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The effect of family on society
The effect of family on society
American families past and present comparison
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The American society has lived with the European American middle-class family structure that has created different living expectations. The European American middle-class family structure has led people to become judgmental and alienated to reality when referring to the family. The ideal European American meaning of family structure is based on the white people. The definition of the ideal family is a couple who live together with their children; only one individual is the head of authority. It is impossible for everyone in the United States to have the same living circumstances as the idealized white people. When America adopted this ideal family structure it became a problem in our social world creating. This created barriers that eventually …show more content…
lead people to accept this ideal social structure or else to be looked down on. As a result from the problems that aroused from having a white ideal family leads to many differences; such as homosexuality, cultures, economic status, co-residence, marital status, and gender roles. All these elements create an unrealistic expectation in society that people should follow otherwise labeled as dysfunctional. The American society lives with the expectations of having an ideal middle-class family structure that excludes people who are considered to be different. They are considered different based on the concept of ideal family. The ideal family consists of a household of both sexes that live together. The ideal family excludes homosexuals based on the social norms. Homosexuals are looked down for being different and are considered unusual. These homosexual hide their real identity and front because they are afraid of being rejected. Homosexuals create a front from their true identity because they want to protect themselves from judgments and being considered outsiders. This is because they do not fulfill the American middle-class family structure. Maureen Sullivan’s reading The Emergence of Lesbian-Coparent families in Postmodern Society, indicates that gays and lesbians are socially rejected, the reason they have a difficult time creating their own families. “The homosexual represents the most clear-out rejection of the nuclear family that exits, and hence is persecuted because of the need to maintain the hegemony of that concept” (Sullivan 2004;25). Society’s individuals want to portray that they are normal because sometimes they are culturally different and seen as unusual. Everyone grows up with traditions that have impacted their lives. Stephanie Coontz reading History Perspectives on Family Diversity, states that everyone culture is different, that causes people to have different family structures. The ideal family in America consist of parents providing a home for their child in which in other cultures this might be the complete opposite. “In Polynesia, eastern Oceania, the Caribbean, and the Western Indies (and in 16th-century Europe), to offer your child to friends, neighbors, or other kin for adoption or prolonged co-residence was not considered abandonment but a mark of parental love and community reciprocity”(Coontz 2000;43). This custom would be criticized and questioned if any parents in the American society. It would be considered irresponsible for giving their children away to friends or family. The ideal American family keeps their children and find a way to support them. In some cultures if the parents are not able to live with their children, it is socially accepted to find a home for them. Economics play a role in why individuals cannot live up the American ideal family structure. Financial stability is a major component in why the American middle-class family structure is problem. The problem is that not every family has the same economic status. The ideal family structure is to financially be able to live a comfortable. This leaves the man of the household the breadwinner and the woman the homemaker. Every family is different and not everyone can have only one breadwinner and one homemaker. This is because financially the couple cannot sustain themselves on one check. People having different job occupations lead to having different incomes. Coontz states that when wage labor was introduced into the American society it was a drastic change for the families. The families had a very difficult time adapting to the emerge of society, since they were no longer trading goods. Therefore, only the families who were wealthy enough to keep their children at home did not engage in any labor. The poor families had to send their children to work, since money was necessary to survive. The poor people also had to work as servants for rich families. The rich were able to financially pay for these labor services. “First, they make it clear that families have always differed and that no one family form or arrangement can be understood or evaluated outside its particular socioeconomic context and relations with other families”(Coontz 2000;55). People do not only have different economic status but also found delicacy when dealing with financial changes. Coontz indicates in the article that families are vulnerable and fragile to economic change causing them to need support (2000;56). In order for some families to be able survive at times they had to live with other families which is known as co-residence. Living a co-residence with other families does not fall into the concept of the ideal middle-class family structure. This is where people clash when attempting to live up to societies norms. People living together consider themselves family but the American ideal middle-class family structure does not imply that this is a characteristic of a family foundation. Family is portrayed as having heterosexual couples living together suggesting that they are married and then gender roles are implied.
