Annual Review of Sociology - Volume 37, 2011

Recent methodological advances have allowed empirical research on adolescence to do better justice to theoretical models. Organized by a life course framework, this review covers the state of contemporary research on adolescents' physical, psychological, interpersonal, and institutional pathways; how these pathways connect within primary ecological contexts; and how they relate to broader patterns of societal stratification and historical change. Looking forward, it also emphasizes three future challenges/opportunities, including efforts to illuminate biosocial processes, link adolescence to other life stages, and account for the influence of major social changes (e.g., the new media).

We review the bourgeoning literature on ethno-racial diversity and its alleged effects on public trust and cohesion in the context of the evolution of the concept of social capital and earlier claims about its manifold positive effects. We present evidence that questions such claims and points to the roots of civicness and trust in deep historical processes associated with race and immigration. We examine the claims that immigration reduces social cohesion by drawing on the sociological classics to show the forms of cohesion that actually keep modern societies together. This leads to a typology that shows “communitarianism” to be just one such form and one not required, and not necessarily ideal, for the smooth operation of complex organizations and institutions. Implications of our conclusions for future research and immigration policy are discussed.

This article reviews the similarities and differences in the transition to adulthood in Europe. Recent change and the still striking diversity in pathways to adulthood in Europe have attracted growing comparative research interests. The considerable heterogeneity in institutional arrangements, cultural heritage, and economic life observed across contemporary European societies provides fertile ground for testing hypotheses of various macro-level theories and approaches addressing interactions between micro- and macro-level factors. Pursuing a comparative perspective, this review frames the transition to adulthood within a life course perspective. After having mapped the terrain of recent change and contemporary diversity in the transition to adulthood in Europe, the review presents the theoretical perspectives predominantly used to explain diversity and discusses whether the empirical evidence squares with the theoretical propositions. The review concludes by suggesting how future research could advance understanding of the complex nature of the transition to adulthood in Europe.

Since Durkheim's classic work on suicide, sociological attention to understanding the roots of self-destruction has been inconsistent. In this review, we use three historical periods of interest (pre-Durkheim, Durkheim, post-Durkheim) to organize basic findings in the body of sociological knowledge regarding suicide. Much of the twentieth-century research focused on issues of integration and regulation, imitation, and the social construction of suicide rates. Innovations in the twenty-first-century resurgence of sociological research on suicide are described in detail. These newer studies begin to redirect theory and analysis toward a focus on ethnoracial subgroups, individual-level phenomena (e.g., ideation), and age-period-cohort effects. Our analysis of sociology's contributions, limits, and possibilities leads to a recognition of the need to break through bifurcations in individual- and aggregate-level studies, to pursue the translation of Durkheim's original theory into a network perspective as one avenue of guiding micro-macro research, and to attend to the complexity in both multidisciplinary explanations and pragmatic interventions.

Unauthorized migration has been an important issue for decades. Because much has changed about this type of migration in the past two decades, this review takes stock of recent scholarship. These studies reveal a new complexity in the unauthorized migration in the early twenty-first century. First, compared with the past, unauthorized migration is more diverse. Whether based on gender, age, or how people enter, there is considerable heterogeneity in the unauthorized migrant population. Second, nation-states approach the issue of unauthorized migration differently than in the past, a fact that has increased the size and prominence of the unauthorized population and is related to the emergence of scholarship emphasizing the social construction of immigrant legal status.

In recent years, there has been a growing interest in the nature of intergenerational relationships in immigrant families, especially between immigrant parents and their children, many of whom were born and largely raised in the United States. This review begins with an analysis of the causes of tension and conflict as well as accommodation and cooperation between parents and children in immigrant families in the contemporary United States. We then examine what happens when parents and children are separated in transnational families—why this pattern occurs today and how it affects family relationships. We provide a historical-comparative perspective, discussing what is new about parent-child relations in immigrant families today in contrast to a century ago in the last great wave of immigration to the United States. Finally, a cross-national view reveals the different emphases in the social science literature on intergenerational relations in immigrant families in the United States and western Europe.

This review outlines several key aspects of the new rural-urban interface and the growing interpenetration of American rural and urban life. The historical coincidence of spatial and social boundaries in America is changing rapidly. This review highlights (a) the enormous scale of rural-urban interdependence and boundary crossing, shifting, and blurring—along many dimensions of community life—over the past several decades, and (b) the symmetrical rather than asymmetrical influences between urban and rural areas, i.e., on bidirectional relational aspects of spatial categories. These general points are illustrated by identifying 10 common conceptions of rural America that reflect both its social and economic diversity and its changing spatial and social boundaries. Here we emphasize symbolic and social boundaries—the distinctions between urban and rural communities and people and the processes by which boundaries are engaged. Placing behaviors or organizational forms along a rural-urban continuum (or within a metropolitan hierarchy of places) or drawing sharp rural-urban distinctions seems increasingly obsolete or even problematic. We conclude with a call for new research on rural America and greater conceptual and empirical integration of urban and rural scholarship, which remains disconnected and segregated institutionally.

The transformation of the Latin American family has attracted increasing attention in sociodemographic studies, particularly those oriented from a gender perspective. This article reviews progress in the field and evaluates the links between families and public policies. It begins by focusing on the nature and meaning of modifications in family structure and dynamics (size, composition, headship, type and stability of unions, division of labor, and ways of living together). It then evaluates the extent to which there is agreement or disagreement between family changes and government initiatives. It focuses on programs oriented toward reconciling work and family and actions designed to highlight and sanction domestic violence. It concludes that, despite much that has been achieved, the actions taken so far are insufficient. It is essential to develop more complex analyses and explanations and to design reliable indicators that make it possible to monitor progress and omissions and gauge the scope of what remains to be done.

Las transformaciones de las familias latinoamericanas reciben atención creciente en los estudios sociodemográficos, especialmente en aquellos orientados desde una perspectiva de género. En este artículo revisamos los avances en este campo y sopesamos los vínculos entre familias y políticas públicas. Inicialmente nos detenemos en la naturaleza y el significado de las modificaciones en la estructura y dinámica familiares (tamaño, composición, jefatura, tipo y estabilidad de las uniones, división del trabajo y formas de convivencia). Posteriormente, valoramos los encuentros y desencuentros entre cambios familiares e iniciativas gubernamentales; nos centramos en los programas orientados a la conciliación trabajo-familia, y aquellas acciones encaminadas a visibilizar y sancionar la violencia intrafamiliar. Concluimos que a pesar de lo logrado, las acciones son insuficientes. Es preciso complejizar los análisis y las explicaciones, así como impulsar los diseños de indicadores confiables que nos permitan monitorear adelantos, omisiones y el alcance del camino que aún se necesita recorrer.