The Accordion Family By Kathy S. Newman

Some Americans are lucky and do not have to rely on their families to help them after they get their own jobs. However, this is not a possibility for the working class poor. Many of Ehrenreich’s fellow workers rely heavily on family to meet their basic needs of housing, food, and help with childcare. Many Americans will put excessive demands on the family unit before going to the government for help. Ehrenreich only had herself to take care of. Many of her coworkers had to go home and take care of their children and household.

It is evident that the family structures have dramatically transitioned over the past 100 years. The “Leave it to the Beaver” family is a thing of the past standards and a number of variations have been formed over the years. In the United States, there are six particular kinds of family configurations that are recognized by the modern society. Some of these family structures are naturally falling into several categories. For instance, a single parent family living in a large, extended family set up. Even though these types of families differ in definition, the lines are not very clear when it comes to practice.

More specifically, one story talks about Shelly Comer a divorced 43 year old mother of three who also take care of her oldest child’s friend, Michelle. Shelly has worked her whole life doing a variety of jobs. She recently became a registered nurse and now works night shifts and makes an annual income of $70,377. Regardless of these things, she is currently going into debt so that Michelle can go to college. This article not only explains the “many average Americans that are struggling from rising costs” but also how it’s getting harder for American families to have any money for themselves.

Frontline’s special of Two American Families contrasts families trying to secure a foothold in the middle class America during a time of struggle in the city of Milwaukee. Indeed, the special is about the financial strain on the middle class of America, but what is clear is the difference a mindset and communication can make for a family during a challenge. If a family chooses to stay positive, stick together and communicate well, their chances of making it through is much stronger than those who become negative and fail to clearly communicate their goals. For example, Tony Newman lost his job as his employer downsized. This brought incredible financial strain upon his family as he was unable to find new employment. Therefore, his wife got a job to provide for the family. What was

Poverty effected many individual families around the world for many years, and it wasn’t until 1935, The Social Security Act was passed, therefore assisting many families in need. The effects of poverty is an extraordinarily obscure social experience, and the finding those causes is very similar. As a result, sociologists considered other theories of poverty, such as the journey of the middle class, employers, from the cities into the suburbs. The government has taken many steps over the years to put an end to or decrease welfare assistance. Although, the welfare system is extremely important to millions of people, it has been an underlying problem for many others causing idleness and laziness. There are many pros and cons to

Italian American and Greek American parents are devoted to raising their children, and caring to them well into their adult years. While the Irish American culture allows their children to move out, prepared or not, the Italian American and Greek American cultures would not do this willingly. The Italian American and Greek American cultures believe that they will not have as much an impact or closeness, and their children could venture into trouble if not advised everyday of their lives. With that being said, Italian American and Greek American children often live in their parent’s homes well into their adult years. What might be surprising to other cultures, especially the Irish American culture, is that even newly married couples are welcomed to live in their in-laws home until they find, or until they can afford, their own home. The Italian American and Greek American cultures are even big on assisting their relatives in finding employment, and this ties into the importance of family businesses, where they will hire and keep their success

The cost for places to live like hotels, motels, or trailer parks may be within reason, but not enough for a blue collar worker’s salary. The difficulty in securing a place to live is not uncommon, and many have made ways to work around it like sharing apartments. Ehrenreich details these types of situations in her novel like “Tina, another server, and her husband [who] are paying $60 a night for a room in the Days Inn…[or] Joan… [who] lives in a van parked behind a shopping center at night and showers in Tina 's motel room” (pg. 25). Examples taken from Ehrenreich’s novel shows us the struggles that many have had to go through to secure a place to live. It isn’t to say that these people don’t work hard, but, unfortunately, this is the best they get for the work they put in and the pay they receive.