The family structure portrayed excludes certain families that do not live in a two-parent household. Each family has a different structure and environment. American culture suggests that families have two-parent household. Today there are single parents, stepfathers, stepmothers, homosexual and adoptive parents that are seen as not normal because society expects to have a two-parent heterosexual household in which a family structure is created that are able to reproduce children. The perspective of the ideal family structure is difficult to fulfill since not everyone has the same living circumstance. Stephanie Coontz in her article The American Family and the Nostalgia Trap, she describes different family circumstances that contradict the ideal family structure. She explains the struggle of single mothers that lead them to go on welfare in order to be able to provide for their children. Shirley A. Hill states “Single-mother families became a major predictor of poverty and welfare dependency, and poverty rates in Black single-mother families were considerably higher than in White single-mother families”(Hill 2006;84). The ideal family structure the mother does not worry about working because the father provides for her children and herself. This structure is a problem because not everyone is allowed to live the way they wish. Family structure portrays roles that males are in power and the women are submissive. The women are expected to stay at home to clean, cook, and care for the children. The men are supposed to be working bringing in the money to financially support the family. Women grow up being cared by their mothers and through that relationship they learn to have a strong relationship in which they later carrying the characteristics of a caregiver. Boys are raised by their mothers as well but are taught to be strong, fearless
and individualized. Barbara J Risman in her reading Gender Vertigo: American Families in Transition, (1998) claims that family has gender inequalities that makes a conflict in the household. Gender roles implied in the ideal family is problematic to follow because roles are constantly changing. “Individuals not only change over their lifetime, they also can change from moment to moment”(Risman 1998;2). This is important because women are no longer staying home waiting for their husbands to come but instead are working on their own careers and a fieldwork because they cannot afford to stay at home. Women roles have been slowly changing and evolved leading them to value that they can be more than just homemakers. Some families no longer have stay at home moms, leading to the breaking of traditional culture, Based on the European American middle-class family structure my own personal family experience has contradicted the idealized concepts of the family. My parents cohabitated and had a baby before marriage. My parents both had to work in order to make enough money to support all their four children. They had divided all the house responsibilities, for example my dad took my sisters and I a shower while my mother cooked. My family would co-residence with my uncle and his family. We would all consider being one big family since it was economically better for both our families. With all these characteristics my family would not fall into the category of an ideal European American middle-class family structure. An alternative model that I would suggest for an ideal family structure is that people do not to be biologically related. The family does not need to have a partnership in which they are sexually active. The family can either have a heterosexual or homosexual relationship. Marriage is not an element needed for the family foundation. Gender roles in which responsibilities should be taken acre of would not be implied and both of the partners can pursue a career and work. Equal power and responsibility would be given to the heads household. Not excluding any individual that might be different everyone has a right to live how they want and with who they want and still be considered a family. The historical views of the family and theories of the family has helped answer this question because knowing the history and evolution of the family helps understand that not everyone is the same. Therefore the idealized European American middle-class family structure is a problem for our society because no matter what every individual is different sexuality, economically, marital status, and culture influence. All these readings explain how diverse the society is and how the family cannot be defined as the European-American middle class family.
“Leave it to Beaver” was a popular sitcom about a traditional nuclear family played out through the perspective of an adolescent boy whose curiosity and antics often got him into trouble (TV.com). Despite the show promoting positive family values, it also inadvertently shed light on a historically dark period of time in American history. One such instance was the lack of diversity on the show. Nearly 100% of the show’s characters were white throughout the six-season, 234 episode series. In the single episode that depicted an African-American, the character was a servant, further a reflection of the times when African-Americans where predominantly seen and treated as second-class citizens (Leaveittobeaver.org). However, this 1950’s ideal serves as a reference point to what typical families looked like and how vastly different they look now.
Talcott Parsons and Robert Bales, two of the leading figures in sociology, may be considered the founding fathers for the ideas of the “modern family” and the “male-breadwinner family.” Collectively, their work has influenced how Americans analyze families and has sparked new ideas regarding the American family from sociologists such as Stephanie Coontz and Arlie Hochschild. However, when studying the American family, Parsons and Bales fail to understand that the “ideal” family may not be so ideal for everyone. They neglect to consider societal influences and economic changes when discussing patriarchal social norms as the most optimal family structure. Their description of the male-breadwinner family consists of the father being the “instrumental leader” within the home, providing economically for his family based on his occupational earnings. Meanwhile, the mother is considered the manager of the household, providing for her husband and children physically, emotionally, and mentally.
As gender roles were enhanced, the nuclear family was birthed. This ideal family, mainly portrayed in popular culture, had a working father, homemaking mother, and children. Television shows depicting this type of household, Leave it to Beaver, and I Love Lucy, were not representative of the reality of America. Not all of Americans were white, and not all women were happy living as housewives (Boyer 101). Although most did not fit the mold
In conclusion this paper has shown my perceptions on the described topics. I have identified why the family is considered the most important agent in socialization. I explained the dramatic changes to the American family and what caused them. I explained the differences in marriage and family. I expressed my feelings on the trend of diverse families, and how a change in trends to traditional views would change women’s rights.
The present structure of the average family in America is changing, mainly due to the growing number of mothers who now work outside the home. The current mark of dual-earner families stands at 64 percent, making it a solid majority today. This alteration of the "traditional" structure of the family is a channel for other changes that may soon occur.
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.
As century pass by generation also pass their traditional values to the next generation. some people still think the way their ancestors thought and believe in what they believed in. During the beginning of 1890 people couldn’t have premarital sex, women had to be the caretaker while men was the breadwinner. during this century those perspective have changed argued Stephanie Coontz the author of “The American Family”. Coontz believe women should have more freedom and there should be gender equality. Robert Kuttner, the author of “The Politics of Family” also believe that women should not be only the caretaker but whatever they want as a career. Robert Kuttner 's text does support Stephanie Coontz’ arguments about the issues related to traditional
Depictions of families in the 1950s were extreme in a myriad of ways. The notion of a “nuclear family,” in which a husband, wife and their children were considered the smallest unit of our society, became incredibly popular. Husbands and wives each seemed to have particular roles and duties from which they couldn’t stray. The husband, of course, was a working man responsible for bringing money to the household. His wife worked on something else: their household itself. She cleaned, cooked, and decorated. She bought groceries and clothing for everybody. She watched their children, fed them, and took care of them. In the 1950s, advertising advocated these roles and these roles alone: straying from them was rather unthinkable. The “nuclear family” had a facade of perfection, hiding any troubles within. To challenge it was to ostracize oneself. More than half a century later, notions of family have loosened considerably, but the influence of the 1950s lives on. In the attached advertisement from 2011, Coca-Cola supports its consumeristic goals by presenting a modern twist on classic 1950s family ideals via a brazen acceptance of the negative effects of its products.
