“The way we never were,” tells the story of the “decline of the traditional family” as it has evolved from the 1950’s. The story deals with the many political disbeliefs that happen in our generation such as traditional family values and gender relations; and tells how the 1950s was a time of US global political and economic dominance, independence in the commercialization and industrialization, and how it relates to how the US works today. Coontz shows that the ideals of the common family have been changing due to many factors like demographics, political changes, and the economy. Coontz analyzed that the 1950s as a time of social and economic upswing as "The apparently stable families of the 1950s were the result of an economic boom--the gross national product grew by nearly 250% and…
Stephanie Coontz is a professor of Family History at the Evergreen State College in Olympia Washington. She is a nationally recognized expert on the family and an award winning writer. In her 1997 book “The Way We Really Are: Coming to Terms with America’s Changing Families”, Stephanie Coontz wrote an essay entitled “What We Really Miss about the 1950s”. In Stephanie Coontz’s “What We Really Miss about the 1950s”, she argues that we as a country collectively remember the 1950s with a nostalgic tone, but we are not remembering this era in its entirety, nor are we completely accurate. She explains that the family and economic life that we remember and long for does not represent the whole truth of that era by any means.…
for some of the problems that plague our society today. She identifies some important and significant changes within the family structure since the 1960’s. Further, she includes factors that are responsible for this change. Finally, she expounds on the balance, and if in fact families are becoming weaker or simply different? She cites evidence to support her claims, and she proposes her opinions on what she feels will strengthen the family.…
The American family has undergone many changes in the past few years. The course will trace historical events such as the Industrial Revolution, World War II, down to our current Technology Age and discuss how the family has been affected by these happenings. The family will be looked at from theoretical perspectives as well as practical perspectives. Students will be given opportunities to review journal articles, participate in discussion board postings, and look at the overall family life cycle to gain a comprehensive understanding of how the family affects individuals throughout their entire lifespan.…
Mental illnesses are often stigmatized and ridiculed, and many people have difficulty grasping how serious they can be. The public’s major concern in this controversy would be recidivism. But once people are educated they will realize that many mental illnesses are treatable and their victims can lead productive lives in society if they receive proper help and medications. Public fear or rejection may lead a victim of mental illness to self-harm or more violence. The tragic crime has happened because of an illness and it does not mean that the victims will always be predisposed to violence. What they need is understanding, treatment, and acceptance. Tim Mclean’s family, maybe with time, has an opportunity to help educate Canadians about mental…
Stephanie Coontz is a professor of Family History at the Evergreen State College in Olympia Washington. She is a nationally recognized expert on the family and an award winning writer. In her 1997 book “The Way We Really Are: Coming to Terms with America’s Changing Families”, Stephanie Coontz wrote an essay entitled “What We Really Miss about the 1950s”. In Stephanie Coontz’s “What We Really Miss about the 1950s”, she argues that we as a country collectively remember the 1950s with a nostalgic tone, but we are not remembering this era in its entirety, nor are we completely accurate. She explains that the family and economic life that we remember and long for does not represent the whole truth of that era by any means.…
The nuclear family is usually imagined as a two-parent household with two-point one children, a dog, and a white picket fence surrounding the perfect home; but how perfect is a nuclear family? In recent history, different situations have arisen and the concept of a nuclear family have diminished from the thoughts of modern families as more opportunities have opened up to allow a variety of alternative lifestyles. With the variety of family situations arising in today's society, I feel the typical nuclear family should no longer be the ideal family concept. My reasons for this is because of the amount of diverse family living situations that have risen over the past few decades, nuclear families don't have to be labelled as "perfect". Families may now consist of only one parent or two mothers and two fathers, or the care of grandparents. The thought of being in a nuclear family…
Family is a essential social unit consisting of parents and their children, The family is always considered as a group, even if they as dwelling together or not. In this essay I will explain the difference and seminaries of the family relationships. The following stories describe the difference and seminaries. In “ The Color of Family Ties, from the book Rereading American. The essay, The Color of Family Ties, has carried on the comparison in the difference of race, class, gender and elongated family involvement to Whites family, Blacks family and Latinos family to find their relationships between their kinships. This story describes gender, class, and race. The poem “Aunt Ida Pieces a Quilt” by Melvin Dixon is about a geriatric lady named Ida that makes a quilt for a boy named Junie who died from AVAILS. She acquires many different pieces of his apparel that denotes him and makes it into a quilt. This poem shows a bond between nephew and aunt. Every family is different yet alike. Even though there are different gender, Class and race when if comes to family theirs a value followed.…
Families Comparison EssayA family is a most precious identity a person can have. An individual from a noble, average or poor family can be distinguished by the character, acts, behavior, and living style. A person spends most of his time in life with the family and thus the family contributes the most in an individuals growth, thinking and behavior. When we think of a western family, the standard nuclear family comes to mind, working father, stay-at-home mom and a flock of children. This is no longer the case, in the past 50 years the family has changed significantly and continues to change. These changes are greatly due to the equalization of women's rights and the massive expansion of available communications technology. In many families nowadays both parents work and when the children are young are put into daycare services that just were not around in the past. It is now worthwhile for both parents to work since many companies provide the aforementioned daycare for free. Women also have greatly increased earning potential since they are just as educated and will now make the same amount of money as men for doing the same job. Women are hired these days to do other jobs than to be secretaries and nurses. The families of 1950s are considered as ideal and are also known as nuclear families. It consists of a working husband, a housewife and their children mostly two in which the elder one is boy and the younger one is girl. The families of 1950s and mine have a lot of differences because of the change of culture in the society. They include the structure, role, values of education and outlook on future.…
“Sociologists cite the weakening of the family as one of the causes for some of the problems American society faces today.” In my opinion, I agree that the challenges in America originates from the destabilization of families. Since the 1960’s there has been a tremendous change in society. Advanced technology has played a significant role in thinning the relationships in families. Additionally, new laws and learning methods has been introduced to propose a new way of raising children. America has become susceptible to issues that were condemn in the 1960’s.…
From the dawn of the modern era, to the world of today, the family dynamic has changed significantly. From family structure, to relation to technology, to social interaction within the family unit, all have evolved in different ways. While the family of the 60s was just entering a beginning of the modern age, While the family of today exist the midst of the Modern Age Life in the 60s was an exciting time, with the space race in full swing. In this time period, the family unit would normally consist of a father, a mother, and at least one child. In this era, the wife was just getting out to become a career holder.…
The family is the category that occurred early in the history of mankind; is an important social institution, related to the operation of the whole society and each individual. In view of the system, a change that institutions will lead to change the system and vice versa, the institutions around the family in the social system in general (such as economics, law, culture...) change also causes varying family. American family is not an exception to this rule.…
Moore, L.R. (2003). American values in decline: What can we do? FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin, 72(1), 15-15. http://search.proquest.com…
2. Stanley, Tim. (2012) History Today, The Changing face of the American Family.Vol. 62 Issue 11, p10-15. 6p.…
In the last ten years of American history, there have been many milestones, events, and trends that have shaped American history. Not only did it shape history, but it changed how the American family lived. Examples such as the 9/11 attacks and new technological advancements have prompted serious and emotional conversations among family members and is considered important to cultural historians on how to understand the current mythologies of family. Aside from the ideal decade of the 1950s, the idea of family has changed in the twenty-first century because of new trends and recent events that set to define what family is really about.…