The main thesis of Eric Klinenberg’s book, Going Solo, is that living alone is a poorly understood subject by society, even as time went on. Living solo shapes our cities and economies, and how we grow in to our old age (Klinenberg, 2012, p. 16-17). It differs from many mainstream interpretations of “living alone” in contemporary society due to the fact that it offers a positive perspective on the topic; it also explains how the negative connotations of “living alone” were misconstrued due to datas being overstated from a paper that was published back in 1984 and 2004 (Klinenberg, 2012, p. 19). Social scientists, as well as general readers, didn’t take this into consideration, hence, the public put a shame on men and women who live the single life for too long. This negative connotation hurts single women even more because of family’s pressure of marriage and birth, on top of that, single women have a heavier workload than married women due to the misconception that they have more free time. Not only that, but single women who work more don’t get pay as much as they should for their extra effort. Two reasons why we should care about the findings in Klinenberg’s book are because 1) it stops us from continuing to believe in the myth about “living alone” and …show more content…
But not that, “It was also fueled by an emerging moral code that placed one’s obligation to care for oneself on par with, if not above, one’s commitment to family” (Klinenberg, 2012, p. 46). Finding oneself gradually becomes everyone’s interests but this doesn’t mean that their selfish, because being stuck in a miserable isn’t going to help anyone in this lost
May begins by exploring the origins of this "domestic containment" in the 30's and 40's. During the Depression, she argues, two different views of the family competed -- one with two breadwinners who shared tasks and the other with spouses whose roles were sharply differentiated. Yet, despite the many single women glamorized in popular culture of the 1930's, families ultimately came to choose the latter option. Why? For one, according to May, for all its affirmation of the emancipation of women, Hollywood fell short of pointing the way toward a restructured family that would incorporate independent women. (May p.42) Rosalind Russell in His Girl Friday and Scarlett O'Hara in Gone with the Wind, for example, are both forced to choose between independence and a happy domestic life - the two cannot be squared. For another, New Deal programs aimed to raise the male employment level, which often meant doing nothing for female employment. And, finally, as historian Ruth Milkman has also noted, the g...
... constructs we built for ourselves; we have become the children and we make toys for ourselves that condition in a vicious cycle of pathetic stagnation. Find your Campbell Soup Cans, your reclusive pond, your place in a family that stands out... and you will have found yourself.
This book is a study of the personal tales of many single mothers, with intentions to understand why single mothers from poor urban neighborhoods are increasingly having children out of wedlock at a young age and without promise of marrying their fathers. The authors chose to research their study in Philadelphia’s eight most devastated neighborhoods, where oppression and danger are high and substantial job opportunities are rare. They provide an excellent education against the myth that poor young urban women are having children due to a lack of education on birth control or because they intend to work the welfare system. Instead, having children is their best and perhaps only means of obtaining the purpose, validation and companionship that is otherwise difficult to find in the areas in which they live. For many of them, their child is the biggest promise they have to a better future. They also believe that though their life may not have been what they want, they want their child to have more and better opportunities and make it their life’s work to provide that.
I-Chieh Chen (2015) in The study The Scale for the Loneliness of College Students in Taiwan (http://www.ccsenet.org/journal/index.php/jedp/article/download/46795/25238) stated that Loneliness was initially studied by Sullivan (1953) (A Peplau, D Perlman, LA Peplau… - Loneliness: A …, 1982 - peplaulab.ucla.edu) who proposed that loneliness was an unpleasant and intense experience related to unsatisfied requirements for intimacy (http://www.ccsenet.org/journal/index.php/jedp/article/download/46795/25238). Sullivan’s research was all but neglected in his time. This neglect lasted until 1973, when Weiss, an American scholar who was an adherent of Bowlby’s attachment theory, published an article entitled “Loneliness: the experience of emotional and social isolation” (RS Weiss - 1973 - psycnet.apa.org).
These days, marriage contracts fortunately treat both men and women the same, and look at it as more of a partnership rather than a legal contract with economical advantages. (Bernstein, 2011) Today, women have more goals than getting married and having children, most want to go to college and having a successful career. It is normal for a woman to be completely successful all on her own without a husband. These days, a woman can be the bread winner of her family while her husband is a stay at home father. There are also several single working mothers and single working
However, social conditions made it less feasible for families to live this way. As the 1960s approached and consumption was in high demand, women were yet again, forced to join the work force; but only a quarter of the women joined the workforce, whereas in the 1990s about “two-thirds of women who had children were in the work force (Coontz 55). Coontz (1997) explains how by 1973, “real wages were falling for young families, and by the late 1970s, government effectiveness had decreased (Coontz 54). It was because of economic factors that the nuclear bread-winning family could only be a lifestyle a few can afford. Nonetheless, women joining the workforce created a new understanding of women-hood, changed women’s status in society, and created conflict within the household. Women did not have the time to complete all the household tasks which contributed to the increased divorce rates, but left women happier due to the fact that they had that ultimate
There was a time when women typically maintained the home and raised children while the husbands were the sole bread-winners for the family finances. However, times have changed and so have women’s rights and expectations for divorce, education, an...
