Marriage. The chapter discusses several factors that influence who you are likely to marry. If you are not already married, how do you think these factors will influence your own choice of marriage partner? If you are already married, then how did they influence your decision? If all of these factors influenced you, then what kind of person would you be most likely to marry? Be sure to mention some of the issues like the marriage squeeze, the marriage gradient endogamy, and exogamy. How do these various factors, and their relationship to marriage partner choices support or challenge our notion of romantic love? Feel free to reframe this question in terms of civil unions or gay marriage if you so desire.
Family. What are some of the ways families have changed during the last 100 years? Discuss some of the most important changes and indicate how well they are reflected in your own family. For example, you might compare your family of orientation to that of your parents or grandparents. How do they differ in size, in whether they are nuclear or extended family households, in the occurrence of divorce, in cohabitation rates, in whether the wife works outside the home (labor market participation), how childcare is handled, how household tasks are shared among husband and wife, common functions of the family, and so on? Be sure to use and define appropriate concepts and perspectives such as the concept of the "second shift." 500 to 800 words.