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The decline of traditional family is a national crisis
Decline of the traditional family structure
The relationship between work and family
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With the number of traditional families in decline, many people have questions regarding the sanctity of marriage, as well as how we define the family unit as a whole. The purpose of this report is to offer facts and opinions about working parents and their children, strength of marriage and the effects of kinship arrangements on children of modern society. When parents regulate their lives in any way, including work schedules and other career options, it is reasonable to believe that the welfare of their child could be an important part of this choice; however, such preferences are not necessarily selected “to save the traditional family” (Macionis, 2010, ¶ 8), as is suggested within parts of this week’s article. Instead, these plans could be the best option available to affordably raise their family, by reducing or eliminating the expense of daycare. While it is conceivable that some individuals want to hold on to more established methods of living at home, financial matters often determine whether a parent should spend more time with their child in place of additional hours at...
In her essay, “Win-Win Flexibility,” Karen Kornbluh explains the need for workplace changes due to changing family structures. Kornbluh explains that norms have shifted from a traditional family consisting of a breadwinner and a homemaker to what she coins a juggler family. According to Kornbluh, a juggler family is characterized by, “two working parents or an unmarried working parent” (323). By making changes, traditional work schedules can be altered to increase flexibility and better accommodate juggler families. In addition to the shift in family structures, parents are now working longer hours and have limited opportunities to take time off or change their work schedule. As a result of long, inflexible hours, many working individuals find it difficult to care for children or provide care for elderly or ill family members. Due to this, large sums of money are spent on childcare each year, and many children still do not receive the level of care that they need (Kornbluh 323).
There appears to be widespread agreement that family and home life have been changing dramatically over the last 40 years or so. According to Talcott Parsons, the change in family structure is due to industrialization. The concept that had emerged is a new version of the domestic ideal that encapsulates changed expectations of family relations and housing conditions. The family life in the postwar period was highly affected. The concept of companionate marriage emerged in the post war era just to build a better life and build a future in which marriage would be the foundation of better life. Equality of sexes came into being after...
United States Census. Who’s Minding the Kids? Child Care Arrangements: Spring 2005/Summer 2006. Household Economic Studies. 2010.
Family structure and stability have constantly evolved and been researched in aspects of sociology. Following World War II, the family ideology in the 1950’s was brought to the attention of Talcott Parsons and Robert Bales (1955) whom demonstrated how transitioning from an agricultural society to that of an industrialization one played an important role in altering family life and structure. Parsons and Bales further expressed how gender role specialization was vital in the continuous of family solidarity. The “instrumental” male father role as the leader of the family responsible for providing the income and support as the “expressive” role which is that of the female mother delivers her contribution to the family through house work and nurture
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.
The effects on individuals has thus far revealed only part of the whole picture. When focus is shifted to workers with family situations, reports are revealing that time constraints are also connected to the shared working time between parents in households, with dual-earner based households and single parents meeting intensified challenges. Among these parents, women are even today continuing to take on the biggest share of family based responsibility and caretaking. This is thus making women workers, or single fathers, feel even more pressure than their workforce counterparts who have no children. The separation between workers who have no children and mothers or fathers with caretaking responsibilities has led to yet another growing divide that demands a change in policy that will address the specific conditions of workers and their families.
In today’s society the majority of households have a family dynamic where both parents need to work. It is nearly impossible for most families in America to survive financially without two incomes. This puts many parents in a situation where they have to find extra help to watch their children while they are away at work. “These days couples face complex negotiations over work, family, child care, and housekeeping. It becomes evident that where traditional marriage through the centuries has been a partnership based on mutual dependency, modern marriage demands greater self-sufficiency” (Hekker). Day care becomes a necessity for many families, and the main concern for most parents is if the day care will be a positive experience for their children. Day care can be a positive option for parents seeking help with child care as well as developmentally for the child.
As we have learned through Skolnick’s book, as well as Rubin’s research, the make up of the family is influenced by many factors. The economy, culture, education, ethnicity/race, and tradition all help to create the modern family. The last few decades have heavily influenced the family structure, and while some try to preserve the past, others embrace the future. Through it all, we find you can have both.
Traditionally the most dominant family form in the United States has been the married couple family. The image of two parents with children living under one roof is the norm for a married couple family. In a married couple family one or both parents work and income levels are gener...
Throughout the years, societies view on marriage and cohabitation has been changing, especially from the 1950s up until now. Marriage and cohabitation are in relation to social location, education, immigration and social class. In addition, these changes are influenced through socialization and their surrounding environments as people’s beliefs and expectations vary from what a defined family really is. Same-sex couples are now getting married and the divorce rate is on the rise, including non-married couples raising children. Most importantly, each individual determines who they marry or whom they share their love with through conditioning or in the course of shared similarities. People have dissimilar values, beliefs and attitudes and throughout the life course may change again, including the future generations. This paper reviews why marriage is on the decline and cohabitation is now the accepted social norm, including other aspects such as specific rights that couples have over others in the past. Religion is a powerful tool that alters minds of those who are affiliated with it. As a result, their beliefs are conditioned and marriage is valued differently than those who are not married. All in all this paper will further explain the change, continuity and
bane, mary jo, laura lein, lydia o'donnell, and barbara wells. "Child Crae Arrangements of working parents." Johns hopkins university press, 1 october 1979. Web. 17 May 2010. .
This paper will examine sociological theories and how they relate to the social institution of the family. We typically view society as a group of people, but in sociology, society is not a group of people but a social organization. People are molded by society to fit within the accepted societal bounds. Society must be understood using “the meanings that people put on their values and beliefs” (Bartle, 2010). Within sociology there are three major perspectives. These are the Functionalist, Conflict and Interactionist Perspectives. Each perspective views society in different manners, with each being correct and relevant since social institutions are too complex to be defined by any one theory. Each perspective will be used to explain the perspectives’ relevance to the family.
Armas, Genaro C. “More children raised by stay-at-home parents.” The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. June, 2003.
We are in the midst of a major change in the way families and marriages are organized. Although research shows that non-traditional families are more common today, statics still show that traditional families provide a more stable household. A traditional family consists of a mother and father, married, and living in the same house with their biological child or children. Traditional families offer clear gender role models, their children have higher educational aspirations, and parents are more involved with their children which cause them to have better behavioral stability.
Cultural emphasis on self-fulfillment and individualism may influence parents away from the demands of parenting a large family (Morgan, 2003, p. 593). Increased career opportunities for women and the availability combine with the availability and acceptability of contraception to limit family size as well as the increased availability and acceptability of the use of daycare facilitates women working outside the home and prioritizing that over a large family and stay-at-home mothering (Macleod, 2013,