Family patterns, gender relations.

Summary: What is a family? Bonnie Fox suggests that family relationships are ones in which people care for children, themselves, and each other. At the same time she emphasizes that these relationships are shaped by the larger social context. While understandings of family are no longer limited to the male bread-winner female-homemaker model of the 1950s, gender ideologies still play a major role in structuring family relations. Designed as a core reader for second- and third-year courses on the sociology of the family, this third edition of Family Patterns, Gender Relations presents 33 essays from Canada, the US, and the UK exploring the dynamics of family and how they are shaped by the larger society. Almost half of the 33 contributions are new, and several other chapters have been thoroughly revised and updated with 2006 census data.