Families have changed considerably over the decades. When comparing the 1950’s to the 2000’s one could argue that the 00’s was a better era for families. The 2000’s families went through remarkable changes in their status and lifestyle along with how it functions. In the 2000’s there were new kinds of families accompanied by different values and norms. Furthermore, the era brought change to gender roles, social norms, marriage and in general the style of living. The 2000’s families are more ideal than the ones from the 1950’s because of the gender roles and social norms. Over the years gender roles have determined how a man and a woman should behave but in the 2000’s gender roles took a shift from those of the 1950’s. For example, “Both …show more content…
Women’s life in the 2000’s was improved. The 2000’s gave women the technology to better their situation. An example, “Can have machines do the housework and in today's world people are able to buy food in advance because there are multiple ways to keep it fresh” (Gerlt). Women no longer need to do housework by hand or buy food daily to keep it fresh because they have access to machines and there are new ways to keep food garden fresh. Women’s lives were not the only ones improved during the 2000’s, men’s lifestyle was also refined. As an illustration, “Both the man and woman had jobs to pay the bills, and they both would support their families and help raise them” (Gerlt). In the 2000’s both men and women could assist their families instead of only having the men take care of important work such as bills due to them being the only ones with a job. Unlike in the 1950’s, men in the 2000’s do not have that social pressure of being the head of the house. The lifestyle of both genders in the 2000’s was ameliorated, making that era more suitable for …show more content…
One example is the birth of children outside of marriage. For example, “Women are having fewer children, yet many children are being born outside of marriage.. and the percentage of children living with two parents has been shrinking” ("Family Life"). Although childbirth decreased, many kids were still born outside of marriages, and there is nothing fallacious about that. A child raised by a single parent still grows up just as successful as their peers because a single parent can still provide the child with all the necessities. In spite of the 2000’s creating new kinds of families some might say families were broken up. An example is the demographic trend of the era. For instance, “Showed the continuing separation of family and household because of factors such as childbearing among single parents, the dissolution of cohabiting unions, divorce, repartnering, and remarriage” (Cherlin). While the demographic trend shows the separation of families in behalf of many factors, a new variety of families emerged. As discussed before there is nothing fallacious about a child raised by a single parent, as there is nothing erroneous with a child with divorced or remarried parents because they still have both parents to take care of the essentials. To summarize, the 2000’s had a few
The 1950’s family claims to have provided more of a family-friendly economic and social environment (Coontz, 29). All the mothers were staying home it was easier for the women to have friends and make connections. More mothers could be involved with their children’s lives. Yes, in today’s society there are mothers that are still very involved in their children’s lives but it is harder for them to be. For the majority of the families in the 21st century, “it’s really fanning out into all kinds of family structures” (Schulte). Now women are working and having more independence than they ever have which have been creating all these different structures. “Many people assume dual income families are now the predominant family structure” (Schulte). The women have now taken the role to bring in some income to help support the family as well. Now the minority have the 1950’s nuclear family. There were more jobs for the men and they could support the family so that the women did not have to
Over long periods of time change is often inevitable. One such instance of change throughout history is that of family members and their role in not only the family, but also in society as a whole. Although changes can be seen in the roles of every family member, it can be argued that the role of women in the family, especially that of mothers, changed the most. Between the sixteenth century and the twentieth century, the role that mothers played in the family and in society changed greatly.
The social perception of women has drastically changed since the 1950’s. The social role of women during the 1950’s was restrictive and repressed in many ways. Society during that time placed high importance on expectations of behavior in the way women conducted themselves in home life as well as in public. At home the wife was tasked with the role of being an obedient wife, caring mother, and homemaker. Women publicly were expected to form groups and bond over tea with a slice of cake. All the while government was pushing this idealize roll for women in a society “dominated” by men. However, during this time a percentage of women were finding their way into the work force of men. “Women were searching their places in a society led by men;
Many couples in the United States idealize the myth of a “tradition family”. The idea that a woman can spend quality time with her child while maintaining an effective sexual life with her partner seemed to have caused a lot of stress during the 1950s. Coontz’s says “this hybrid idea drove thousands of women to therapists, tranquilizers, or alcohol when they tried to live up to it.” (Coontz, 569). Which explains that it is merely impossible to try to mold a family to be “ideal.” Many families still strive for a traditional life, which they define as life “back in the day.” They need to forget the past and start living in the 21st century. “Two-thirds of respondents to one national poll said they wanted more traditional standards of family life.”(Coontz, 582). Which goes to show that many families want to change to what once used to be perceived as an “ideal family” but “the same percentage of people rejected the idea that women should return to their traditional role.”(Coontz, 582). Families want to take bits and pieces from what used to be “traditional families” over time and create their own i...
