American Families: The Neumann Family: Two American Families

1750 Words4 Pages

Two families, the Stanleys and the Neumanns, are chosen to be documented and videotaped over a period of 20 years. Over this time between 1991 to 2011, these two american families go through what is supposed to be the american dream. This documentary is called “Two American Families.” In the documentary, the Neumann family is shown at the beginning showing how they got here. The Neumann family is a white american family that started after the mother, Terry Neumann, and the father, Tony Neumann, were married nearly a decade earlier. At that time Tony “he made pretty good money when we were first married, you know, for a young couple with one little one on the way” (Frontline Video, 2013.) That child was Daniel. Daniel, the oldest of the 3 children, was also the first to see the …show more content…

The Neumann children even offered to sell their personal items to help their parents.Not only that but divorce became a thought in their family as things weren’t being fixed. In the video, the children in the Stanley family are shown doing yard work as a business. Although the ideal type to this is most likely that they won’t make that much but it’s still a hope. They were happy to be doing the “dirty work” (Gans, 1971) as it would help their family pull through the crisis. While the Stanley family was pulling, the Neumanns were having troubles (still around 1990s) as their children were being set with the norm of having their parents or one of their parents never home. At this time, socialization between the kids of both families and their parents decreased, dramatically affecting how they learned, thought, talked, and translating ideas to

Show More
Related

  • Effects of Changing Times on Families Explained in "The Changing American Family" by Beam and "The American Family Is No More" by Bidwell

    556 Words  | 2 Pages

    "The Changing American Family" by Cris Beam and "The American Family Is No More" by Allie Bidwell. Both of these articles are explaining how the traditional American family has changed and that there is no traditional American family anymore. These articles all explain how times have changed and families are growing more diverse and no longer follow the trends the once followed. While the article by Cris Beam was more based of statistics and how much things have changed, Allie Bidwell's article still had the same bottom line main idea. Both authors’ views were essentially the same and made the same arguments.

    Read More

  • Sociological Theory: The Evolution Of Television Shows

    144 Words  | 1 Pages

    Throughout the evolution of television shows, one thing that is evident in them is that the families follow some sort of sociological theory. By observing these shows, it is easy to perceive what the struggles and achievements these families may experience. Specific examples of television families that display a sociological theory is: Switched at Birth showing conflict theory, Full House presenting symbolic interactionalism, and finally, The 100 which showcases feminist theory. In all of these shows, the families involved each go through their own issues with themselves and each other as well as barriers that may get in the way of their success. Analyzing families through the sociological perspectives open up opportunity for people to better

    Read More

  • Analysis Of The American Family By Stephanie Coontz

    1138 Words  | 3 Pages

    Today 's generation have changed many ways since the beginning of the century. In “The American Family”, Stephanie Coontz discusses many situations that has occurred during the beginning of the 21st century and suggested solutions to solve those issues in the future. For instance, she argued that women are being treated unfairly, family are not discussing their problems openly, and institutions need to change to fit the families’ requirement. In “Complexity of Family Life among the Low-Income and Working Poor” Patricia Hyjer Dyk, argued that women still doesn’t have enough choices, low income families doesn’t have enough jobs, and Government are not helping many families. Dyk’s review of the scholarly research on low-income families support Coontz’ evaluations of the problems faced by 21st century families and the solutions Coontz recommends, like improving women 's lifestyle, discussing problems openly, improving institutions and changing institutions so it can to fit to fulfil families need. .

    Read More

  • The American Family By Stephanie Coontz Summary

    1511 Words  | 4 Pages

    It’s not easy to build an ideal family. In the article “The American Family” by Stephanie Coontz, she argued that during this century families succeed more when they discuss problems openly, and when social institutions are flexible in meeting families’ needs. When women have more choices to make their own decisions. She also argued that to have an ideal family women can expect a lot from men especially when it comes to his involvement in the house. Raymond Carver, the author of “Where He Was: Memories of My Father”, argued how his upbringing and lack of social institutions prevented him from building an ideal family. He showed the readers that his mother hide all the problems instead of solving them. She also didn’t have any choice but to stay with his drunk father, who was barely involved in the house. Carvers’ memoir is relevant to Coontz argument about what is needed to have an ideal family.

    Read More

  • Frontline Documentary: Two American Families

    1029 Words  | 3 Pages

    With a large family such as the Stanleys, financially supporting everyone in the family is difficult with a stable economy, let alone during a period of struggle (Frontline Video, 2013). During this time, the middle class was in poverty, meaning people in poverty originally, are far financially worse (Frontline Video, 2013). The father, Claude, was a pastor (Frontline Video, 2013). The mother, Jacki, made efforts to find work (Frontline Video, 2013). She spent most of her time helping her husband run the church (Frontline Video, 2013).

    Read More

  • Full House In American Culture

    495 Words  | 1 Pages

    Though not immune to criticism, Modern Family and Full House still claim glimpses of societal pressure when showing aspects of the “American family.”

