Reconsidering the American Dream:
Middle Class Families Experience the 21st Century

April 29-30, 2010
To be held at the UCLA Alumni Center
Hosted By: Center on Everyday Lives of Families, UCLA

Conference Reading Materials

Campus Map

DAY 1 – April 29, 2010

8:30am  BREAKFAST

9:00 – 9:30am FRAMING THE INQUIRY
Elinor Ochs (UCLA)

9:30 – 11:10am SESSION 1: FAMILY ASPIRATIONS
   •  Investment in children’s futures
   •  Parental involvement
   •  Institutions: School and extra-curricular activities structuring family life goals

Presenters:
1. Barbara Schneider (Michigan State University)
Fulfilling Adolescent and Parent Ambitions in an Increasingly Competitive Social World
2. Sara Harkness & Charles Super (University of Connecticut)
The Cultural Construction of Parents’ Developmental Aspirations for their Children
3. Tamar Kremer-Sadlik (UCLA) & Marilena Fatigante (Università di Roma
"La Sapienza")
Investing in Children’s Future

Discussant:
1. Suzanne Bianchi (UCLA)

11:10 – 11:30am  COFFEE BREAK

11:30am – 12:50pm  SESSION 2: FAMILY CONSUMERISM
   •  How economic and material trends shape family life and relationships
   •  Consumerism and family wellbeing
   •  Moral dimensions of consumer culture
   •  Consumerism and constructing middle-class status

Presenters:
1. Jeanne Arnold (UCLA)
Economic Ecology of the Contemporary American House
2. Allison J. Pugh (University of Virginia)
Managing Distaste: Allowances and Ambivalence in Affluent Families

              Discussant:
              1. Lisa Jacobson (UCSB)

12:50 – 2:45pm  LUNCH

2:45 – 4:35pm  SESSION 3: FAMILY INTIMACY           
   •  Family togetherness
   •  Connectedness among family members (empathy, support, affection vs.
       aloneness, separation)
   •  Spatial-temporal (home) dimension of coming together

Presenters:
1. Candy Goodwin (UCLA)
Weaving Action and Affect Together in Family Life
2. Anthony Graesch (UCLA)  & Belinda Campos (UC Irvine)
Finding Time and Space for Family Intimacy
3. Bradd Shore (Emory University)
Work Patterns and Ritual Cycles in Small Southern Town

Discussants:
1.  Robyn Fivush (Emory University)
2.  Clotilde Pontecorvo (Università di Roma "La Sapienza")

4:35 – 5:15pm  END-OF-DAY REFLECTIONS
Kathleen Christensen (Sloan Foundation Program Director - The Workplace,
Workforce and Working Families)

OPEN DISCUSSION

5:30pm – JAZZ, WINE, & DINNER

 

DAY 2 – April 30, 2010

8:00am  BREAKFAST

8:30 - 10:00am   SESSION 4: FAMILY RESPONSIBILITIES
   •  Part of family relationships include caring for one another
   •  Being accountable for one another; moral obligation
   •  The wellbeing of the family is dependent on each member
   •  The tension between individual needs and desires and family/community
       orientation

Presenters:
1. Kathleen Gerson (New York University)
Moral Dilemmas of Work and Care in 21st Century Families
2. Carolina Izquierdo (UCLA) & Wendy Klein (CSU, Long Beach)
Family Commitments at Home: The Work of Negotiating Responsibilities

Discussants:
1. Thomas Bradbury (UCLA)
2. Karin Aronsson (Stockholm University)
           

10:00 – 10:20am  COFFEE BREAK

10:20am – 12:10pm  SESSION 5: FAMILY RESILIENCE
   •  Maintaining health and wellbeing in everyday life
   •  Managing stress and dealing with adversity (e.g. economic downturn,
       illness, loss)
   •  Family and community resources and interfaces

Presenters:
1. Rena Repetti (UCLA), Darby Saxbe (USC), & Shu-wen Wang (UCLA)
Health and resilience through family relationships
2. Linda Garro (UCLA)
Family Health and the Stresses of Everyday Life
3. Froma Walsh (University of Chicago)
Family Resilience: Thriving in the Face of Multi-stress Challenges

Discussants:
1. Phyllis Moen (University of Minnesota)
2. Tom Weisner (UCLA)

12:10 – 12:20pm  CLOSING REMARKS
Elinor Ochs

12:20pm – BOX LUNCH