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Differences between families in the past and now
Family structures in previous generations
How have family dynamics changed over time
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What are family values? One hundred years ago I feel this would have been an easier question to answer than it is today. Changing family structures and social norms have created a more fluid form of what we envision as a family. Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary defines a family as both “a group of persons with common ancestry” and as “a group of individuals living under one roof.” As we have discussed in class, a family is not simply nuclear anymore. In the stories we have read we have examined nuclear, single-parent, extended, and community-based families. All of which held the same feeling of importance and love for the people in it. With every family being unique, each holds their own set of beliefs or values which poses the question, what …show more content…
There was an article in The New York Times called “The Changing American Family” by Natalie Angier that illustrates this point. The writer discussed the way in which the typical family structure has morphed into the many versions that can be seen today. Through her research, Angier noted that “anthropologists have traditionally used the term ‘fictive kin’ to separate such relationships from ‘true’ kinship based on blood or law, but many researchers have recently pushed back against that distinction, arguing that self-constructed families are no less real or meaningful than conventional ones.” (23) Personally, I think that if someone acts like family, then they become my family. These “fictive kin” do not exist to me. The title of a family member must be …show more content…
In the last seven years, I have transitioned from a nuclear family to a single parent family to, now, a blended family with a stepfather and stepbrother. All of this while having a self-constructed extended family. In the article, Angier also examined a study that was published in 2010 that interviewed 110 people with ‘voluntary kin.’ The study “found that for some people, voluntary kinship filled a void left by death or estrangement from biological family, while for others the relationships were supplemental or temporary” (23). This also refers to the malleability a family can have. There are so many ways a family can lose members over time such as with death and estrangement, but this quote speaks to the ways ‘voluntary kin’ are included. Sometimes people are added to a family to fill a void lost from another person that has passed away or become estranged. Other times, people become family just from continually being around for one
The idea of “family” is almost entirely socially constructed. From grandparents, to friends, to wives and fiancés, the means by which we decide who is related to us and who is not is decided by the person and their milieu. In Mignon R. Moore’s “Independent Women: Equality in African-American Lesbian Relationships”, Eviatar Zerubavel’s Ancestors and Relatives: Genealogy, Identity and Community, and Franz Kafka’s The Judgement, this idea is tested. Who do we consider close enough to us to share our most intimate details and how do we choose them? Each piece offers a different view, which is the “right” way for each of the people described, whether broad (as in Zerbavel’s reading) or specific (as in Moore’s reading), but there are also many similarities in the ways family is defined and actualized.
In the essay “Supporting Family Values,” Linda Chavez makes a case for allowing illegal immigrants to stay in the U.S. because they bring with them a stronger sense of family values than native-born residents do. In addition to Chavez’s arguments, it is important to note that they also bring with them a desire to work and support those families. While many immigration opponents would argue that immigrants are a drain on our public resources and have higher crime rates, the facts show that many illegal immigrants pay their fair share of taxes, many more would if given the opportunity, and the crime rates are lower.
Richard Rodriguez was an established author of the 1980’s and 90’s. In his article titled Family Values (1992) he questioned the integrity and overall opinion of the American family system. Family Values uses the contexts of social and political ideologies to achieve its goals. His overall message with this argument is the competing types of family values and their application in real world settings. In this expository article, Rodriguez relies on his ability to weave pathos and ethos into a well-written argument that captivates his audience and encourages them to question the average American family system.
Barbara Katz Rothman, professor of sociology, once said "Birth is not only about making babies. Birth is about making mothers strong, competent, capable mothers who trust themselves and know their inner strength." This illustrates clearly the symbol of the mothers in this society. This symbol could also shape people’s thinking about mothers. I totally agree with her assessment. For instance, I believe that everyone is using his or her own symbols during social interaction, such as languages, gestures and other sign language. In another way, this is called symbolic interactionism.
What's important to note is that family, or even the concept of family itself, doesn't appear in any of those ideals. Holmes and Holmes (2002) observed that “The family reunions of yesterday are now rare, and when they occur they are often a source of stress.” (p. 19) That quote solidifies one reason why family interaction today is: “It’s just too stressful, so we avoid it. Where does marriage fit into our culture of individuals?
A family is a group of people who love, respect, and help one another no matter the circumstances. Family members are not confined to people you are related to or have married; they can include friends, acquaintances, etc. In this second paragraph on page 283, Howard states, “If our relatives are not, do not wish to be, or for whatever reason cannot be our friends, then by some complex alchemy we must try to transform our friends into our relatives.” This shows that blood relatives should come first in the matter or family, but there are circumstances in which this is untrue. For example, there are several family members that my immediate family, consisting of my mother, father, and myself, no longer associate with, nor do we plan to. My aunt (my mother’s sister) recently started heavily drinking alcohol again. This causes her to become volatile and vicious, and consequently takes it out on everyone who tries to assist her. She began to yell at my mother for no reason and called her a plethora of rude names accompanied by several cuss words. I found out about this rampage on my own and wanted to make her realize what she was doing was wrong, so I told her that she had no right to call my mom any of these names. We got into a bit of an argument, and she took it all out on my mother yet again. My uncle heard of this news and took my aunt’s side, fully understanding the entire story. Needless to say, we refrain from speaking to them for fear of them causing more drama. As Howard suggested, we have made friends with our neighbors and have adapted them into fitting in with our definition of family. We love them, we respect them, and we help them on a daily basis.
