Adrian Wilson provides a comprehensive introduction to the study of the family. The book opens with a chapter on family structure, looking at the family historically and in cross-cultural perspective. Following this is a review first of theoretical approaches to the family, including functionalist, feminist, Marxist and radical criticism, and second, how the family is studied sociologically. Chapters 4 and 5 look at the changing British family and British families today, and the concluding chapters examine family problems, for example, divorce, violence, one -parent families, and the family and the state.

    Chapter 1 Sociology and the family; Chapter 2 Theoretical approaches to the family; Chapter 3 How to study the family; Chapter 4 Changing British families; Chapter 5 Families in Britain; Chapter 6 Is the family in crisis?; Chapter 7 The family, the state, and the future;

    Biography

    Adrian Wilson, Patrick McNeill