Parents in modern America, (The Dorsey series in sociology)

Considered a significant contribution to its field when first published this volume has now been revised and improved. All chapters have been brought up to date and new trends in parental counseling are reviewed. In addition, the impact of the youth counterculture on parents is analyzed at greater length and depth than in the first edition. The women's liberation movement and its impact on parenting is analyzed in more detail. Le Masters' analysis proceeds on the assumption that being a father or mother in modern America is a difficult and complex social role. The "experts" set unrealistic standards while social institutions (school, church, and mass media) rob parents of their traditional authority. The text centers on the problems in the parenthood role and parents' attempts to perform in the social system. It is, in many ways, a defense of American parents. The approach is sociological rather than psychological or psychiatric.