One of the biggest changes in American families has been divorce and the single-parent families. In the article “What is a Family?”, Pauline Irit Erera argues that after World War 11, is when the major changes in families begun. Women were already accustomed to having jobs and working while their men were away during the war, and when the men all came back is when things started to change. Erera says, “The movement for gender equality led to increased employment opportunities for women, while at the same time declining wage rates for unskilled male workers made them less desirable marriage partners.” (Ere...
Susan Wolf, born in 1952, is widely considered one of the greatest philosophers of the 20th and 21st century. One of Wolf’s most renowned works is The meanings of Lives, which drew a lot of attention in the philosophical world for a number of questions that arose from it. Arguably her most widely debated and questioned assertion in The meanings of Lives is “If you care about yourself you’re living as if you’re the center of the universe, which is false.” This however I don’t not believe to be true. Every human being, no matter how successful or unsuccessful, has the right to care for them sleeves and not believe they are the center of the universe while doing so.
There is much debate on what constitutes as a family today. However, Ball (2002) states, “The concept of the traditional family…is not an immutable one. It is a social construct that varies from culture to culture and, over time, the definition changes within a culture” (pp. 68). There is a growing diversity of families today including the commonality of sole-parenting. In order to explore aspects of sole-parenthood objectively, I need to reflect and put aside my personal experience of growing up in sole-parent household. Furthermore, this essay will explore the historical origins, cultural aspects discussing the influences and implications of gender identity, and social structures of sole-parent families, as well as consider the implications in midwifery by applying the sociological imagination. Mills (2000/1959) describes the sociological imagination as “…a quality of mind that seems most dramatically to promise an understanding of the intimate realities of ourselves in connection with larger social realities” (pp.15). In other words, the sociological imagination involves the ability to consider the relationships between personal experiences and those within society as a whole.
The 60’s was certainly a time of women’s curiosity and venture outside of the norm “homemaker” role. Women not only found pleasure in the world, but in themselves as a whole and as a woman. Sex and the Single Girl by Helen Gurley Brown played an important role here as her intent was to guide women - or more specifically the single woman - in her pursuit of independence and pleasure. Sex and the Single Girl most definitely lead the readers on to believe that it was to empower women; even to break away from the norm and advocate the unattached female. My response will focus on the contradictory nature the guidebook, and other literature like Cosmopolitan, create when advising a woman to do and be something on the one hand while having an underlying message on the other.
Today, many women choose their own lifestyle and have more freedom. They can choose if they want to get married and have kids or not. Coontz said “what’s new is not that women make half their families living, but that for the first time they have substantial control over their own income, along with the social freedom to remain single or to leave an unsatisfactory marriage” (98). When women couldn’t work, they had no options but to stay with their husband for financial support. Working is a new way of freedom because they can choose to stay or leave their husband and make their own decisions.
...t as the individual seeks to become independent, successful in school or employment, and develop satisfying social relationships” (Rank, J.).
Independence is a socially constructed concept within a capitalistic patriarchal society that serves to marginalize and oppress the elderly members of the society. Why do many women of the elderly population within the United States live alone? What is it about our society that has encouraged the elderly population to live alone and without the vital familial support that is so often necessary for people who are reaching their golden years? Elderly people in the United States are one of the most vulnerable groups of people who have traditionally been marginalized. They are viewed as weak individuals because they are no longer able to physically work for pay. Many of them choose to live alone yet suffer in isolation because of the lie they have been sold. According to the symbolic interactionist theory, if independence is the ultimate reward for a lifetime of achievement, surely remaining independent and alone is preferable to living with loved ones. The elderly person does not want his or her social networks to believe the elderly person is weak. Isolation is preferable to dependency and being a burden upon another individual or family.
Fifty years ago, the typical American family included a mother, father and their children. However today, “One in every four children in the United States are being raised by a single parent. Experts point to a variety of factors to explain the high US figure including a cultural shift toward greater acceptance of single parent rearing.”(Armario). As these numbers continue to rise due to modern day ideas and the increasing divorce rate, the children of single parents struggle. “Today 41% of all births were to unmarried women.”(Hymowitz). Single parent families have a detrimental effect on the psychological development of children because single parent families lack financial stability and quality parenting, in addition to lacking a stress free environment.