A Look into the Family The myth I have chosen is the Myth of the Monolithic Family Form. This myth is the supposed “typical” U.S. family, which consists of three elements. First the family is a nuclear unit and is separate from society and kin. Second, it consists of a mother, father, and their children, living together in their own home. Third, it exhibits a gendered division of labor, featuring a breadwinner father and a full-time wife and mother. In reality, this monolithic model accounts for less than 10% of U.S. families (Zinn, Eitzen, Wells, 2015;11-12). I have chosen this myth because it closely symbolizes my family as a whole. The first two elements of the myth is on the right track with my family as far and a nuclear unit and consist …show more content…
Gender roles are culturally determined. For example, in the United States men are generally expected to be independent, aggressive, physical, ambitious, and able to control their emotions. Women are generally expected to be passive, sensitive, emotional, nurturing, and supportive. Gender roles are connected to my family history because gender roles are learned at a young age. (Sex-roles-gender-roles. (n.d.)). Women and men find themselves fitting into where they should be in a family institution. My great grandparents where known to pray and keep the family close and together. The men were known to be the protector and breadwinners for the family. Women are considered to be the nurturer, cook and show empathy. Today in my family, my mother expresses her emotions and communicates what a family should look like. On the other hand, my father is not as expressive with words. For example, my mother tells me each time we speak, she loves me, but my father shows he love me and seldom use the words he love …show more content…
This development was not uniform and there has not been one real defined family form in the U.S. (Hawes and Nybakken, 2001:1-2). The nuclear family consists of a father, mother, and children living together in their own home. The middle-class nuclear family might have been the idealized family form, but it has never been universal. Social history is new in several ways. Instead of highlighting wars, revolutions, diplomacy, and other dominant events, social historians are interested in uncovering “what history mostly is: masses of people doing ordinary things” (Bryson, 2011:7). Conclusion Family plays a big part in my household. My family I consider has a lot of similar characteristics to the Monolithic Family Form. The only characteristic that I don’t see in my family is the mother being a household wife and staying home with the children. Both of my parents have jobs and still manage to actually be a family and have family time. Also they find time to do household
The American family is constantly undergoing changes. In the early 1600s, the Godly Family was the prevalent family structure of the first Europeans who immigrated to the United States (Aulette, 2010). Until 1780, families were strictly patriarchal with a male head of the family, who supervised “all social activities, including education, health care, and welfare”, and insured the family’s self-sufficiency within its community (Aulette, 2010). Following this form, the Modern Family and its sub-categories, the Democratic Family and the Companionate Family, were the dominant family structures until the 1970s (Aulette, 2010). Throughout the course of almost 200 years, families evolved into more private institutions aside from the community, women withdrew more and more from physical work on the family’s property and concentrated on their designated occupation as a mother, caregiver and housewife. Men were still the head of the family in terms of pursuing an occupation to financially provide for the family’s needs. During this time, gender-specific roles within the family were reinforced, which are still partially in effect in today’s society and family structure. Since the mid-20th century, the American family seems to be changing more rapidly than ever, partially because of the influences of the Great Depression and World War II, which led to the remarkable baby boom of 1946 to 1964. Not only did the year of 1970 mark the beginning of the most recent stage in the history of the (European) American family, the Postmodern Family, it also was the year in which the first gay couple applied for a marriage license (ProCon.org, 2013). Even though the two men’s request had been denied back then, same-sex couples and their family structure h...
In his 1943 work, “Sex Roles in the American Kinship System,” Talcott Parsons addresses his beliefs that the individual gendered roles in the nuclear family are essential to creating a functioning family dynamic. During this time period, the United States was in between wars and working to recover from the Great Depression. These significant events greatly shaped society not only at the time, but for future generations as well. It is almost impossible for a theorist of this time, such as Parsons, not to be influenced by such drastic social conditions and changes.
Kellog, Susan and Steven Mintz. Domestic Revolutions: A Social History of American Family Life. New York: The Free Press, 1988. Print.
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.
