Excerpt: Divorce and Remarriage

Arendell, Terry. [1997] 2005. "Divorce and Remarriage". Pp. 253-262 in Understanding Society, 2nd ed., edited by Margaret L. Andersen, Kim Logio, and Howard Taylor. Belmont, CA: Thomson Learning, Inc.

The divorce rate in the United States is on the rise, and at current rates will reach 60% for first marriages and even higher for second marriages. Demographically, blacks and whites are the most likely to divorce, although rates are rising for other races/ethnicities. Considering such changes to the American family, Terry Arendell reports on the effects of divorce and remarriage on children who are caught in the middle.

Excerpt: Weaving Work and Motherhood

Garey, Anita. [1999] 2005. "Weaving Work and Motherhood". Pp. 239-244 in Understanding Society, 2nd ed., edited by Margaret L. Andersen, Kim Logio, and Howard Taylor. Belmont, CA: Thomson Learning, Inc.

Anita Garey describes her experience growing up in the 1950s. It wasn't like the TV sitcoms or idealist movies with homemaker wives and breadwinner husbands; every woman she knew in her community held jobs. It was later that she learned many of these working women weren't officially working; what the Department of Labor and many researchers and organizations consider "work" is "full-time (forty hours or more), day-shift, year-round employment in a defined occupation".

Excerpt: School Girls

Orenstein, Peggy. [1994] 2005. "School Girls". Pp. 288-292 in Understanding Society, 2nd ed., edited by Margaret L. Andersen, Kim Logio, and Howard Taylor. Belmont, CA: Thomson Learning, Inc.

Orenstein begins with a narrative of a sixth-grade classroom exercise. A teacher asks students to close their eyes and imagine what their life was like one year before, then three, six, eight, and all the way back to their birth. Then she asks them to picture living their lives the exact same way, except as the "opposite" sex. The students write down their perceived differences and the teacher keeps track of them on two lists on the board. What she finds is most interesting: the boys' list contains numerous "have to's" (e.g. "I'd have to spend lots of time in the bathroom on my hair and stuff") while the girls' list contains mostly wistful longings (e.g. "I'd get to play a lot more sports"). Orenstein sums up the findings: "By sixth grade, it is clear that both girls and boys have learned to equate maleness with opportunity and femininity with constraint".