Families without Fathers: Fatherhood, Marriage and Children in American Society

Families without Fathers: Fatherhood, Marriage and Children in American Society

by David Popenoe (Author)

Synopsis

The American family is changing. Divorce, single parents, and stepfamilies are redefi ning the ways we live together and raise our children. Many experts feel these seemingly inevitable changes should be celebrated; they claim that the new families, which often lack a strong father, are actually healthier than traditional two-parent families-or, at the very least, do children no harm. But as David Popenoe shows in Families Without Fathers this optimistic view is severely misguided.

Examining evidence from social and behavioral science, history, and evolutionary biology, Popenoe shows why fathers today are deserting their families in record numbers. The disintegration of the child-centered, two parent family-especially in the inner cities, where as many as two in three children are growing up without their fathers-and the weakening commitment of fathers to their children that more and more follows divorce, are central causes of many of our worst individual and social problems. Juvenile delinquency, drug and alcohol abuse, teenage pregnancy, welfare dependency, and child poverty can be directly traced to fathers' lack of involvement in their children's lives.

Our situation will only get worse, Popenoe warns, unless men are willing to renew their commitment to their marriages and to their children. Yet he is not just an alarmist. He suggests concrete policies, and new ways of thinking and acting that will help all fathers improve their marriages and family lives, and tells us what we as individuals and as a society can do to support and strengthen the most important thing a man can do.

$60.23

Quantity

10 in stock

More Information

Format: Paperback
Pages: 288
Edition: 1
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 06 Jun 2009

ISBN 10: 1412810388
ISBN 13: 9781412810388

Media Reviews

[A] genuinely ground-breaking work about the consequences for African families of absent fathers.

--Adrian Thatcher, INTAMS


[A] genuinely ground-breaking work about the consequences for African families of absent fathers.

--Adrian Thatcher, INTAMS


[A] genuinely ground-breaking work about the consequences for African families of absent fathers.

--Adrian Thatcher, INTAMS


-[A] genuinely ground-breaking work about the consequences for African families of absent fathers.-

--Adrian Thatcher, INTAMS

Author Bio
David Popenoe is professor of sociology emeritus and co-director of the National Marriage Project at Rutgers University. He is the author or editor of numerous books and articles, and as co-chair of the Council on Families in America, he was the primary author of its pioneering 1995 report Marriage in America: A Report to the Nation.