PUBPOL 2390 - [Modern Romance: Sex, Love, and Union Formation in the Internet Age]

(crosslisted) SOC 2390
(SBA-HE)

Fall. Not offered: 2023-2024. Next offered: 2024-2025. 3 credits. Student option grading.

S. Sassler.

Looking for love in the digital age is quite different from the ways our ancestors met and found mates in previous generations. Today’s young adults are delaying marriage and embarking on new ways of meeting partners, and entering into different types of unions. This course draws from the demographic, sociological, economic, and psychological literature to explore changes in sexual and romantic attachments, and how they vary across time, and over the life course.

Outcome 1: Describe the demographic changes affecting union formation, and detail how contemporary patterns differ from historical ones.

Outcome 2: Discuss recent debates about American college students (the college hook up scene, sexual coercion, heteronormativity, the Greek scene).

Outcome 3: Analyze current public policies designed to address family change; assess whether public policies are oriented towards ideals or are evidence based; and assess whether policies hinder or help union formation.