As a societal unit, the family institution has become more individualized and is negatively impacting societies future. From the 1930’s to now the family has disintegrated into more and more of a single person unit. A family in the 1930’s was envisioned to be a male-breadwinning father, a doting-homemaker wife, and several children. Yet understand while the Great Depression was rolling the family structure did not change. The husband went out and looked for work, while the wife stayed home and kept the children out of trouble.
The notion of an affectionate family framed the emergence of demographic changes. Birth rates fell and the life expectancy rose. From 1900 to 1930, the median age of American citizens rose from 22.9 to 26.5 (58). The youth population from ages 15 to 24 years declined. Thus, there was a higher adult- to- youth ratio and more caretakers available to supervise children. As a result o...
Comparing its structure and function as it was in 1960 with what it had become in 1990 can highlight the dramatic changes in the American family. Until 1960 most Americans shared a common set of beliefs about family life; family should consist of a husband and wife living together with their children. The father should be the head of the family, earn the family's income, and give his name to his wife and children. The mother's main tasks were to support and enable her husband's goals, guide her children's development, look after the home, and set a moral tone for the family. Marriage was an enduring obligation for better or worse and this was due much to a conscious effort to maintain strong ties with children. The husband and wife jointly coped with stresses. As parents, they had an overriding responsibility for the well being of their children during the early years-until their children entered school, they were almost solely responsible. Even later, it was the parents who had the primary duty of guiding their children's education and discipline. Of course, even in 1960, families recognized the difficulty of converting these ideals into reality. Still, they devoted immense effort to approximating them in practice. As it turned out, the mother, who worked only minimally--was the parent most frequently successful in spending the most time with her children. Consequently, youngsters were almost always around a parental figure -- they were well-disciplined and often very close with the maternal parent who cooked for them, played with them, and saw them off to and home from school each day.
5. Noller, P., & Fitzpatrick, M. A. (1991). Markal communicafion. In A. Booth (Ed.),Contemporary families: Looking forward, looking back, (pp. 42-53). Minneapohs, MN: National Council on Family Relations.
Families have greatly evolved from the times a woman's only job was to have children so they can work on the farms. Once, women were considered a burden by their father giving a dowry to their husbands, letting the men to control the women, keeping them as a trophy wife or property. Today women are given equal treatment and can occupy any job and be the boss of many men. Families today are very have been dramatically altered over the years with the stereotypical mom and dad not being the only family dynamic. In today’s society, parents vary depending on their sexual orientation, the impact technology has played in families, and purpose a family has been altered.
With the passing of time comes the inevitable arrival of change. We see this in nearly aspect in our lives including technology, education, and especially in our relationships. One relationship that has been examined over the years is our familial relationships. The “family” of today is nothing like the “family of the 1950’s. Some of these changes have been viewed as very positive; that they show the strength and resilience of the family despite the turmoil that may arise in the world we live in. Other changes have been viewed as catastrophic for the family, to the point where people have claimed that the concept of family is on a rapid decline.
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
The film, “The Sociology of Families and Households”, examines families from a sociological perspective, as it discusses the ways in which the meaning of family has changed throughout history. To better understand how families have changed throughout several decades, the film discusses how structural functionalism, Marxist theory and feminist theory have played a role in defining what a family is, or was at that time in history. The film also examines a few key challenges facing families, such as divorce, single parent households, finding a balance between work and the family and the formation of stepfamilies. Conclusively, the film discusses how the changes in society affect how families function
Boyd, Monica and Doug Norris. “Leaving the Nest? The Impact of Family Structure.” Canadian Social Trends. 15 Oct. 1995: 14-17. SIRS. Family, 5, 58.
Life in the fifties, we can say, is different than what life has turned into today. Most couples got married in their early twenties, had children and “lived happily ever after”. The men went out and worked (the instrumental role), their salary usually covered the household expenses. The women stayed home (the expressive role), raised the children and took care of the house. Life was very simple. As time went on, the roles of the household began to shift with more and more women were entering the workforce. (Kunz 5-19) The three articles discussed present the differences and surprisingly similarities of past and present households.
During the 1920’s and 1930’s the stock market crashed and the Great Depression, family had to change their life style a bit. In What We Really Miss About the Stephanie Coontz 1950’s by Stephanie Coontz, “a bare majority of children had to come live in a family with a male breadwinner, a female homemaker and a chance to at a high school education.” Many informal separations occurred as well as having children dropped drastically families were torn apart and many youngsters left home to look for work which was often across the country. World War two was the beginning of economic recovery, people started having interest in having a family again, which marriage and childbearing began to blossom. In the 1950’s there was a lot of racism, sexism, and repression was going around as well social protest, but as the decades passed by families were changing. In today’s society family isn’t just a mother, a father, and children anymore and this is to many people not having that privilege for many different reasons. Some reasons can be that one of the parents has passed away and they have to live with just mom or dad or maybe the parents are always out working and doing other stuff so they don’t quality spending time with their kids. This can make a great impact on those children, it makes them feel incomplete, but as they get older and gain close friends they tend to start