Public and Private Families: An Introduction

by Andrew J. Cherlin

Nationally recognized for its sound scholarship and balanced approach and written by one of the leading authorities in the field, this text examines the family through two the familiar private family in which we live most of our personal lives, and the public family in which we, as adults, deal with broader societal issues such as the care of the elderly, the increase in divorce, and childbearing outside of marriage. The book looks at intimate personal concerns, such as whether to marry, as well as societal concerns, such as governmental policies that affect families. Distinctive chapters - Chapter 9, "Children and Parents;" Chapter 10, "Older Persons and Their Families;" and Chapter 14, "The Family, the State and Social Policy" - examine issues of great current interest, such as income assistance to poor families, the effects of out-of-home childcare, and the costs of the Social Security and Medicare programs.

Genres: Sociology, Textbooks, Nonfiction, Read For School, School

525 pages, Hardcover

First published March 1, 1902

Reviews

[Lindsay Allyson · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book is so awful even the professor said, "Don't get it. If you have, return it if you can."

The book was a horrible choice for a human behavior class in a social work program. This isn't even a social work book - it's a sociology book. It being a sociology book is not what makes it awful (because I do have an appreciation for sociology). It's excessively wordy. The author takes three to four pages to talk about something that could be covered in a paragraph.

And in the first chapter the author talks about how there is a Public Family and a Private Family and they are these two things but then 'Oh no, wait! JK they're really the same thing.' ??

Anyway, this book was poorly structured, needs an editor (badly), and is overly confusing.

DNF.