SOCIAL HISTORY AND SSM: Elizabeth Marquardt replies to George McAllister

As someone with an aspiring, "hobby-level" interest in the history of the family, George McAllister should avoid accepting as truth whatever he reads in intro to sociology textbooks.

For a great examination of the incredible bias against the married, intact family found in most mainstream intro to sociology textbooks, see this report.

Sociology professors who write these textbooks too often have an agenda of their own, such as advocating for family diversity and playing down the documented, harmful effects of family fragmentation for children. Thus they recoil at the term "the family." However, these same professors would probably not hesitate to use the word "the" before other primary social institutions, such as "the state." In the latter case, they recognize there are many forms that "the state" may take and saying "the state" is only a convenient way of explaining what exactly one is trying to analyze. To go even further, I would bet these same professors would have no trouble saying that, based on history and current social science, some versions of "the state" support the flourishing of human life better than others, and that as a society we should work to achieve those better models.

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posted by Eve at 11:06 AM | link

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