Changes in the American Family
Changes in the American Family Tena Tyner OMM 612 Managing in Social Change Dr. Stephanie Lyncheski 09/03/2012
Over the past 40 decades the American family structure and the very basic makeup of the family has changed. No longer does the nuclear family exist. The nuclear family has been considered the "traditional" family since the 1950 's. The nuclear family consists of a mother, father, and the children. Prior to the 1950s many family consisted of several children because the children were often utilized in the family business, tending crops, and overall contributed to the financial well being of the family.
The two-parent family has become less important and what have prevailed in its place are homosexual relationships, single-parent households, adopting individuals, and extended family systems. Now days when there is a nuclear family they are choosing to have fewer children than the traditional nuclear family of the 1950s and 60s. If all you did was watch television commercials you might think that the traditional All-American family was still intact -- Mom, Dad, dog, and the 2.5 kids buckle up and drive off every day on TV. But the television ads are either selling aspirations or guilt: This is the family you 're supposed to have, supposed to want.
In 2012 families are single moms, they 're stepfamilies, they 're boyfriends and girlfriends not getting married at the moment, they 're foster parents, they 're two dads or two moms, they 're a village. Today’s American family is richly diverse and getting more so every single day. The year 2000 marked the first time that less than a quarter (23.5 percent) of American households were made up of a married man and woman and one or more of their children - a drop from 45 percent in 1960. My personal family consists of myself, my children, my
Over the past 40 decades the American family structure and the very basic makeup of the family has changed. No longer does the nuclear family exist. The nuclear family has been considered the "traditional" family since the 1950 's. The nuclear family consists of a mother, father, and the children. Prior to the 1950s many family consisted of several children because the children were often utilized in the family business, tending crops, and overall contributed to the financial well being of the family.
The two-parent family has become less important and what have prevailed in its place are homosexual relationships, single-parent households, adopting individuals, and extended family systems. Now days when there is a nuclear family they are choosing to have fewer children than the traditional nuclear family of the 1950s and 60s. If all you did was watch television commercials you might think that the traditional All-American family was still intact -- Mom, Dad, dog, and the 2.5 kids buckle up and drive off every day on TV. But the television ads are either selling aspirations or guilt: This is the family you 're supposed to have, supposed to want.
In 2012 families are single moms, they 're stepfamilies, they 're boyfriends and girlfriends not getting married at the moment, they 're foster parents, they 're two dads or two moms, they 're a village. Today’s American family is richly diverse and getting more so every single day. The year 2000 marked the first time that less than a quarter (23.5 percent) of American households were made up of a married man and woman and one or more of their children - a drop from 45 percent in 1960. My personal family consists of myself, my children, my
References: Hoffman, L. (1998), The Effects of the Mother’s Employment on the Family and the Child. University of Michigan. Miller, N. (1992), Single Parents by Choice. A Grwoing Trend in Family Life. New York: Plenum Press. Prinz, C. (1995), Cohabiting, Married, or Single: Portraying, Analyzing and Modeling New Living Arrangements in Changing Societies. Brookfield: Laxenburg, Austria. Roussel, L. (1991) La Famille Incertaine. Paris: Jacob.