Jeannette Walls reluctantly wrote Glass Castle in an attempt to show that even those with very different backgrounds and cultures really aren't all that different after all. Walls wrote of ridiculous situations and her experiences while growing up with a family that lacked the regular structural culture of other families, which included qualities such as morality, integrity, and a basic knowledge and feeling of obligation to follow the law of the land. Her parents both held values that were unique to each one of them as they lived their lives strongly expressing, through actions and words, that the normal values of other people simply weren’t right. Jeanette’s parents, though unconventional, were just as loving, if not more loving towards their kids as other parents. I think the reason the family was so strange, was simply because of the parents’ values that they taught their kids. The values your parents raise you with can greatly affect your future, and who you become as a person; this is what I can relate to. I’ve become conscious of how the values I grew up on evolved into more of a belief system, if not a stubborn pride-driven ability to deny handouts or help from people. Add this characteristic of mine to the fact that my parents wouldn’t allow me to drive until I turned eighteen, the fact that I lived on an isolated
It’s not easy to build an ideal family. In the article “The American Family” by Stephanie Coontz, she argued that during this century families succeed more when they discuss problems openly, and when social institutions are flexible in meeting families’ needs. When women have more choices to make their own decisions. She also argued that to have an ideal family women can expect a lot from men especially when it comes to his involvement in the house. Raymond Carver, the author of “Where He Was: Memories of My Father”, argued how his upbringing and lack of social institutions prevented him from building an ideal family. He showed the readers that his mother hide all the problems instead of solving them. She also didn’t have any choice but to stay with his drunk father, who was barely involved in the house. Carvers’ memoir is relevant to Coontz argument about what is needed to have an ideal family.
The family is a very complex community. The family is analogical. We can say the “family is like this” or that “it’s very similar to that” but the family is different from anything else. The family is a linguistic community. Language is a must in the family. We are all born not with a specific language programmed into us but the capability and capacity to learn (this is on the assumption that the person doesn’t have any mental disabilities). The family is natural and ontological. Everyone has a mother and a father, regardless of whether they are alive, dead, abandoned etc. This is something that no will or choice can change and is a natural limit of our freedom since we cannot choose our parents. This is interesting to think about because it is 100% true. No matter how much we want to change it, our biological parents cannot be
Typically when we think of families, the traditional nuclear and extended family who are biologically related may come to mind. However, a family can be made up of anyone a person considers to be their family. A family shares emotional bonds, common values, goals and responsibilities. Family members contribute significantly to the wellbeing of each other. Confident children tend to come from strong, united families. Good communication within a family encourages feelings of self-worth and helps children maintain good relationships with others. A closeness with extended family members like aunts, uncles, cousins, and family or childhood friends helps give the child a sense of security and a source of love and acceptance. In Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein
A family might include anyone related by blood or by adoption such as: step parents, grandparents acting as parents, and even brothers and sisters sharing the same household. However, worldwide “the family is regarded as the most ba...
When the word “family” is discussed most people think of mothers, fathers, and other siblings. Some people think of grandparents, aunts, uncles, and even cousins and more on the pedigree tree. Without family in people 's lives they would not be the same people that they grew up to be today and in the future. When people hear the word family they think about, the ones who will help them in any way they can whether it 's money, support, advice, or anything to help them succeed in life. Family will forever be the backbone of support. They are the ones who support their children during those life decisions. Family is not always blood related. Finally family is forever, family will never go away.
According to Genesis 1:26, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness.” In essence, this book is more focused on how God expects us, as individuals to follow in is foot step and adapt his attributes. The book ‘Principles and values for a successful family” written by Ellen G. White, it highlights certain principles, morals and values that aids in upholding a stable marriage and family. It is use as a means of helping individuals prevent marital and family conflicts throughout their life in case they arise. It portrays certain variables that each family member of a sub-system within a family should understand and respect aspects of an individual and understand that each individual is unique, they serves a purpose and their wishes should be respected. In different aspects of the book it highlights what it takes in being a successful family and how it can impact them. It demonstrates the foundation of progress, the leader influence the family and the family on a whole influence the society. So what we do and partake in as a family that will be the outcome of society whether it be negative
Different cultures have different means of expressing family trees and kinship. Bilateral, matrilineal, and patrilineal kinship are three examples of this, though not all cultures are exclusive and take aspects from each. The manner of expressing one’s kinship has great effect on family members’ roles, relations, and interactions within the family as well as in society.
Out of the numerous commodities and resources that are scarce on the planet in which we inhabit a family, or even a family system, can never be parallel to even an iota of them. This is due to the fact that everyone, no matter what age at what time period of their life, has a family. That family may not be the cookie cutter family that society imposes on the media world. People develop without knowing their family, people create new families of their own, or they can even find something or someone to call family because of this family will never be scarce. Family is an objective concept to every single person and the definition varies significantly from being as simple as the smallest of toys to as complex as a group of people interconnected