Lystra M. Richardson
Anshen, Ruth Nanda ed.
The Family: Its Function and Destiny
. New York: Harper & Brothers, Publishers. 1959.
This is a series of essays on the family edited by Anshen who asserts that the family is in a state of dissolution. She takes a rather negative view of the longevity of the family, and cites spiritual emptiness and conceptual failure as the reasons for the demise of the family. Twenty-three authors discuss family life in various countries, as well as functions, structure, and patterns of family life.
Bane, Mary Jo.
Here To Stay: American Families in the Twentieth Century
. New York: Basic Books, Inc. 1976.
Bane asserts that in spite of the statistics and arguments predicting the decline of the family, the family as an institution may have changed somewhat, but is still intact. She examines the effects of feminism, changing male/female roles, divorce, fertility rates and disappearance of the extended family.
Burgess, Ernest W., and Harvey J. Locke.
The Family From Institution to Companionship
. New York: American Book Company, 1945.
A detailed analysis of studies made by Burgess and Locke, with emphasis on the family as a group of unique, interacting personalities.
Cavan, Ruth Shonle.
The American Family
. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell Co., 1969.
Viewing the nuclear family as the basic unit of the American social structure, Cavan examines the characteristics of the family at different socioeconomic levels. The book includes changes in family functions as they relate to the changes in society as a whole. It also explores the shifting forces in the late 1960s and 70s that have shaped the American family.
Duval, Evelyn Mills.
Marriage and Family Development
. New York: Harper and Row Publishers, 1977.
Mills’ work describes the developmental stages that families move through during their life cycle.
Levitan, Sar A., and Richard S. Belous.
What’s Happening to the American Family
? Baltimore: The John Hopkins University Press, 1981.
This book explores the stresses and strains put on members of modern American families.
Turner, Ralph H.
Family Interaction
. New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1970.
A sociological view of the family, this work is concerned with the internal process of families. Empirical research looks at family interaction and at the society in which it functions.
Winch, Robert F.
The Modern Family
. New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston Inc., 1963.
An analysis of the family, this work has an excellent chapter on parent/child relationship. It deals specifically with the adolescent in the family, and examines the role of the parent of an adolescent.
