Cultural Diversity in Family Life Education

Book excerpt: Cultural Diversity in Family Life Education helps students improve their understanding of the specific cultural, language, and social and economic nuances of particular people and families. Equipped with this knowledge, readers develop the competencies required to be successful within the family science discipline. Chapter 1 covers the topic of race and ethnicity as it relates to individuals. Structural diversity, hegemony, and microaggressions toward people of color are addressed. In Chapter 2, students learn the role class plays in the lives of families, the difference between social class and social status, and how privilege, microassaults, and oppression can manifest according to class. Chapter 3 presents historical and contemporary perspectives on gender and sexual orientation, as well as intersectionality theory. In Chapters 4 and 5, the text explains how religion and ageism factor into the family, alongside discussions of intersectional issues related to these topics. The closing chapter speaks to fathers, fathering, and fatherhood within different societies and intersectional contexts. Timely, valuable, and critical, Cultural Diversity in Family Life Education is an ideal textbook for courses in family science.