This book emphasises broad themes such as social inequalities, gender roles, and the functional community, with a focus on social policies regarding families.

How do changes in family form relate to changes in society as a whole? In a work which combines theoretical rigour with historical scope, Wally Seccombe provides a powerful study of the changing structure of families from the Middle Ages to the beginning of the Industrial Revolution. Responding to feminist critiques of ‘sex-blind’ historical materialism, Seccombe argues that family forms must be seen to be at the heart of modes of production. He takes issue with the mainstream consensus in family history which argues that capitalism did not fundamentally alter the structure of the nuclear family, and makes a controversial intervention in the long-standing debate over European marriage patterns and their relation to industrialization. Drawing on an astonishing range of studies in family history, historical demography and economic history, A Millennium of Family Change provides an integrated overview of the long transition from feudalism to capitalism, illuminating the far-reaching changes in familial relations from peasant subsistence to the making of the modern working class.

A remarkable team of contributors based across 19 countries explores and explains events worldwide affecting the natural family—married father and mother with biological children —detailing concepts and benefits of natural family that have been taken for granted across centuries, but are now being challenged in many ways. These scholars—many admittedly taking stands that may be deemed politically incorrect—conclude that natural family is being threatened, and is vital to provide common ground among all societies, cultures and religious traditions. Psychologists, sociologists, economists, theologians, lawyers, health care professionals and award-winning journalists are among the chapter authors, as are Nobel Prize Laureate Gary Becker, U.S. Department of Health Assistant Secretary for Children and Families Wade Horn, and former Prime Minister of Malaysia Mahathir Bin Mohamad. Whether or not you agree with their arguments, science and conclusions, you'll want to know what these influential figures are saying. Addressing many lightning-rod issues, from divorce and abortion to euthanasia and same-sex marriage, writers here span the world from the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom to Australia, Turkey, India, and China. Intellectuals included are associated with institutions from Brigham Young University, Georgetown School of Medicine and the Boston College School of Law, to the University of Geneva, and the Maxim Institute in New Zealand.

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The contributors and editors of this volume begin from the assumption that the changes wrought by globalization compel us to reflect upon the status of the child and childhood at the end of the 20th century. Their essays consider what techniques and technologies are used to govern the child, what role the family plays, what is global and what is culturally specific in the changes, and how the subject is constructed and construed.

The new communication technologies play a major role in the lives of children & adolescents, who have available an almost continual diet of highly vivid, on demand, audiovisual images. In order to paint a comprehensive picture of children's media environment & media use patterns, a national study of the media environment & media habits of U.S. children ages 2 through 18 years was undertaken. This report includes results for two nationally representative samples totaling 3,155 children ages 2-18 years, including over-samples of both Black & Hispanic children. In addition, week-long media use diaries were collected from 621 of these children.