Families in Global and Multicultural Perspective

The Second Edition of Families in Global and Multicultural Perspective travels across geographic, cultural, and historical boundaries to explore the diversity of the world′s families—in family structure, processes, history, and social and environmental contexts. Editors Bron B. Ingoldsby and Suzanna D. Smith examine a full range of topics including family origin and universality, family functions, marital structure, kinship rules, comparative research methods, family development, marriage adjustment, parenting, divorce, and aging. This comprehensive text increases students′ recognition of and respect for cultural diversity as it influences family life; meets educators′ needs for a comparative family text; and contributes to the development of new ways of thinking about families that highlights culture and context.  

"The editors, both qualified scholars with a comparative perspective, have been successful in finding well-known authors for the various chapters. Both theoretical and methodological issues are dealt with in a nuanced and qualified manner…. The book is to be highly recommended to students, faculty, and libraries."
—Jan Trost, Professor Emeritus, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden  

"The strength of this book is its comparative approach under several theoretic frameworks… This book appears to be the most comprehensive study of global families." —Heying Jenny Zhan, Georgia State University  

New to the Second Edition:

• Includes new chapters focussing on the Middle East and Pacific regions to introduce students to the variations in family life across such diverse areas
• Provides updated information about families around the world by expanding the contents to incorporate recent trends in family life
• Discusses increasingly salient topics that are rarely found in comparative family texts, such as social inequality as manifested in gender stratification, oppression of certain ethnic and cultural groups, and poverty
• Includes student exercises intended to increase student awareness and appreciation of diversity  

Families in Global and Multicultural Perspective is an excellent textbook for advanced undergraduate and graduate students studying Sociology and Family Studies in courses such as Families in Cross-Cultural Perspective, Comparative Family Organization, Global and Diverse Families, World Families, and Families in Comparative Perspective.

Bron Ingoldsby is Associate Professor in the School of Family Life at Brigham Young University. He received his Ph.D. in Child and Family Development from the University of Georgia. A leader in the area of cross-cultural family research, he is the author of numerous professional publications, including (with Raeann Hamon) Mate Selection Across Cultures. His current work focuses on family change among the Hutterian Brethren, and marriage in Latin America. He is a popular instructor of Cross Cultural Family classes at both the graduate and undergraduate levels. He was honored as the 2002 recipient of the Jan Trost Award for Outstanding Contributions to Comparative Family Studies by the National Council on Family Relations. He has served twice on the NCFR board as the chair of the International and Religion & Family Life sections. Suzanna Smith is Associate Professor in the Department of Family, Youth and Community Sciences at the University of Florida. She has a Ph.D. in Child and Family Development and a Master′s Degree in Social Work; and is a Certified Family Life Educator (CFLE). In addition to teaching, Dr. Smith develops Extension programs for families through the Florida Cooperative Extension Service. Her research has focused on difficult economic transitions and the impacts on women and their families, particularly in rural and natural resource dependent communities. She also has experience in human services, offering resources and support to children, women, families, and the elderly in need. Her international work has included research and training programs in Cameroon, Burkina Faso, Haiti, and Korea, as well as coursework for international students and faculty.