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4.3 Family

1) The traditional American family structure and roles are changing due to women entering the workforce, declining birth rates, and adolescents gaining independence. 2) This has led to confusion over traditional gender roles and reduced stability within families as the extended kinship support system has disappeared. 3) Choosing partners based primarily on love and attraction sets up unrealistic expectations that are difficult to maintain, especially as family members' roles and values change over time in modern society.

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Jessy Romero
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81 views

4.3 Family

1) The traditional American family structure and roles are changing due to women entering the workforce, declining birth rates, and adolescents gaining independence. 2) This has led to confusion over traditional gender roles and reduced stability within families as the extended kinship support system has disappeared. 3) Choosing partners based primarily on love and attraction sets up unrealistic expectations that are difficult to maintain, especially as family members' roles and values change over time in modern society.

Uploaded by

Jessy Romero
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Social Problems: The Family

As told by Dr. Frank Elwell


The Family

In America, potential marriage partners


are free to choose their spouses.
Naturally, there are some constraints.
Some people will never have a chance
to meet because of class, regional,
ethnic, or racial differences. Also,
parents usually make their preferences
known.
The Family

 Marriage Constraints:
– Class
– Race
– Ethnicity
– Parents
The Family

However, the American norm is that


despite these constraints, love is to
conquer all, people are free to choose
their marriage partners, to "fall in love."
LUV

This emphasis on love would seem


strange to many people of the world,
where the choice of one's spouse is
often dictated by considerations of
family, wealth, and other domestic
considerations taking precedence over
love.
Basic Tenets of Romantic Love

1. Selection of marriage partners is to occur


in terms of personality traits--in terms of
mutual attraction;
2. Love can overcome problems and troubles
experienced by a couple;
3. Partners are to comprise a "oneness"--a
sense of psychological fusion.
4. Sexual bliss is inevitable between couples
who are truly in love.
LUV

The American emphasis on love is highly


compatible with a kinship system that
emphasizes the nuclear unit. It fits in
well with the needs of a bureaucratic-
industrial society.
Mobility

By casting the family adrift from close ties


with extended kinship systems,
industrial society has created an
extremely mobile population (both
physically and socially).
Mobility

Since it is the couple who must live alone,


it is appropriate for them to select each
other on the basis of such non-familial
and non-utilitarian traits as love and
compatibility.
Problems with Romantic Love

 However, this selection also poses


some severe problems:
– The romantic love system sets up some
unrealistic expectations about what family
life will be like.
– Love can often be a rather insubstantial
foundation upon which to build a lifelong
partnership.
Problems with Romantic Love

Couple this insubstantial foundation with


the internal and external conflicts on the
present American family structure, and
the wonder is not that the divorce rate is
so high, but why it isn’t higher.
Family Structure

 The internal structure


of the family is
composed of the
normative
expectations of three
status positions:
– Wife/mother
– Husband/father
– Child/adolescent
Adult Males

In general, the traditional


expectation is that
males are to be the
"breadwinners." They
are to earn enough
money to support the
family.
Adult Females

Traditionally, females were


to perform domestic
chores:
– taking care of the house,
– caring for the daily needs
of the children,
– and providing sexual
gratification for the
husband.
Children

 Obey parents
 Internalize parent’s values
Family Structure

Increasingly these traditional roles no


longer fit the needs of people living in a
hyper-industrial society. Consequently,
there is tremendous pressure on the
American family to change.
Women and the Workforce

The most powerful force for change


comes from women entering the
workforce. With two breadwinners,
some of the male role are thrust into
some confusion.
Women and the Workforce

For example, how much is the father to be


involved in daily child care and in
household chores?
Women and the Workforce

Who should change the diapers, wash


dishes, shop, transport children, and do
other traditional female activities. As
wives have entered the workforce they
have begun to recognize the drudgery
of housework.
Women and the Workforce

Many women are finding it difficult to work


full time and to perform traditional
household and motherhood roles.
Women and the Workforce

To date, most men have refused these


tasks, forcing many women to both work
outside the home and to perform most
domestic chores.
Women and the Workforce

Although the average women earns


substantially less than a man, women
are no longer as heavily reliant on their
husbands for economic support.
Women and the Workforce

Women who are newly confident of being


able to support themselves are much
more likely to abandon a marriage that
has gone sour, Husbands are also
much more likely to abandon such a
relationship.
Decline in the Birthrate

 A further infrastructural change that has


tremendous impact upon the family is
the decline in the birthrate. This change
can be traced to several sources.
– Rising costs of raising a child
– Industrialization
– More married women working
– More efficient contraception
Decline in the Birthrate

Having no or fewer children does not


place a great strain on the family unit,
but it does make it less stable. Not only
do people work at marriage more if
children are involved, but children are
often a shared interest of the couple.
Adolescence
Adolescents are in the awkward period
where biologically, at least, they are adult
but have few of the social a bureaucratic
role playing skills necessary to
participate in adult roles.
Adolescence
It is inevitable that some
parents and their
biologically mature
offspring will come into
some conflict. Especially
since the young are
increasingly socialized by
other and gaining new
experiences that are often
at variance with their
parents
Changing Roles

We are the sum total of our roles, and our


roles are constantly changing. Because
so many husbands and wives work,
they themselves are changing.
Changing Roles

You may marry a teacher in your 20s and


find yourself married to a banker in your
30s. People change values with their
jobs. "We grew apart" is one of the
most common reason given for divorce.
Coping Resources

Sources of strain are built into the


American family system. Because
industrial society demands a mobile
workforce, other kin are unlikely to be
around to shoulder household burdens,
deflect emotions, care for children, care
for aged parents, counsel adolescents,
and to otherwise help family members
to cope.
Coping Resources

The functions of the extended kinship


system have been taken over, to a large
extent, by formal service organizations
staffed by professionals, steeped in the
ideology of individualism, who have on
personal stake in the marriage itself.
Coping Resources

The glue that holds the union together is


romantic love. But romantic love is built
on fantasy, mystery, spontaneity,
bursting emotion, and surprise.
Coping Resources

When these expectations are confronted


with the garbage, the diapers, and the
weariness after a day's work, they tend
to shrivel.
THAT'S NOT ALL THAT
SHRIVELS.
Coping Resources

And when they do, millions of Americans


assume that because the "thrill is gone"
the partnership must have failed.
Functions of the Family

The American family has lost most of its


basic functions in hyper-industrial
society.
Functions of the Family
The primary function
remaining is that it
has become a
“haven from the
outside world,” the
center of our
emotional life. As
such, it has become
extremely unstable.
Functions of the Family

When it fails to live up to unrealistic


expectations of permanent bliss, people
tend to cut and run.
Family
As the functions
of the American
family change,
its structure
changes as
well, and it
becomes less
important to our
lives.
Family

Where we appear to be moving is toward


a marriage system based on serial
monogamy.

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