The 21st Century Modern Family
The 21st Century Modern Family
The 21st Century Modern Family Let us review a global institution. The family is an institution found in every culture of society on earth. Families around the world live, love and work in uniquely different ways depending upon their cultural norms. Vissing says that over the life course every person has a family – even if it is a family of one (Vissing, 2011). The 21st century American family has been reshaped by the changes in moral family values, rising infertility rates and changing marital patterns attained in the previous century. The institution of the American family has been typified as the nuclear family comprised of a father, mother and one or more children. That traditional family makeup of biological families and adoptive families has changed in the 21st Century to reflect families with gay or lesbian parents, blended or step-families, and an increasing number of children raised by grandparents and women becoming single parents (Hertz, et al., 1997). Vissing describes the diversity in families as the ‘new norm’ (Vissing, 2011). Family is defined as almost any grouping of two or more people living with one another (Family, 2010). Today we find increasingly that child bearing and intimate relationships taking place outside of the context of the institution of marriage (Barlow, et al., 2004). Despite the changes which have taken place, the family is not a dying institution. Sociologists have utilized theories on the many different aspects of family looking at the structural-functionalist theory, conflict theory and symbolic interaction theory to analyze the state of the family. Functionalists consider the institution of the family as preparation for our children to the path of adulthood (Vissing, 2011). Children receive love and care, nurture and develop socialization skills under the care of loving parents (Vissing, 2011). Families guide our foundational cultural and moral values, influence our
The 21st Century Modern Family Let us review a global institution. The family is an institution found in every culture of society on earth. Families around the world live, love and work in uniquely different ways depending upon their cultural norms. Vissing says that over the life course every person has a family – even if it is a family of one (Vissing, 2011). The 21st century American family has been reshaped by the changes in moral family values, rising infertility rates and changing marital patterns attained in the previous century. The institution of the American family has been typified as the nuclear family comprised of a father, mother and one or more children. That traditional family makeup of biological families and adoptive families has changed in the 21st Century to reflect families with gay or lesbian parents, blended or step-families, and an increasing number of children raised by grandparents and women becoming single parents (Hertz, et al., 1997). Vissing describes the diversity in families as the ‘new norm’ (Vissing, 2011). Family is defined as almost any grouping of two or more people living with one another (Family, 2010). Today we find increasingly that child bearing and intimate relationships taking place outside of the context of the institution of marriage (Barlow, et al., 2004). Despite the changes which have taken place, the family is not a dying institution. Sociologists have utilized theories on the many different aspects of family looking at the structural-functionalist theory, conflict theory and symbolic interaction theory to analyze the state of the family. Functionalists consider the institution of the family as preparation for our children to the path of adulthood (Vissing, 2011). Children receive love and care, nurture and develop socialization skills under the care of loving parents (Vissing, 2011). Families guide our foundational cultural and moral values, influence our