Changing Family, Changing Education

Sociologists of education increasingly have recognized the crucial role that families assume in children’s educational development. Meanwhile, sociologists have identified major changes in family structure and contemporary family life—among these, increases in the number of single-parent and step-parent families, families with older parents, and same-sex families, adoptive families, and multiracial families. These changes have compelled sociologists of education to redirect their attention from one that emphasizes a more standard—and increasingly outdated—notion of family to one that also takes into account the multiplicity of family forms. In this chapter, the authors identify some areas in which new lines of research on this front are currently under development. The purpose of this chapter is threefold: (1) to discuss various theoretical lens through which scholars have viewed family structure effects in education, (2) to report what existing and cutting-edge research has to say about how the changing shape and diversity of families affect children’s educational outcomes, and (3) to glean additional theoretical insights into how family structure shapes children’s educational outcomes. The authors also identify continuing challenges that scholars in this area face and pinpoint possible solutions to these challenges that hold the most promise.