SO348 Half Unit
Family Diversity and Change
This information is for the 2025/26 session.
Course Convenor
Dr Ursula Henz
Availability
This course is available on the BSc in Language, Culture and Society, BSc in Sociology, Erasmus Reciprocal Programme of Study and Exchange Programme for Students from University of California, Berkeley. This course is not available as an outside option to students on other programmes. This course is available with permission to General Course students.
This course has a limited number of places (it is capped). Places are allocated on a first come first served basis.
Course content
The course introduces students to the area of family sociology, focusing on contemporary families and intimate relationships in Britain and other Western societies. It provides theoretical and empirical perspectives on a range of topics, including single parent families and post-divorce families; non-heterosexual families; intimate partnerships; parenting; transnational families.
Teaching
This course has a reading week in Week 6 of Winter Term.
This course is usually delivered through a combination of lectures and classes. There will be two hours or more of teaching each week in WT.
Formative assessment
Essay
Students are required to complete one formative essay in the WT.
Indicative reading
- Treas, Judith, Scott, Jacqueline & Richards, Martin (eds.) (2014) The Wiley Blackwell Companion to The Sociology of Families, Chichester, West Sussex: Wiley Blackwell - covers many aspects of the course.
Other recommended readings include:
- Chambers, Deborah & Gracia, Pablo (2022): A Sociology of Family Life. 2nd Edition. Cambridge: Polity Press.
- Lareau, Annette (2011): Unequal Childhoods. Class, Race and Family Life. University of California Press: Berkeley, Los Angeles, London.
- Smart, Carol & Neale, Bren (1999): Family Fragments? Cambridge: Polity Press.
- Smart, Carol, Neale, Bren & Wade, Amanda (2001): The Changing Experience of Childhood: Families and Divorce. Cambridge: Polity Press.
- Allan, Graham; Crow, Graham & Sheila Hawker (2011) Stepfamilies. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Assessment
Exam (90%), duration: 120 Minutes in the Spring exam period
Learning Log / reflective learning report (10%)
The first assessment is a reading diary (10%) in the WT.
Attendance at all classes and submission of all set coursework is required.
Key facts
Department: Sociology
Course Study Period: Winter Term
Unit value: Half unit
FHEQ Level: Level 6
CEFR Level: Null
Total students 2024/25: 30
Average class size 2024/25: 15
Capped 2024/25: Yes(34)Course selection videos
Some departments have produced short videos to introduce their courses. Please refer to the course selection videos index page for further information.
Personal development skills
- Self-management
- Communication
- Specialist skills