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Intimate associations : the law and culture of American families / J. Herbie DiFonzo and Ruth C. Stern.
- Format:
- Book
- Author/Creator:
- DiFonzo, J. Herbie.
- Language:
- English
- Subjects (All):
- Domestic relations--United States.
- Domestic relations.
- Human reproductive technology--Law and legislation.
- United States.
- Human reproductive technology--Law and legislation--United States.
- Human reproductive technology.
- Family policy--United States.
- Family policy.
- Genre:
- Electronic books.
- Physical Description:
- 1 online resource (243 pages) : illustrations
- Place of Publication:
- Ann Arbor, [Michigan] : The University of Michigan Press, 2013.
- System Details:
- text file
- Summary:
- The rise in divorce, cohabitation, single parenthood, and same-sex partnerships, along with an increase in surrogacy, adoption, and assisted reproductive technologies, has led to diverse configurations of families, or intimate associations. J. Herbie DiFonzo and Ruth C. Stern chart these trends over the past several decades and investigate their social, legal, and economic implications. Drawing upon a wealth of social science data, they show that, by a number of measures, children of married parents fare better than children in a household formed by cohabiting adults. This is not to condemn nontraditional families, but to point out that society and the law do not yet adequately provide for their needs. The authors applaud the ways in which courts and legislatures are beginning to replace rigid concepts of marriage and parenthood with the more flexible concept of functional family roles. In the conclusion, they call for a legal system that can adapt to the continually changing reality of family life. Book jacket.
- Contents:
- Chapter 1 American Marriages Yesterday 9
- Chapter 2 How Marriage Became Optional: Cohabitation, Gay Marriage, and the Continuing Role of Gender 24
- Chapter 3 Luxury Goods: The Well-Being of Families 43
- Chapter 4 The Children of Baby M: Alternative Reproductive Technologies and the Remaking of Contemporary Families 64
- Chapter 5 Parenthood in the 21st Century: The Evolving Functional Norms 85
- Chapter 6 Unsafe Havens, Unplanned Children, and Future Generations 109
- Chapter 7 The Uses of the Law for Contemporary Families 128.
- Notes:
- Includes index.
- Description based on information from the publisher.
- ISBN:
- 9780472035380
- 9780472029426
- Publisher Number:
- 10.3998/mpub.1964270
- Access Restriction:
- Restricted for use by site license.
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