The State of Family "Art"

A review essay on a book edited by Marvin B. Sussman & Suzanne K. Steinmetz, Handbook of Marriage and the Family (New York & London: Plenum Press, 1987 [see listing in IRPS No. 46]). After briefly reviewing the current methodological, theoretical, & thematic concerns of the family social science field, the twenty-seven chapters in this state-of-the-art volume, an update of Handbook of Marriage and the Family (Christensen, Harold [Ed], Chicago, Ill: Rand McNally, 1964), are summarized & evaluated. The freshness of the authors' perspective, a larger number being young & F, is notable, though the absence of distinguished names makes the contributions somewhat uneven, as does the fact that many of the sources are outdated; a name index is also glaringly missing. The addition of several chapters on singlehood, voluntary childlessness, & the single-parent family is applauded, though the exclusion of topics such as mate selection, kinship, pre- & extramarital sexuality, marital roles/satisfaction/adjustment/quality, & cross-cultural families is questionable. 14 References. K. Hyatt