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The pivotal importance of the family in society has been confirmed by the reciprocal effects of individual-family-community interactions. Those interactions determine the soundness or malaise of each of the three levels of biosocial organization and thus influence the individual's character formation and personality development, the integrity of the family unit and its functioning and societal well-being. The authors argue that the family is now in crisis and at a turning point toward either vitality or debilitation. As such, this text addresses the status and fate of the family; extreme suffering produced by divorce and the pathologies associated with children who receive inadequate parenting and care; the apparent increased frequency of mental disorders, some of which are products of family life; and, the mental health functions of family life that promotes well-being and provides refuge against despair.

This new adaptation of the best-selling American text is contemporary, covering such current topics as non-traditional families; Comprehensive, with all material being deemed essential by reviewers, and Balanced, with excellent historical and theoretical coverage of Canadian families. Using the theme of choice, the text helps students learn with weblinks at end of each chapter, 'As We Make Choices' boxes, and 'A Closer Look At Diversity' sections.

A concise, paperback with an engaging writing style, current research, an applied focus, and a social policy emphasis. Knox and Schacht, authors of the hardcover CHOICES IN RELATIONSHIPS (now in its Sixth Edition) are well-known and respected in the field.

This text presents the study of marriage and family in a manner that enlarges both personal and intellectual understanding. It maintains the viewpoint throughout the text that families need to be cherished, honored, and supported. The book's approach is interdisciplinary, incorporating work from sociology, psychology, history, economics, folklore, communications, and literature.

This expanded reader contains articles, essays, excerpts from books, journals, magazines, and newspapers on the topic of marriage and family. They have all been carefully selected for their diverse and stimulating content. To encourage discussion and introspection, critical thinking questions are included for each reading.

This book provides a good deal of content to support practice with individuals and families, the mainstay of social work practice. Three chapters are devoted to the individual life span, another to theories about the individual as a social system, and two others to the concept of person-in-environment. Yet, the major contribution of the book [is] its in-depth coverage of the communities, organizations, groups, and families in which individuals live. -Pref.

Contemporary struggles over the ordering of sexual and parental relationships take place in the context of recession and mass unemployment; ethnic differentiation and antagonism, population ageing and the discovery of ageism, a growing awareness of the pervasiveness of violence and sexual abuse in intimate relationships and the eruption of AIDS as a major health crisis. Gender, Family and Society seeks to provide a sociological understanding of the way in which these key aspects of contemporary social life shape, and are shaped by, gender and family structures.