This course offers a theoretical and empirical examination of different forms of family and the major changes in the structure and culture of family life in Canada. In the first half of the semester, we will examine and unsettle the notion that there is (or ever was) a ‘typical’ Canadian family. We investigate major shifts in marriage, cohabitation, and divorce, and consider the implications of these shifts for various social actors. We also study the incompatibility of employment and family responsibilities, and how various responses to this incompatibility produce gender and global inequalities. In the second half of the semester, we investigate the diversity of family forms, as well as the problem of violence within the family. This course has been designated an Applied Writing Skills Course.