PAM 6360

Race, Immigration, and the Family

Course Description

Course information provided by the Courses of Study 2014-2015.

The racial and ethnic composition of developed nations has changed dramatically over the past few decades, as a result of immigration and fertility decline. This graduate seminar explores the impacts these changes have had on the family, utilizing a demographic perspective. The focus of the course is on contemporary trends in the U.S. and other industrialized countries, and we will consider how various factors associated with population change (fertility, intermarriage, assimilation) accelerate the diversification of family forms, drawing on readings from demography, sociology, economics, and political science.

When Offered Spring.

• Develop cognitive skill: Increase understanding of social scientific perspectives on variation in family behavior in order to be able to evaluate explanations for diversification of outcomes drawn from approaches in economics, demography, and sociology.
• Evaluate current social and political processes: Be able to critically assess existing policies on the impact that immigration and immigrant adaptation has on family behaviors.
• Improve professional writing skills: Write book reviews, a final research paper, and other writing assignments oriented toward professional and academic audiences.
• Present, defend and critique orally supplemental readings, book reviews and class material.

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