Today we ask ourselves, what defines a family? Will we ever be able to pinpoint one exact answer? Meanings and explanations of our past have been rightfully challenged. The family structures and dynamics that we see today have evolved great lengths from what they once were in the 1950’s. The 1950’s consisted of “standard” families.
The objective of the post war time in the 1950s was American families striving to succeed in family harmony. The goals of these generations were to strive to provide more for their children, this would create a ‘generational gap.’ Motion pictures and TV shows made the idealize picture of family harmony after the end of World War II. Peyton Place, authored by Grace Metalious, proved something else. Depicting controversial occasions that took place behind closed doors of a ‘normal’ family home in the 1950s.
While family structure has changed dramatically since the 1950’s, what current changes are we seeing; and how is it affecting the roles to which we play in a compromising world. In the 1950’s families consisted of a head of household (the Father), the house wife (or mother); and their offspring (the children). The father’s duty was to bring home the bacon, while making end meets for his family, while the wife stayed home and cared for the children, the elderly; and took on the household duties. These families usually lived in the suburbs, where they raised their children; while teaching them the proper ways of life. During this time in history, young women were expected to find a mate through persuasion, then get hitched; and eventually produce an offspring.
American family culture is much more different than family culture used to be from the 1990’s . Comparing families in American culture from the 1990's to 2000’s is very much different in the culture of American families than they are from the different times they share . so think about the purpose of what family was like to them in these two different times and compare and contrast the way of the family culture and think the purpose of the family is now. During the 1990’s families in America were happy.
During this overwhelming era, it damaged the nuclear family by the way they viewed and lived their daily social
For conservatives, especially evangelicals, the family (included extended family) is the “building blocks for Organizational life” (Ault 36) However, the liberal elites in society have redefined the traditional family, which makes many conservatives feel like their main value is being attacked. Liberal’s assert that main elements of a family should be love, feelings, communication, and sexual pleasure (between husband and wife) and equality in the private sphere. This view goes against both conservatives’ idea of the traditional family. On the equality in the private sphere, Ault argues that although traditionally men tend to the family head, woman still have an immense influence within the family, and thus society because as stated before, family is the building blocks for organizational life.
Modern Family, one of the highest rated comedy series on television, currently in its 8th year of production, follows the daily lives of a father, his two children, and their respective families. The show has received numerous awards and accolades from critics for its incorporation of comedy, parenthood, and current day issues, all in one show. The sitcom is set in Los Angeles, an ethnically diverse city known for its liberal and progressive views. Jay Pritchett depicts a rigid, middle-aged successful business executive, who after a much unhappy marriage to an apparently crazy woman, Dee Dee, is now married to his trophy wife, Gloria. They together have a young child, Joe.
This is seen when the understanding of femininity evolved from females being expected to stay at home and ensure the well-being of the family; to the present times, where women can be employed and contribute to the financial stability of the family (Langen, 2005). In this way social constructionism can be said to helpful in family therapy in that it recognises the different values and perceptions upheld in large cultural or ethnic groups, and how they help define a functional family relative to a specific time in history (Robideau, 2008). It also recognises that the meaning and interpretation of a reality is created and can be altered through conversation (Robideau,
“Thatcher’s brand of conservatism marks a sharp break from the Tory tradition, and has more in common with a nineteenth century Liberalism”. Liberalism set the main foundation of Thatcher’s policies as she started considering equality and individual freedom. However, as a result of the ideology continuity, her monetarist policy failed due to there being no new ideas. This means the concept of her overcoming the rising unemployment led to increased inequality, ironically abandoning her ideology of liberalism to begin with. Thatcherism itself represented an economic laissez-faire attitude; it represents a belief in free markets and a small state but also sends the message that rather than planning and regulating business and people’s lives, the governments job is to get out the way.
Maureen Samms-Vaughan’s article “Children Caught in the Crossfire” sends a very sensitive message to the families out there. The title encompasses the whole issue presented in the article. Vaughan creates a forum for families undergoing this issue, as well as for other families out there, to be educated about the severe consequences that the change in family structures have on children. Vaughan introduces her message by beginning with the thesis statement, “The change in family structure that children experience during their lives are not without consequences.” Even though the thesis would have been much more effective at the end of her introduction, it still helped to pave a path for the readers.
On September 23, 2009, the well-known television show Modern Family broadcasted for the first time on millions of televisions across the United States. The five-time Emmy award winning and hilarious mockumentary, or mock documentary, styled show gives an honest perspective of family life through its multifaceted characters, witty script writing, and relatable episode premises. As Modern Family enters its seventh season, the series continues to leave a tremendous effect on its viewers due to the show’s progressive themes and powerful messages. The biggest impact that Modern Family has had on its viewers is the acceptance of homosexuality. The show’s depiction of two of the main characters, Cam and Mitchell, as a regular couple rather than
The structural aspect of a family is that since laws and rights have come into fruition, it has led to an increase in couples having civil marriages and partnerships. Currently, the frequency of partners who are gay and lesbian has also increased and has therefore wilted of what was once recognised a ‘traditional family’. Parents who live on their own and taking full responsibility of their children has taken a gradual rise in and around the World, this has also the paved the way towards a lesser representation on how a traditional family would look like to a certain
Individualisation addresses choice-making where social action is progressively made by the distinctive individual. The nuclear family, of a married mother and father and their children, have certain gender roles and stereotypes attached to them. The father has always been the breadwinner of the family and the mother has the domestic responsibility of housework and taking care of the children.
“The Changing American Family” by Natalie Angier states, “Fictive families are springing up among young people, old people, disabled people, homeless people, and may well define one of the ultimate evolutions of the family concept, maximizing, as they do, the opportunities for fulfillment of specific social and economic needs outside the constraints of biological relatedness.” The ever changing social dynamics and circumstances of this life have opened the definition of family to encompass individuals who can fill those deep-seated needs
Through the socialisation of children, the family reproduces both labour power and a false ideology which keeps the capitalists system going. ‘Families thus support the concentration of wealth and reproduce the class structure in each succeeding generation (Macionis and Plummer 2002:440). Engles indicated that families turn women into the sexual and economic property of men. Woman perform unpaid work in the home that would otherwise cost a lot to those who benefit from it. Conflict theorists have seen the family as a social arrangement benefiting men more than women, allowing men to maintain a position of power.
