Title: Handbook of Marriage and the Family (2Nd Ed.)
Abstract:Handbook of Marriage and the Family (2nd ed.) Marvin B. Sussman, Suzanne K. Steinmetz, & Gary W Peterson (Eds.). New York; Plenum. 1999. 822 pp. ISBN 0-306-45754-7. $110.00 cloth. This second edition ...Handbook of Marriage and the Family (2nd ed.) Marvin B. Sussman, Suzanne K. Steinmetz, & Gary W Peterson (Eds.). New York; Plenum. 1999. 822 pp. ISBN 0-306-45754-7. $110.00 cloth. This second edition of the Handbook of Marriage and the Family is not simply an update of the first edition, published in 1987. For one thing, the original editors, Suzanne Steinmetz and Marvin Sussman, are joined by Gary Peterson, one of the chapter authors of the first edition. In addition, the 28 chapters generally are authored by different people than in the first edition (e.g., new chapter authors include Acock, Adams, Doherty, Lawton, Olson, Schumm, Sprey, and Walker), although some authors repeat (e.g., Francoeur, E Kaslow, Lee, Moen, Peterson, Polonko, Scanzoni, Settles, Steinmetz, and Teachman). Chapters on family communication (Whitchurch and Dickson), adolescence (Steinmetz), and health (Crews and Balcazar) were added, and the chapters from the first edition devoted to structural diversity in were combined into two (DeFrain and Olson; Faust and McKibben). Perhaps the biggest difference between the two editions is in the organization of the volume. The edition is divided into five sections: family diversity, theory and methods, changing family patterns and roles (i.e., ethnic, cross-cultural, and structural variations), family and other social institutions, and changing family patterns and roles (i.e., family dynamics and processes, such as power, communication, gender, violence, therapy). The editors write that, it no longer makes sense to use nuclear as the standard against which various forms of the family (e.g., divorced families, single parent families, and stepfamilies) are measured (p. 2). Moreover, because families are constantly changing and adapting to meet the current and emerging demands of a dynamic society and because change and diversity are the norm (p. 3), the editors no longer organized part of the handbook around family-structure variations. Instead, they instructed authors to incorporate information about a variety of family forms into the coverage of their topic. Their assertions to the contrary, the editors' position on family diversity places them more on the cutting edge of scholarly thinking than in the mainstream. Their decision may irritate some readers because of the perceived ideological stance they have taken, but I applaud their perspective. Nonetheless, I found a slight downside for scholars and students who want to use the book to explore a specific topic related to structural diversity. Rather than turn to a specific chapter to find most of what the handbook contains on a particular subject (such as remarriage), one must now rely primarily on the index to find the scattered references to the topic. …Read More
Publication Year: 2001
Publication Date: 2001-02-01
Language: en
Type: article
Access and Citation
Cited By Count: 84
AI Researcher Chatbot
Get quick answers to your questions about the article from our AI researcher chatbot