Marcia J. Carlson and Paula England: Social Class and Changing Families in an Unequal America

Excerpt

Marcia J. Carlson and Paula England have compiled and edited a number of important chapters that explore changing family patterns and how they adapt to a more unequal America in their book Social Class and Changing Families in an Unequal America. Each chapter addresses a different aspect in the changing formation or behavior of families within the United States. Since the beginning of the twentieth century, families have undergone a diverse and complex change that has led to a larger socioeconomic divide than ever before. Inequalities continue to be recognized most notably in education, social class, and in the financial health of families. Carlson and England have chosen topics on how family life has changed and adapted in light of the socioeconomic divide that infects the United States. Some changes are a product of the growing inequalities in education or the difficulties of social mobility, while other changing family patterns seem to have contributed to the growing divide. Not surprisingly, Carlson and England have concluded that family life in the United States remains unequal, and the chapters in their book highlight how family patterns have adapted in light of those inequalities. …