Popenoe (and responses) (CP)
1. How does Popenoe define a family? Do you think this is an adequate definition?
2. How does he define "family decline"?
3. He argues specifically that there are two dimensions of family decline that we should be concerned about. What are they and why does he think we should be concerned about them?
4. How have attitudes toward children and childrearing changed in recent years?
5. What does he mean when he says that Americans have rejected the "traditional nuclear family"?
6. What he mean when he says that Americans are increasingly rejecting the nuclear family altogether?
7. What does he mean when he says that marriage is becoming "deinstitutionalized"?
8. How might Popenoe's conclusions about family change be influenced by his choice of reference period (the 1950s and early 1960s)?
9. Why does Popenoe believe that the prevailing view among family sociologists is that the family is "evolving" and "diversifying" rather than "declining"?
10. What are the dimensions of institutional decline that Popenoe emphasizes?
11. Popenoe pays particular attention to changes in attitudes (or culture), suggesting that people are now pursuing individual goals at the expense of family goals (see p.538). How do you feel about this argument?
12. In his comment, Glenn suggests that much of the academic debate about what Popenoe calls "family decline" is ideological. What does he mean and how do you feel about this argument?
13. Stacey has a completely different view of recent family changes. Why is her interpretation of these changes more positive than those of Popenoe and Glenn? How do you feel about her argument?
14. Cowan criticizes Popenoe's methodology, particularly his inference of causation from correlation. What is he talking about and why should we be skeptical about Popenoe's claims about why family decline has occurred?
15. Cowan also questions Popenoe's emphasis on cultural (i.e., attitudinal) change. In Cowan's argument, how might stability, rather than change, in family attitudes be important for understanding observed trends?