For many years society has embraced the idea that the difference between men and women were biologically determined. Others see not only the physical but also the social, emotional and intellectual differences between males and females. Though through traditions, media, and press, we act accordingly to how others view us. Each individual has pressure placed upon them based on their genders. Our sex is determined by genetics while our gender is programmed by social customs. Gender roles by definition are the social norms that dictate what is socially appropriate male and female behavior. Some theories interpret that a woman is tender and a loving mother, while on the other hand men are aggressive and are the dominant one of the family. An individual gender role is modeled through socialization. Individuals learn the ways, traditions, norms, and rules of getting along with others. A person’s environment has a big influence on the roles deemed expectable for men and women.
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.
The American family can be defined in as many ways as there are families. For a single person, he or she may define his or her family as his or her pet. Others may define family as his or her friends, but for most people, family is traditionally defined as including his or her biological parents, siblings and immediate blood relations. The traditional American family, despite being depicted in television shows, such as Leave It To Beaver or buzzwords for marked political agendas, is a falsehood that truly never existed for the vast majority of Americans. The birth of the women’s liberation movement of the late 1960’s and early 1970’s is often held responsible for the breakdown of the “traditional” family consisting of the working father, stay-at-home
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 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.
The American family model traditionally included the mother and father with two kids, a boy and girl. In this 1950’s family model the husband is seen as the breadwinner while the mother is the homemaker. This model is exemplified in the Battleship advertisement where the father is resting from a hard day’s by work playing a board game with his son. At the same time the mother is doing the days dishes with some help drying from her daughter. Today however, these rigid stereotypical roles are no longer applicable to the members of the modern family. With increases in divorce rates and teen pregnancy combined with the shift in economic roles of the majority of families, the traditional nuclear family is a minority (Wetzel, 1990). The JCPenny
How can a simple six letter word be so complicated to define? Family is a single word that is open to many interpretations depending on the individual. If you try to condense this ideal to a single clinical definition you end up excluding numerous members of society. What comes to mind when you think of the word family? While in the most broken down and literal sense, family means a relative with a blood or legal bond, the word family can encompass blood relations, adoptions, and even intentional relationships such as friendships. Economies, cultures, and backgrounds can further differentiate what one’s perception of a family is. For many people, including me, a family is so much more. It is the amount of commitment, cohesiveness, and importance
The unit of a family is the most prominent essential for all of us. As social human beings, we seek social support in order to thrive, and that is where family comes into play. A family is where you receive love, support, encouragement, and many other social benefits. The total number of households in the United States increased from 63 million in 1970 to 113 million in 2008 (Weeks, 2012). The family has influenced multitudes of people in many ways. The traditional family in the United States consists two-married individuals providing care and stability for their biological offspring also know as the nuclear family. However, the term of a true family has ultimately changed over the last 50 years especially for African Americans.
Family structure can greatly impact the day-to-day activities of a family. A family with one parent may have a very different dynamic than one with two parents, or possibly even more parents. It is no surprise that these differences exist and families and that one’s family impacts their way of life. However, does it make a significant difference? Or is it simply a difference in how people react to their situations. That is what I wanted to learn from this assignment.
Family is the basis of life and is a basis for what a person learns as they grow into adulthood. Family Values are what your family teaches you. Family is similar to school in the fact that your family teaches you about the world and how every human interacts with others. Gender Roles are the hierarchical basis of a family; the father is the bread winner, mother makes sure dinner is on the table at eight p.m., and the children are straight A students and incredibly popular. I believe that gender roles are not influenced by family values; I believe gender roles are nothing but prejudices under a different name.
Family is the most important thing in the world a single word, with many different meaning. As the backbone of society family plays an important role in who an individual can be. The family can determine the class of an individual, the education level, and their religion. There are different types of families that have existed and some that are still present today. In the past the nuclear family was the ideal model. The nuclear family also called domesticity is characterized as, women being responsible for keeping the home and children and men being the breadwinner. It is two adults living together in a household with their own or adopted children. Another type of family is the extended family. The extended family is defined as a family group consisting of more than two generation of relatives living either within the same household or very close to one another. Grandparents, aunts, and in-laws are examples of extended families.