American Experience Nuclear Family Myth Introduction: “The Myth Of The Modern Family” –Where Do We Get Our Notions Of The “Traditional Family?” –According To De Tocqueville, How Do Europeans Differ From Americans With Respect To Families? How Are The Dependent Variables Different? –What Point Are The Authors Trying To Make With The “Fast Facts?”

American Experience Nuclear Family Myth Reading Questions: Nuclear Family –Stephanie Coontz What Was Preferable About the 1950s? What Was Problematic About the 1950s? Why Did the 1950s Change? How Did It Change? What Variables Provided The Results Of The 1950s Family, According to Coontz? Do You Feel Those Variables Present Today, And How Prevalent Are They?

American Experience Nuclear Family Myth Naomi Gerstel and Natalia Sarkisian “The Color Of Family Ties: Race, Class, Gender, And Extended Family Involvement” –What Is The “Myth” We Have About White & Minority Families, According To Gerstel And Sarkisian? –What Evidence Do The Authors Find In Figures 1 and 2? What Role Do Extended Families Play? –When And Where Does This Data Come From In Figures 1 and 2, And Table 1? –What Is The Role Of The Independent Variable “Social Class?” What Happens When We “Control” For This Factor?” –What Do The Authors Speculate Would Happen If Table 1 Data Was Reversed?

American Experience Nuclear Family Myth 1950s Myth: The 1950s Decade Was America’s “Best” Decade –Theory: Certain American Decades Were “Better” Than Other American Decades Independent Variable: Values = Decades –1940s, 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, 2000s Dependent Variable: Quality of Decade –Good vs. Bad; Poor vs. Moderate vs. Good, etc. Expected Relationship: 1950s > Other Decades Rationale: –Economic Development –Social Development –Political Development Alternative Rationale A Negative Relationship Exists Between The Proximity Of A Decade To The Present, Because People Tend To Romanticize The Past And “Remember” The Present (Bad Stuff)

American Experience Nuclear Family Myth 1950s Myth : The 1950s Decade Was America’s “Best” Decade –Hypothesis 1: More Americans Will Rate “The 1950s” As America’s Best Decade (Compared To Others) Independent Variable: Decade Year Dependent Variable: Percentage Of Americans Picking A Decade As Their Favorite –Results What Was Your Favorite Decade? 1996 Knight Ridder Poll Exercise: Is The Myth Busted? Comment On The Results Of The Poll.

American Experience Nuclear Family Myth 1950s Myth: The 1950s Decade Was America’s “Best” Decade –Hypothesis 2: America Experienced Its Greatest Growth In The 1950s Independent Variable: Decade Years Dependent Variable: Economic Growth (Changes In GDP per capita) Exercise: Is The Myth Busted? Comment On The Results Of The Economic Statistics. 1950s1950s 1960s1960s 1970s1970s 1980s1980s