HISTORY OF MARRIAGE AND THE FAMILY
SYLLABUS
SPRING 2001
Faculty: Stephanie Coontz,3117 Seminar Bldg, ext. 6703;coontzs@olywa.net
Teaching Assistant: Erica Stegman, steeri10@hotmail.com
Description of the program:
This program explores the historical evolution and contemporary dilemmas of family life, intergenerational relationships, sexual mores, and marriage. We will attempt to gain a nuanced, critical, historically informed perspective on what are usually experienced as "knee-jerk" issues: family diversity, the status of children; changing gender roles and sexual norms, and the future of marriage. Our focus is on heterosexual relations, but not because we assume them to be the only natural or healthy relations. It is precisely because we acknowledge the frequency and viability of alternative forms of sexuality, love, and commitment, that we take this critical look at the historical development, dynamics, and conflicts in heterosexual romance, courting, sexuality, marriage, and childrearing. Though this program focuses on heterosexual relations, it opens avenues to further studies in, for example, gay and lesbian history.
Many of our topics will be controversial. We seek not simple answers but intelligent questions to inform our study. Students are expected to consider several different points of view, to fairly evaluate arguments with which they disagree, and to explore the possible contradictions or exceptions to their own positions. You should expect to back up your position with concrete examples and logical argumentation, and be prepared to be challenged to defend your positions. We are not simply sharing feelings or exchanging points of view but rigorously testing different interpretations and theories against each other.
The starting assumption of this class is that these matters are historically variable and to a greater or lesser degree socially constructed rather than biologically determined. We will therefore examine the evolution of family life and marital norms in American history, with a few cross-cultural forays for purposes of comparison. When appropriate, we will use that historical information to examine some contemporary theoretical and practical issues. We will seek to understand patterns of change and to evaluate theories about how and why these patterns develop. At the same time, we will be critical of universal frameworks that homogenize the experience of different groups or deny the contingency of outcomes that are contested by different parties.
This program will prepare students for more advanced work in a wide range of disciplines. In addition, it will sharpen skills of critical reading, effective writing, and in-depth analysis and argumentation. A side benefit, but not the main intent of the program, will be a better understanding of our own interpersonal concerns and conflicts, as we learn to put them in context, understand their origins, and see the larger social forces that affect even the supposedly most private, individual aspects of our lives.
SCHEDULE:
Saturdays, 3500 Library:
9-10:30 -- writing workshop
11-2 -- Seminar
3-5 -- lecture/film/workshops
5-6 -- Office hours, or by appointmentClass expectations:
The class is a half-time program. It is the equivalent of working a 20 hour a week job. Students are expected to attend all class sessions and to be prepared for all seminars. This means not just reading the books once but rereading them, taking notes, and developing ideas for discussing the topics productively. Every student must bring to class each week a 1/2-1 page think piece. These should demonstrate that you have read all the week's reading and thought seriously about the patterns, questions, or implications of your reading. You may be called upon to read your piece to serve as a springboard for class discussion. In any case, you will turn these in at the end of class, and failure to do these will result in loss of credit. If you are absent for seminar, I expect the summary to be turned in within 2 days unless we agree otherwise.
These weekly papers must be typed or legibly hand-written. They need not be polished essays. But there will be two papers, due weeks IV and IX, topics to be announced, that are to be polished works. This means that the paper you turn in should be a second, third, or fourth draft, should have a clear organizing framework, and should be free of errors in grammar, punctuation, or syntax. Late papers will not be accepted except in case of emergencies, and in any case not after three days from due date. Bring three extra copies of the paper to class.
If your papers show a lack of understanding of the material, we will gladly work with you to improve your grasp; if you understand the material but have trouble expressing that understanding clearly, we are likewise happy to work with you. But we can't help you unless we see what you are and are not getting, and it is no service to you to let you fall behind. For this reason, any student with more than one missing papers will not receive full credit in this program. For your own protection, please keep your own copy of each paper that you turn in.
Attendance at and participation in seminars is also a requirement to earn full credit and a satisfactory evaluation. If you do not participate in seminar discussion, you should write a response to the discussion and tell us what you would have said about the book and in reaction to other comments, had you spoken up.
Credit breakdown:
3 -- attendance, participation, and weekly reading response papers
4 -- satisfactory completion of two larger papers
1 -- passing score on final examSYLLABUS
I. April 7: Marriage and the Family before the market revolution and industrialization
Writing workshop: See separate syllabus.
Reading: Intimate Matters, chapters 1-3
The Way We Never Were, chapter 1
Family: The Making of an Idea, pp.
Seminar: Class introductions; go over syllabus and class expectations; compare our backgrounds and interests in this subject; make timeline of US history.
Lecture: Defining the Family and Thinking About its History -- StephanieII. April 14: The Idology of Separate Spheres: Myths and Realities
Reading: Intimate Matters, chapters 5 and 6
TWWNW, chapter 3
Public Vows, pp. 1-76
Lecture: The Origins of the Male Breadwinner FamilyIII. April 21: The late 19th and early 20th Centuries: Family Change and Social Resistance
Reading: Public Vows, pp. 77-155
Intimate Matters, chapters 7, 8 and 9
TWWNW, chapter 5
IV. April 28: Childhood and Adolesence in Historical Perspective
Reading: Family, pp.
TWWNW, chapters 9 and 10
Handout on changes in child-rearing ideas
What Is Marriage For?, pp. 88-144
PAPER DUE TODAY: TOPIC TBA
V. May 5: New directions in Family Life, 1915-1940
Reading: Public Vows, pp. 77-155
Intimate Matters, chapters 10 and 11VI. May 12: WWII and the "Golden Age" of the Family
Reading: Public Vows, pp. 180-199
To Have and to Hold, pp. 1-113VII. May 19: The Golden Age and its Discontents
Reading: TWWNW, chapter 2
To Have and to Hold, pp. 114-229VIII. May 26: NO CLASS -- MEMORIAL DAY HOLIDAY.
Read: Intimate Matters, chapters 13 and 14 and
TWWNW, chapters 7 and 8.
Get ahead on paper due June 2.IX. June 2: Working Class Marriages in the 1970s
Reading: Lillian Rubin, Worlds of Pain
Public Vows, pp. 200-227
PAPER DUE TODAY: TOPIC TBAX. June 9: Contemporary Marriage and Family Issues
Reading: What Is Marriage For?, pp. 1-52, 192-253
Family, pp.
FINAL EXAM