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Changes in the american family
Decline of the traditional family structure
Changes in the american family
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5. How has family structure changed since the 1950s? (MCCCD - 8, 14) What is family structure and how has it changed over the years compared to the 1950? Family structure is the support of loving family member to help care for and raise their offspring under the roof to which they live. Usually, this is by two loving parents, or grandparents to which help raise these children if parents are unable to fulfill their commitments. Though, family structure has changed tremendously over the years, I recall my parents telling me that before considering marriage you need to date first, be financially secure; then begin having a family. Basically, there was a golden rule to the values and responsibilities to which we needed to abide by when it
“In the 1950’s, 86 percent of children lived in two-parent families, and 60 percent of children were born into homes with a male breadwinner and a female homemaker” (Conley 451). In contrast, “in 1986, fewer than 10 percent of U.S. families consisted of a male breadwinner, a female housewife, and their children, a figure that has since fallen to 6 percent” (Conley 455). Modern families come in all shapes and sizes. They no longer follow the strict nuclear family layout. There are many reasons why the nuclear family is no longer the most common family type. Some of these reasons include increased divorces, increased acceptance of different sexual orientations, increased amount of couples choosing not to get married/common-law marriages, increased amount of people choosing not to have children (rise of birth control methods), increased amount of families with both parents working/needing to work, etc. Personally, I do not believe the decrease in the nuclear family model is a bad thing. By definition a family is just a group of people who are related or married/in a relationship and it can still be a healthy and well-functioning unit no matter the size or combination of people it is made up
Traditional family in today’s society is rather a fantasy, a fairy tale without the happy ending. Everyone belongs to a family, but the ideology that the family is built around is the tell tale. Family structures have undeniably changed, moving away from the conventional family model. Nowadays more mothers work outside of the home, more fathers are asked to help with housework, and more women are choosing to have children solo. Today there are families that have a mom and a dad living in the same home, there are step-families, and families that have just a mother or just a father. Probably the most scrutinized could be families that consist of two moms or two dads. These are all examples of families and if all members are appropriately happy and healthy then these families are okay and should incontestably be accepted. So why is the fantasy of the traditional family model still so emphasized in our society? This expectation is degrading and misleading. Progressing with times one ought not be criticized or shunned for being true to their beliefs. It is those living falsely, living as society thinks they should that are the problem. Perhaps as a society, if there were more focus and concern for happiness and peace within ones family and fewer worries for the neighbor then there would be less dilemma.
Walker, A.H. 1985. "Racial differences in patterns of marriage and family maintenance, 1890-1980." Pp. 87-112 in Feminism, Children, and the New Families, ed. S.M. Dornbusch and M.H. Strober. New York: Guilford Press.
In the past 50 years, The American family structure has gone though some drastic changes. Family structure includes the combination of individuals that make up a family. There are both structural and cultural factors that have influenced the structure of the American family. Specifically, there has been a decrease in family size over the past 50 years. Structural factors are institutions that influence our lives, including family, education, religion, and policies. Cultural factors are beliefs, norms, and traditions, which guide our decisions.
Kellogg, Susan and Steven Mintz. "Family Structures." Encyclopedia of American Social History. Ed. by Mary Kupiec Cayton, Elliott J. Gorn and Peter W. Williams). New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1993. 1925-1945.
The valued family structure has been the foundation for generations in history; however, the traditional American family is changing. The revolution has been influenced by the “choices people make and the constraints that limit those choices” (Benokraitis 21). The family structure is forever changing as a result of many dynamics including micro-level and macro-level influences. Fluctuations in the family unit are affected by these factors. These factors should be kept in perspective, stressing the individual choice while not neglecting the macro-level influences. Micro-level influences are personal situations such as a couple not saving money for an unplanned pregnancy. Macro-level influences are comprised of things such as economic forces,
Up until the 1960s, no one questioned the idea that the traditional family was the cornerstone of American society and essential to its very survival. A traditional family was a man and a woman, married to each other, who had children together and reared them in a community full of other such families. A family thirty plus years ago, meant Mom, Dad, the kids, and on holidays, Grandpa, Grandma, aunts, cousins, and in-laws. In those days, a man and a woman didn't just move into an apartment and live together. Occasionally it would occur, but the practice was not common, and in small town America it almost never happened.
Our definition of marriage and the family are constantly changing, thanks to things like media and politics. Television series like Gilmore Girls, Modern Family and Parenthood and the decision to recognize gay marriage nationwide are just some examples of how our society is changing. The views in the media, on television shows and in political statements are how we shape our opinions and formulate responses to the world. We are starting to see the family as more of a social unit like in Walden Two versus the nuclear family idea of the past. All of these influences have brought forward the idea that the nuclear family may not be the only way to raise a child and form a relationship, this is evident when comparing the family life of today versus the life in Walden Two.
"Families are essentially care institutions that vary across cultures and change over time. Their essential function, historically, has been to contribute to the basic economic survival of family members; thus, the structure of families often adapts to the economy, and cultural ideologies and laws are created to reinforce that adaptation."(The evolution of families and marriages, 2015)
In Western Society, over the past two decades there has been significant changes in the which the family is forming. We have seen major shifts in the demographic constitution of the family and public policy, especially in terms of their formation and dissolution. As a result of this there is far more diversity in people's domestic and living arrangements compared to how they were earlier in the centuries. It has been noticed over these recent decades that living patterns between individuals are less and less conforming appropriately to the model of the nuclear family leaving some commentators to claim the family is in terminal decline. Increases in divorce, cohabitation, births outside marriage and lone parent families all result in old certainties to family formations being questioned. (Kiernan, 1998)
There are three main paradigms, a typical example or pattern of something, in our society (Oxford Dictionaries). The three paradigms are structural-function, social-conflict, and symbolic-interaction. Each of these help us understand the patterns we see In society and in the family. The family let us see how society functions in a much smaller form. The structural- functional paradigm is “a framework for building theory that sees society as a complex system whose parts work together to promote solidarity and stability (Johnson 3).” This lets us see what it is that makes a family a family. The social-conflict paradigm shows “society as an arena of inequality that generates conflict and change (Johnson 3).” Conflict and change are certain when
The family structure refers to the combination of individuals that encompass a family. This combination of individuals most commonly comprises a mother, a father and child. The cause of the breakdown of the family structure ranges from divorce, widowhood, to children born to unwed mothers. The breakdown of the family structure is an ethical dilemma which has perpetuated poverty in America. By rebuilding the family structure, we can turn the tide on poverty in America.
The definitions of a family today and a family in the past are far from similar. The definitions may have some similarities but they have changed dramatically in many more ways. 50 years ago, families had rules that were stricter and families were closer in the sense of a relationship. Although some families today are more distant from each other and have fewer rules to maintain order, there are still some that maintain the same styles of the families 50 years ago. Families have changed a lot but still have some similarities depending on their home-life.
Early marriages and large families were dominant trends for the generation living through World War II, my grandparents included. The definition of family was simplified, a mother, father and their children. Conservative ideas such as family structure were preserved and favoured by the state. Biblical principals greatly informed the culture of families,
To thoroughly elaborate on the institution of family we most look at the family as it was before and how much it has changed over time. Throughout the years we are recognizing that the family is slowly being replaced by other agents of socialization. Families in the past consisted of a mother and a father and most times children. We are, as many societies a patriarchal society; men are usually the head of the households. This has always been considered the norm.