ASA Family Section

Who We Are...

The purpose of the Section on Family is to encourage the development of sociological perspectives on families, to bring together those who study and teach about families, and to consider the implications of such analyses for public policy, politics and professional practice. The section seeks to foster understanding of family structures and practices, of differences between and within families and of those social institutions and forces -- race, class, and gender; the economy, culture, social movements, the law, and demographic trends -- that shape families or are shaped by them.

Latest News & Announcements

"Was Welfare Reform a Success? How Minority Families are Faring" : Penn State's De Jong Lecture in Social Demography, October 3, 2008

A decade after the landmark welfare reform legislation, how are low-income families who have left welfare doing? Dr. Andrew J. Cherlin, of Johns Hopkins University, will report on results from the "Three-City Study", a study of over 400 low-income families in Boston, Chicago, and San Antonio, most of them African-American or Hispanic, to assess their well-being in the post-welfare-reform era. At the start of the study in 1999, the families were receiving welfare; but all of them had left the welfare program by the end of the study in 2005. He will trace their economic pathways during the six-year period and show the difference that employment, race, and ethnicity made in their strategies to respond to welfare reform. Discussants include Dr. Lisa Gennetian, Brookings Institution, and Dr. Paul R. Amato, Penn State. The conference is free. Details and registration at http://www.pop.psu.edu/events/dejonglecture/

Penn State's 16th Annual Symposium on Family Issues
"Development of Hispanic Children in Immigrant Families: Challenges and Prospects," is the topic of Penn State's 16th Annual Symposium on Family Issues, to be held October 23-24, 2008, on the University Park campus. Sixteen scholars from major institutions will integrate perspectives from multiple social sciences and address policy implications. Presentations and discussions at the symposium will focus on (1) social ecologies of Hispanic children in immigrant families, including the range of setting characteristics and the ways in which setting characteristics have implications for child and youth well-being and development, (2) the role of families in children's successful adaptation to new "host" environments; (3) the implications of school and community contexts as well as education policies for children's school experiences and academic achievement; and (4) the roles of health care, social service provision, and health policies in children's health and well-being. Lead speakers include: Richard Alba (SUNY Albany), Kimberly Updegraff (Arizona State University), Carola Suárez-Orozco (NYU), and Margarita Alegria (Harvard Medical School). Information and registration at http://www.pop.psu.edu/events/symposium/2008.htm or contact Carolyn Scott.