This theory focuses on stability rather than, change. There are many disadvantages of this theory. This theory fails to analyze inequalities, and is very broad. This theory has also been criticized for enforcing a male-dominated society. Structural functionalists thought that breadwinner-homemaker families “provided the basis for stability and cooperation”, which lead to successful families (Cohen, 17). In transnational families and other families, the function of family members is shaped by their gender, which can lead to unrealistic expectations. When fathers, or mothers are absent for a period of a child’s life, it drastically impacts the dynamic of a
Society seems to have many different opinions when it comes to relationships and families and what is ideal. The ideal family may not exist anymore. We now have in our society families that are complete that do not necessarily contain the traditional material. The traditional family, as society would see it; usually consist of a married, mother and father and usually children. Moms are supposed to stay at home while dads work the forty-hour a week job. However, in our 2003 world, families exist in a lot of non-traditional ways. A lot of families now consist of single parent families, or same sex parents and their children, or even couples that are unmarried but live together. And even now, if a family contains what society sees as traditional as far as having a mom, dad, and kids, other aspects are not traditional anymore. Women now have more opportunity in the workplace than they have ever had, therefore, many moms are career moms and dads are sometimes staying at home. Years ago, these types of families were given labels for being dysfunctional or abnormal, however, this label is not holding up as well as it did years ago. There are many non-traditional families that are raising children in a loving, nurturing home with a substantial amount of quality love. Quality is the key in any relationship between anyone. Society is finding out that it is not the traditional image that makes a loving family, but the quality of a relationship that people give to each other is what really makes a family. In the essay "The Myth of the "Normal" Family", written by Lousie B. Silverstein and Carl F. Auerbach, they make references to the cultural idea of what a "normal" family should be and what i...
The changing of American families has left many families broken and struggling. Pauline Irit Erera, an associate professor at the University of Washington School of Social Work, wrote the article “What is a Family?”. Erera has written extensively about family diversity, focusing on step-families, foster families, lesbian families, and noncustodial fathers. Rebecca M. Blank, a professor of economics at Northwestern University, where she has directed the Joint Center for Poverty Research, wrote the article “Absent Fathers: Why Don't We Ever Talk About the Unmarried Men?”. She served on the Council of Economic Advisors during the Clinton administration. Andrew J. Cherlin, a professor of sociology at Johns Hopkins University wrote the article “The Origins of the Ambivalent Acceptance of Divorce”. She is also the author of several other books on the changing profiles of American family life. These three texts each talk about the relationship between the parent and the child of a single-parent household. They each discuss divorce, money/income they receive, and the worries that come with raising a child in a single-parent household.
A single parent household is a house with only one parent and one or multiple children. Single parent households are becoming very common in all racial and ethnic groups because it is no longer required for people to be married before they have children. Most households only have one parent because of divorce, never being married, separated, widowed, or because of business. The most common are, separation, divorce and just simply never being married. In these cases it is usually the mother who is the single parent. It is not too often that you see a father taking care of their child by themselves. This is usually because they do not know how, or they simply do not want to take care of their child. Statistics show that family structure has a big impact on certain characteristics of a child such as their attitude and level of respect. Children tend to be less respectful to people because they do not respect the parent who is not around. In many cases a child may become depressed living with only one parent causing them to get out of control and do things that they shouldn’t. Sometimes the child may feel like they are incomplete leaving them to do crazy things to find what they feel like they are missing. often times the child feels that they are the reason their parents are not together.
Nothing is a better experience for a parent than watching their child grow into who they were taught to be. It turns out that 66% of parents intend to and do raise their children with the same life lessons, good or bad, that they were exposed to when they were young (Murray). Raising a family requires values, which evolve into ethics, and are crucial to a successful family. This shows that values are what keep the family in their desired lifestyle. Diversity of values in American families, through morals and tradition, is key to what makes this country so unique.
Some children may be less fortunate in a two-parent household because only the father or mother is working. Single-parent homes have much stress with one person taken care of multiple children. “Households with two parents tend to have more money and some less tangible benefits, including less stress, more involvement from grandparents and less unexpected change”(Leonhardt). Children growing up in a two-parent home will grow older not knowing how to manage their household because everything done for them. Unlike children growing up in a single-parent home, more than likely being raised by their mother will be easier to them from their experience. Seeing their mother struggle hard but always got things done was a great motivation for both male and female. The boys will grow into looking for a woman that’s hard working like his mother. A female, on the other hand, will feel independent enough to not need any man’s help after watching her mother stay
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.