american family

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The American family structure has seen major changes in the ideals, values and ethics pertaining family life. The modern day family in an American societal setting does not only show a break from the ideal family values but also a significant level of democracy, individuality and independence depending from which perspective the situation is being analyzed. The modern day prevalence of single-parent headed families, the political role of women, the struggle on non-white societies in America against discrimination and racism, the feminist movements for the enforcement of friendlier policies and the definition of gender roles in the family paint a picture of the difference between the family life in America 50 years ago and the contemporary family values (Clavan, 1972). The increasing numbers of non-traditional families has been a major component on public discourse pertaining women who bear children out of wedlock. The issue however, has majorly been blamed on a number of sociological problems such as unemployment, high rates of juvenile crimes, poor health and a series of school drop-out (Lopata & Norr, 1980). The breakdown of the traditional family structure has resulted to shifting gender roles in the family institution. Women have to deal with unending challenges regarding their establishment of reliable and highly independent aspects of family life. The traditional family values are also being wiped out as a result of the ideal American woman re-establishing her position in the society and in the family structure in particular (Liao & Cai, 1995). These occurrences can be defined in the social change aspect and attributed to an array of social organizations that fought for equality and self-determination of women in societal pe... ... middle of paper ... ..., 2004). Contrary to early studies on the roles of mothers as perceived by the American society that regarded women as inferior and incapable (Wright, 1977), modernism and post modernism has resulted to varied and informed revelations of these roles that mothers play in the family context. Confining a woman to solely being a sexual object and child bearer is not only perceived as obscene, but also as wrong by constitutional terms. The established policies on the acknowledgement of women’s role in the society have propelled women to excel more in academic and career fields. The traditional ideology of mothers as purely housewives and the confinement of those mothers to motherhood have shifted to perspectives of quite capable individuals who the domestic grounds are not the limiting factors in the achievement of goals by the woman model in the society (Cherlin, 2004).

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