The Wiley Blackwell Encyclopedia of Family Studies presents a comprehensive, interdisciplinary collection of the key concepts, trends, and processes relating to the study of families and family patterns throughout the world. Offers more than 550 entries arranged A-Z Includes contributions from hundreds of family scholars in various academic disciplines from around the world Covers issues ranging from changing birth rates, fertility, and an aging world population to human trafficking, homelessness, famine, and genocide Features entries that approach families, households, and kin networks from a macro-level and micro-level perspective Covers basic demographic concepts and long-term trends across various nations, the impact of globalization on families, global family problems, and many more Features in-depth examinations of families in numerous nations in several world regions 4 Volumes www.familystudiesencyclopedia.com

Disturbing the Nest assesses the future of the family as an institution through an historical and comparative analysis of the nature, causes, and social implications of family change in advanced western societies such as the United States, New Zealand, and Switzerland by focusing on the one society in which family decline is found to be the greatest, Sweden. The founding of the modern Swedish welfare state was based in large part on the belief that it was necessary for the state to intervene in society in order to improve the situation of the family. Of great concern was the low birthrate, which was seen as a threat to the very survival of Swedes as a national population group. The Social Democrats pioneered welfare measures that aimed to strengthen the family, to alleviate its worst trials and tribulations, and to make possible harmonious living. With the Social Democrats remaining in power continuously until 1976, a period of almost forty-five years, Sweden went on to implement governmental "family policies" that are among the most comprehensive (and expensive) in the world. In view of this major policy goal of family improvement, the actual situation of the Swedish family today presents a genuine irony; some have claimed that Swedish welfare state policies have had consequences that are the opposite of those originally intended. Comparing contemporary Swedish family patterns with those of other advanced nations, one finds a very high family dissolution rate, probably the highest in the Western world, and a high percentage of single-parent, female headed families. Even marriage seems to have fallen increasingly out of favor, with Sweden having the lowest marriage rate and latest age of first marriage, and the highest rate of children born out-of-wedlock. The early pronatalist aspirations of the Swedish government have been spectacularly unsuccessful, as Sweden continues to have one of the world's lowest birthrates and smallest average family sizes.

One of the most surprising and controversial social debates of the past two decades has been about the meaning and importance of marriage and the family in contemporary American life. Referred to by some as a culture "war over the family," the debate has pitted those concerned about the weakening of the traditional married-parent nuclear family, especially in its impact on children, against those arguing that nothing has gone wrong with families--that they are merely "diversifying." David Popenoe has been one of the most influential figures in laying out for a wide audience the importance of "family decline," and what it means for our children, our society, and our future.

Gill invites readers to consider a very large proposition--that the weakening of the family in Western societies is inextricably linked to the weakening of our faith in the idea of progress. ""Posterity Lost" will be one of the most influential treatments of family change of this decade". says Norval Glenn, "American Journal of Sociology".

This volume explores the causes and consequences of family inequality in the United States, Europe, and Latin America.

Previously published: New York : Basic Books, 1977. Includes bibliographical references and index.