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"A must read. … Whether you agree with all his conclusions or not, you can absolutely trust Philip Cohen’s data and his integrity."—Stephanie Coontz, author of The Way We Never Were: American Families and the Nostalgia Trap
"Cohen pulls no punches, exposing sloppy science, bad policy, and persistent prejudices."— Lisa Wade, author of American Hookup: The New Culture of Sex on Campus.
"Engaged social science at its best. … Cohen represents the best our profession has to offer on some of the most pressing social, cultural, and economic issues of our turbulent times."—William T. Bielby, University of Illinois, Chicago, and former President, American Sociological Association
List of contents
Introduction
Chapter 1. Modernity, Parenting, and Families
1. Why Don’t Parents Name Their Daughters Mary Anymore?
2. “Parenting” through the (Only Very Recent) Ages
3. How Do They Do It?
4. Parenting Survivor Bias
5. Santa’s Magic, Children’s Wisdom, and Inequality
Chapter 2. Marriage, Single Mothers, and Poverty
1. What Does It Take to Eliminate Poverty?
2. Reducing Poverty through Marriage
3. Single Mothers and Crime
Chapter 3. Marriage Promotion
1. We Can’t Build Our Social System around Marriage Anymore
2. Marriage (Not) Promoted
3. Turns Out Marriage and Income Inequality Go Pretty Well Together
4. Marriage Promotion and the Myth of Teen Pregnancy
5. The Marriage Movement Has Failed (Long Live the Marriage Movement)
6. Getting Serious about Promoting Marriage to End Poverty
Chapter 4. Marriage Equality in Social Science and the Courts
Chapter 5. Doing Dimorphism
1. Gender Wars and the Defense of Difference
2. Pink and Blue
3. Braced for Beauty
Chapter 6. Gender Inequality
1. Gender Segregation at the New York Times
2. The Gender Gap Gets It from All Sides
3. Gender Shifts in Families
4. That Feminist Viral Statistic Meme
Chapter 7. Race, Gender, and Families
1. Black Is Not a Color
2. Black Women’s Educational Success
3. Detroit’s Grueling Demographic Decline
4. What They Say about Race When They Don’t Say Anything about Race
5. Race, Racism, and Missing Marriages
Chapter 8. Feminism and Sexuality
1. Not Your Feminist Grandmother’s Patriarchy
2. Does Sleeping with a Guy on the First Date Make Him Less Likely to Call Back?
3. Is the Price of Sex Too Damn Low?
4. Getting beyond How The Factual Feminist Is Wrong about the Prevalence of Rape
5. Why I Don’t Defend the Sex-versus-Gender Distinction
6. Does Doing Difference Deny Dominance?
Notes
References
Index
About the author
Philip N. Cohen is Professor of Sociology at the University of Maryland, College Park. He is the author of
The Family: Diversity, Inequality, and Social Change and the
Family Inequality blog. His essays have appeared in the
New York Times, Washington Post, and
The Atlantic.
Summary
In
Enduring Bonds, Philip N. Cohen, renowned sociologist and blogger of the wildly popular and insightful
Family Inequality, examines the complex landscape of today's diverse families. Through his interpretive lens and lively discussions, Cohen encourages us to alter our point of view on families, sharing new ideas about the future of marriage, the politics of research, and how data can either guide or mislead us. Deftly balancing personal stories and social science research, and accessibly written for students, Cohen shares essays that tie current events to demographic data. Class-tested in Cohen’s own lectures and courses,
Enduring Bonds challenges students to think critically about the role of families, gender, and inequality in our society today.
Additional text
"Enduring Bonds was purposefully assembled to be read in the classroom . . . . but is written in very accessible plain-language prose that makes the work legible to the non-specialist while also not compromising on the rigor of analysis demanded by complex population-level data and assessment of policy success (or failure). Highly recommended to those interested in how socioeconomic inequality is transmuted through and by our families; our political moment, perhaps now more than ever, demands that we interrogate the question of who “gets to” be a family (and what families we do or don’t protect, as a society) from an unapologetic position of social justice advocacy. Cohen offers useful data and arguments for us to draw on in that struggle."