In conclusion, parents that don’t have a lot of money have to make sacrifices. Parents make difficult decisions because they can’t to keep they can’t afford any other way out, to make their kids happy, and sacrifice their wants for their family’s needs. Although some say that poor families don’t make difficult decisions because people supply them money, but they are wrong because no one is helping the Lacey family. So the next time you find yourself wanting something that you can’t get, then think about the kids whose parents struggle to supply

While the family is always able to gain the funds needed for the payments (before Jurgis is put in jail), the barely cover the price, leaving them with little food, a damaged house, and sickly family members (Sinclair). Clearly, the struggle of Jurgis’s family was insanely difficult, leading to decreased health, and even death, thus proving that poverty is a very serious social issue that damages the lives of many.

Whether it be at the Hearthside or Walmart, it is important “not to ‘know too much’” or do what is not necessary (pg. 195, Ehrenreich). There is a negative connotation on over exertion at these establishments, as is understood, given the amount they are payed at both of these locations, which is hardly enough for one person to survive off of, let alone a whole family. Some of the co-worker’s she meets along the way are examples of poverty in the United States, many of whom share apartments with others, and one coworker, Joan, lives behind the hearthside in her car and showers in a coworkers motel room. The article “Poverty in the United States: An Overview” by Cliff Brown, is a great example of poverty in America and its characteristics. Those living in poverty have more health and educational issues, and individuals who fall below the poverty level are among the most vulnerable and distressed in the United States. Factors such as: race, ethnicity, family structure, sex, age, and geography are linked to poverty.(p. 89) In regards to the hearthside, or Jerrys, or the Maid Service, there is no one significant race or sex, there are many different representations of poverty, from the nineteen year old George who lives with other Czech immigrants in hope of garnering the American dream, to Caroline, the aunt of a friend who lived through what Ehrenreich is

When speaking to the Mrs. Smith about family and family structure I mainly focused on the concepts of where they live and the effects it has on their family. This involves their country, current residence, topology, economics, politics, education and occupation (NASN, 2013). Such topics give an inside look in regards to certain diseases and health factors that are more prominent to or more acceptable to the population in that region and area of residence. As well as this, these concepts allow the more in depth in understanding of diet, mental diseases, economic standing, and the families degree of assimilation or acculturation if there is any. I asked Mrs. Smith where she was born and if she and her family have lived anywhere else. Her family is originally from Poland and

For practically every family, then, the ingredients of poverty are part financial and part psychological, part personal and part societal, part past and part present. Every problem magnifies the impact of others, and all are so tightly interlocked that one reversal can produce a chain reaction with results far distant from the original cause. A run-down apartment can exacerbate a child's asthma, which leads to a call for an ambulance, which generates a medical bill that cannot be paid, which ruins a credit record, which hikes the interest rate on an auto loan, which forces the purchase of an unreliable used car, which jeopardizes a mother's punctuality at work, which limits her promotions and earning capacity, which confines her to poor housing.

The families in America are steadily changing. While they remain our most valued and consistent source of strength and comfort, some families are becoming increasingly unstructured. In the past, the typical family consists of a working father, a stay at home mother and, of course, well-rounded children. Today, less than 20 percent of American families fit nicely into this cookie cutter image. American households have never been more diverse. Natalie Angier takes stock of the changing definition of family in an article for the New York Times.

Falicov, C.J., & Brudner-White, L. (1983). The shifting family triangle: The issue of cultural and

Family is one of the hardest words to define. There are many definitions and thoughts of what a family consists of. When one accepts the definition of the census family given by Statistics Canada then a family becomes “a married couple and the children, if any… a couple living common law and the children, if any… a lone parent with at least one child living in the same dwelling… grandchild living with grandparents but no parents present… Census families can be opposite or same sex and children may be adopted, by birth, or marriage and all members must be living in the same dwelling” (Baker 2014). With family being such a difficult term to agree on, the creation of a complex study of family life emerges. The factors that influence family life are put into three theory categories; Social Structure, Interpersonal Factors, as well as Ideas, Global Culture, and Public Discourse.