Public and Private Families: A Reader - Softcover

This reader examines the family through two lenses--the familiar private family, in which we live our personal lives, and the public family, in which we deal with broader societal issues, such as raising the next generation, and the care of the elderly. Consequently, these readings look both at intimate, personal concerns, such as whether to marry, as well as societal concerns, such as governmental policies that affect families. The reader corresponds exactly to and is published concurrent with Cherlin’s textbook Public and Private Families: An Introduction; both the textbook and the reader have 15 same-named chapters.

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.