    Read More

  • Blended Families In The 1970's

    1247 Words  | 3 Pages

    Americans love their television, and television loves the American family. Since the 1970’s, the depiction of the American family on television has gone through many changes. In the 70s, the Brady Bunch showed an all-white nuclear family. Today, Modern Family, shows a family of blended races, ages, and sexualities. For thirty years, the sitcom family has reflected the changing society of its time and there is no exception of this for the families in The Brady Bunch and Modern Family. The lifestyle, social aspects, and economics situations of the Bradys and the Pritchett-Dunphys are similar in their attempts to portray the lives of families of their time, but differ drastically in the types of families they represent. The characters in Modern

    Read More

  • Raising The American Dream In The Short Documentary, Two American Families

    807 Words  | 2 Pages

    Both the Neumann's and Stanley's raised their families in the city of Milwaukee during bad and great economical times in our country. In the beginning of the documentary “Two American Families” the very first words said by Terry and Tony Neumann was “I want my kids to grow up to be good kids.”. Thats what its all about for most people, their family is the most important thing to them. Everything they do is for them, to take care of your spouse and children and raise them to be better. We live in the inevitable, sometimes things are good for the moment then it can all change in a blink of an eye. Both families made life changing decisions when things were going good for them at that time, but it would all soon change for the

    Read More

  • Two American Families Essay

    788 Words  | 2 Pages

    For example, with the Neumanns, the children started to come to the house alone without their mother caring for them like she used to. As the children reach their teenage years their moods started to change and so did their grades. In adulthood, the boys started to work odds jobs because they had children at young ages, which cause them to drop out of high school. The daughter decided to get a stable job with benefits because she wanted to avoid dealing with the same struggles her family had. The Stanleys children had a different outcome. When the children took notice of the mother and father financial problems the boys decided to get a job in landscaping to help out. The eldest son graduated from high school and proceeded to go to college, which took all the families income and left the other kids without support. Cherlin describes this effect as the limits of kin networks meaning that the induvial income must be shared with the other family members. The mother and father paying for the son’s education cannot give money to the other kids. So the other kids looked for odd jobs or joined the military. In adulthood, the daughters have kids and struggle to make money. The son goes overseas for a job to avoid financial instability that his parents had in the U.S. The college son works at a good job with benefits but is still afraid that he might end up like his mother father, so he decides to work odd jobs

    Read More

  • Nuclear Families In The 1950s

    403 Words  | 1 Pages

    “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

    Read More

  • Sociology: Dramatic Changes To the American Family

    1018 Words  | 3 Pages

    Families have changed greatly over the past 60 years, and they continue to become more diverse.

    Read More

  • The American Family Life During The Progressive Era

    529 Words  | 2 Pages

    In June of 1904, as reported in the New York Times: Come on out here, Hattie, and give us a tune, It was “Billy” Snyder, keeper of the elephants in the Zoological Gardens, Central Park, New York, who spoke nonchalantly and in his most ordinary tone of voice, while twenty children craned their necks wondrously across the railing. It was “Hattie” the champion trick elephant of the world and the great pet of the children of New York City. Youngsters surprisingly viewed these otherwise threatening, menacing creatures as friends. It would seem that children developed such a close relationship with the animals that each beast was given their own individual personality and characteristics.

    Read More

  • Familism: The Backbone of Mexican-American Culture

    1068 Words  | 3 Pages

    The family is the fundamental base to learn patterns associated with behavior in society. Mexican-Americans are the largest ethnic minority group in the United States. The Mexican-American culture is mostly based on traditions and values that are passed on for generations. This is one of the main cultures in which parents teach their children the same ideals, values, norms and social roles they were taught while growing up. For Mexican-American family is essential and fundamental to their culture. The role the family plays in the development of children will influence the way they will behave in the future. Usually, the family structure of this culture is based on the trait of familism. Familism is common in Mexican descendants because it highlights

    Read More

  • The Sociological Imagination, And The Uses Of Poverty: The Poor Pay All?

    1943 Words  | 4 Pages

    Throughout Society, many families have seen struggle and lived through poverty. The economy is not always thriving which takes a toll on people who suffer through unemployment or low wage jobs. The Frontline documentary, “Two American Families”, is the perfect example of struggle in the United States. It shows the lives of two struggling families and their efforts to survive. Two essays, “The Sociological Imagination” by C. Wright Mills, and “The Uses of Poverty: The Poor Pay All” by Herbert J. Hans, support the analysis of the video strongly. They express many ideas that relate to the world and struggle throughout society. Also, there are many sociological terms that depict the events that occurred in the documentary.

    Read More

  • The Destruction of Family in 1984

    453 Words  | 1 Pages

    The family unit of Oceania in George Orwell’s book, 1984, plays an important part to society. These families are broken rather than households of affection and comfort. Oceania’s government, called the Party, controls the families in every aspect. With these non-existent families, there is a cycle of breaking down of family and a stronger Party as times passes until a there is force strong enough to end it. These families that lead to corruption in society should be avoided in order to prevent a totalitarian government from rising.

    Read More

More about American Families: The Neumann Family: Two American Families

Open Document