Counted Out: Same-Sex Relations and Americans' Definitions of Family

Acknowledgments

xvii Acknowledgments T his book is about family—in particular, which living arrangements are counted in Americans’ definitions of family, and which ones are counted out. In thinking about the support, advice, and assistance we received while completing this book, we recognize that a great number of people and organizations must be counted in. This project began as part of the Indiana University Sociological Research Practicum (SRP), which provides undergraduate and graduate students with the opportunity to participate in a large-scale, ongoing, faculty-directed research project. We are indebted to Indiana University ’s Department of Sociology, College of Arts and Sciences, and the Karl Schuessler Institute for Social Research, which annually sponsor the SRP, as well as the Center for Survey Research, which provided indispensable guidance to the research team in fielding the project. The number of student interviewers and transcribers are too numerous to name here, but their hard work and indomitable spirit were crucial to the success of the project and are very much appreciated. From the Center for Survey Research, we are especially grateful to John Kennedy , whose knowledge regarding interviewing and whose patience with sociologists who know a great deal less about interviewing are second to none. From the Karl Schuessler Institute for Social Research, we also thank Louise Brown, who kept us on budget, and Cher Jamison, who kept us on track. But to say that Cher merely kept us on track is an understatement. Without her meticulous attention to every aspect of the data collection and coding, the project would never have been completed . We also owe a special debt to Danielle Fettes and Laura Hamilton. Not only did they contribute to chapters (in Danielle’s case, chapter 5; in Laura’s case, chapter 7, of which she is the lead author), they also were involved in the development of the Constructing the Family Surveys and served as interview supervisors. We are beneficiaries of their insightful comments and suggestions in framing this book. Danielle and Laura are joined by a larger group of SRP research associates, in- xviii    Acknowledgments cluding Kyle Dodson, Emily Fairchild, Yasmiyn Irizarry, Evie Perry, Tiffani Saunders, Amely Schmitt, and Brian Starks. Oren (David) Pizmony -Levy deserves credit for his work on the numerous charts, graphs, and tables in this book. Together this terrifically talented group of young scholars helped to shape this study and facilitate its completion . Even upon completing the 2003 interviews, we did not anticipate that this project would result in a book. Our plans changed, thanks to the highly persuasive and extraordinarily encouraging Naomi Gerstel and Joya Misra, then part of the American Sociological Association Rose Series editorial team from the University of Massachusetts. The subsequent ASA Rose Series editorial group from Stony Brook University —in particular, Cynthia Bogard—gently shepherded us through the publication process. We are especially lucky that our manuscript was in the remarkably accomplished hands of Suzanne Nichols, April Rondeau , and Cynthia Buck from the Russell Sage Foundation. We were given the opportunity to try out many of the ideas in this book at presentations at Ball State University, Dartmouth College, Emory University, Florida State University, Harvard Law School, Kent State, Ohio State University, Purdue University, University of California –Irvine, University of Chicago, University of Georgia, University of Mannheim, University of South Carolina, University of Texas, Wake Forest University, and Washington State University. Comments from our colleagues at these universities, along with the generous and incisive feedback from Jerry Jacobs, Suzanne Bianchi, Clem Brooks, Simon Cheng, Kathryn Lively, Patricia McManus, Robin Simon, Regina Werum, and anonymous reviewers of the manuscript, challenged and inspired us and compelled us to reassess some of our own assumptions . In addition, we value the support lent by Art Alderson, Elizabeth Armstrong, Philip Cohen, Tom Gieryn, Carol Hostetter, Jack Martin, Jane McLeod, Patricia McManus, Eliza Pavalko, Lisa Pearce, Bernice Pescosolido, Rob Robinson, Martin Weinberg, and members of the Department of Sociology and the Center for Advanced Social Science Research at New York University, where Brian Powell spent his sabbatical year while revising this manuscript. Financial support provided by Indiana University, University of California–Irvine School of Social Sciences , Carolina Population Center, University of Utah, and University of South Carolina also is greatly appreciated. We are delighted that funding from the National Science Foundation, the National Center for Family and Marriage Research, and Indiana University for a third wave of the Constructing the Family Survey will allow us to address unanswered questions that arose from the 2003 and 2006...