental autonomy, its limits and deviation. Theory of socialization (Mead, Freud, and Piaget). Peer groups. Kinship socialization.
• Class 06 * Divorce and multiple marriages in historical perspective and as an expression of changes in the character of marital love. Causes and correlations of divorce rate. Repeated marriage.
• Class 07 * The family in a society of risk and individualization. *
• Class 08 * Gender: Gender as a social construction structuring the social action of men and women. Importance of family form the socialization to the gender roles and their social reproduction. Gender inequalities and differences. Family as a place of „doing gender“. Feminist theories and their focus on the family partnership, parenthood and divorce.
• Class 08 * The conflict and violence in the family. Family as an oppressive institution. The history of violence in the families – examples from the literature. What is the intimate violence and how to detect it. How to prevent violence. Risk and protective factors.
• Class 08 * The family and the (welfare) state: Development of welfare state in Europe and its consequences. Means of family policy and its effectiveness. Various definitions of the goals of family policy. Models of family policies in European countries. Czech family policy.

Literature

required literature
• MOŽNÝ, Ivo. Rodina a společnost (The Family and Society). Praha: Sociologické nakladatelství, 2006, 312 pp. Studijní texty, sv. 38. ISBN 80-86429-58-X. info
• CHERLIN, Andrew J. Public & private families : an introduction. 7th ed. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill, 2013, xxiii, 523. ISBN 9780078026676. info
• SINGLY, Francois de. Sociologie současné rodiny. Vyd. 1. Praha: Portál, 1999, 127 s. ISBN 80-7178-249-1. info

recommended literature
• CHERLIN, Andrew J. Public and private families : a reader. Sixth edition. New York: McGraw-Hill companies, 2010, x, 358. ISBN 9780073404363. info
• CHERLIN, Andrew J. Public & private families : an introduction. 5th ed. Boston: McGraw Hill, 2008, xxviii, 57. ISBN 9780073528083. info

Teaching methods

lectures, class discussion, homeworks, reading, ...

Assessment methods

assignments, seminar test, final exam - written test.

Language of instruction

Czech

Further comments (probably available only in Czech)

Study Materials
General note: Předmět nebude vyučován pokud si ho zapíše méně než 5 studujících.

• Enrolment Statistics (Spring 2020, recent)
  
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