Contemporary Families in the 21st Century

Introductory framework for analyzing family lives. Overview of changing family patterns, changing attitudes toward ‘non-traditional families,’ and parenting aspirations among diverse sexual orientations and gender identities. A wide variety of family configurations in Western and semi-Western contexts with an intersectional focus, including foster and adoptive parents, families headed by lesbian mothers, families created via assisted reproductive technologies (in vitro fertilization, donor conception, and surrogacy), single mother and gay-parented families, and families headed by bisexual, polyamorous, transgender, and LGBTQ+ immigrant parents. Reflection on the methodological difficulties posed by research on non-traditional families. Prerequisites: CSHD 0001; PSY 0001, or graduate status.