Public and Private Families: An Introduction: Instructor's Guide [Paperback]

Cherlin (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0070106339 | ISBN-13: 978-0070106338 | Publication Date: July 31, 2000

Written by one of the leading authorities in the field. Public and Private Families examines the family through two lenses, the familiar private family in which we live most of our lives and the public family where we as adults deal with broader societal issues such as the care of the elderly, the increase in divorce, and childbearing outside of marriage. thus the books looks at both intimate personal concerns. such as whether to marry and societal concerns such as government policies that affect families.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Andrew J. Cherlin is Benjamin H. Griswold III Professor of Public Policy in the Department of Sociology at Johns Hopkins University. He received a B.S. from Yale University in 1970 and a Ph.D. in sociology from the University of California at Los Angeles in 1976. He is the author of the McGraw-Hill textbook, Public and Private Families: An Introduction. His other books include Marriage, Divorce, Remarriage (revised and enlarged edition, 1992), Divided Families: What Happens to Children when Parents Part (with Frank F. Furstenberg, Jr., 1991), The Changing American Family and Public Policy (1988), and The New American Grandparent: A Place in the Family, A Life Apart (with Frank F. Furstenberg, Jr., 1986). In 1989-1990 he was Chair of the Family Section of the American Sociological Association. In 1999, he was President of the Population Association of America. Professor Cherlin is a recipient of a MERIT (Method to Extend Research in Time) Award from the National Institutes of Health for his research on the effects of family structure on children. His recent articles include "Stepfamilies in the United States: A Reconsideration," in the Annual Review of Sociology; “Going to Extremes: Family Structure, Children’s Well-Being, and Social Science,” in Demography; “Effects of Parental Divorce on Mental Health throughout the Life Course,” in the American Sociological Review; and “I’m OK, You’re Selfish,” in The New York Times Magazine. He also has written many short articles for The New York Times, The Washington Post, Newsweek, and other periodicals. He has been interviewed on ABC News Nightline, the Today Show, network evening news programs, National Public Radio's All Things Considered, and other news programs and documentaries. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: McGraw Hill Higher Education (July 31, 2000)
• ISBN-10: 0070106339
• ISBN-13: 978-0070106338
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)

More About the Author

I'm a sociologist at Johns Hopkins University, and I write about the great changes that have transformed the American family in the past half-century, such as divorce, childbearing outside of marriage, single-parent families, cohabitation, and delayed marriage. In THE MARRIAGE-GO-ROUND I show how and why American family life differs from family life in other wealthy countries and what the consequences are for American parents and children.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great textbook, but too challenging for my students, February 4, 2007

By 

Pennsylvania Reader - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Public and Private Families: An Introduction, with PowerWeb (Hardcover)

This review is from the perspective of a sociology instructor and refers to the 4th edition of the textbook and reader. I've used this pair of texts twice in a Sociology of Family course at a medium-size, medium-quality regional university. The textbook is the most accurate, complete, well-organized, and sociological of the many family textbooks I've reviewed. However, I don't plan to use it again. It is too challenging for my students. Cherlin assumes a basic knowledge of sociological concepts and social facts that my students don't have. They become confused and frustrated when reading. There is a good website associated with the textbook that gives students study help, but I can't use the instructor version because of bad publisher customer service (tech support and my publisher's rep have been passing the buck about who should help me for the past month). I'd recommend this book if your students have the basics in place before the course starts. I plan to look for something written for students who don't.

UPDATE Spring Semester 2010: I am still using this text and reader, now the 6th editions, and providing more basic-sociology and explaining-Cherlin's-points during lecture. I have found that weekly multiple-choice quizzes help students understand the material as we move through it. The website is now good, including a good testbank. Updates to the books with new editions actually add to and improve the content--if you have been teaching a while, you know that this is not the case with every book and every publisher. I teach this course on an irregular basis, but I think I will return to this pair of books in the future. Getting students to read the books and refer to them when writing exams and papers is an ongoing challenge, but that's hardly unique to this book or course.
WARNING: The test banks for the 6th edition of the book can not be trusted. Several questions and answers are repeated from earlier test banks, with page references for the new textbook, but in some cases, recent research makes a previously correct answer incorrect. The test questions and answers themselves have not been thoroughly edited for accuracy given research presented in the new edition. Result: upset students, complaints, ugh.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Recommended, September 19, 2008

By 

S. Bachmann "Sociology major" (Outside of Philadelphia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Public and Private Families: An Introduction (Hardcover)

I am a Sociology and Psychology double major taking a Bachelor's level Marriage and Family sociology class, and I think this book is great! Many textbooks, even in sociology(!), can be dull, but I am finding this book to be a very good read. Very informative and thought-provoking. Statistics in the forms of graphs and tables are also helpful. I also think viewing the family as having a "public" and "private" dimension is valuable and relevant. It's also well-organized and seems to cover all the bases. In response to the previous review, I don't find the material difficult. There's a brief summary in the form of bullet points at the end of every section and every chapter! Doesn't get much more straight-forward than that. I also tend to sell back my books, but I think I will keep this one as a resource. No complaints really, I will think about it over the course of the semester.

5.0 out of 5 stars pleased, September 21, 2010

By 

A. Shaulis (Michigan) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Public and Private Families: An Introduction (Hardcover)

received item on time and in good condition.

unfortunately though I found out just after receiving the book that I didn't need it after all. So I am now stuck with it.