The Family Of The United States

Poverty. Unemployment. Potential foreclosure. Words all too familiar to Americans everywhere. The PBS Frontline documentary, Two American Families, is the heartbreaking, yet hopeful look at the struggles of two Milwaukee families, the Neumanns and the Stanleys, over roughly two decades, 1991 to 2012. While ideally the concept of meritocracy would indicate the efforts of these hard working families should influence their social standing, the reality of social stratification remains, with their wealth, power, and prestige, or lack thereof, used to cement their place, and primarily that of their children, in society.

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

This essay, The Myth of the Model American Family, is a discussion of the concept of an ideal family in the different perspective specifically social, cultural and economic. This is also an attempt to identify the structural changes in relation to the global development and the international economic crisis that immensely created impact on their lives. However, the discussion will limit itself on the different identifiable and observable transformations as manifested in the lifestyles, interrelationships and views of family members and will not seek to provide an assessment of their psycho-social and individual perceptions.

Stephanie Coontz in “The Way We Weren’t: The Myth and Reality of the Traditional Family” emphasizes that the traditional and ideal nuclear family widespread in media and textbooks are false and far from reality. In fact, it is common to see more similarities to the traditional family consistent of “male breadwinner and nurturing mother” (1) today than in the past.

Throughout human history individuals around the world, of various ethnic, racial, cultural backgrounds have linked together to form what people call today families. A lot of questions come to mind when contemplating the complex relationship people have. Since families have a direct bearing on society now and on future generations it is essential to take seriously what is happening to the family. Is the American family in decline, and if so what should be done about it? “Traditionally, family has been defined as a unit made up of two or more people who are related by blood, marriage, or adoption: live together; form an economic unit, and bear and raise children (Benokraitis, 3).” The definition of decline is to “fail in strength, vigor, character, value, deteriorate, slant downward.” The traditional nuclear family consists of a father provider, mother-homemaker, and at least one child (Brym and Lie, 252).” The nuclear family is a distinct and universal family form because it performs five important functions in society:sexual regulation, economic cooperation, reproduction, socialization, and emotional support. Research from the 1950 's to the present will emphasize what trends are taking place among American families. Family trends might not have expected???

The traditional American family comes from the 1950s, when TV shows like Leave It to Beaver and Ozzie and Harriet were released. They were the model to follow and create the family that the myth promotes. Parents happily married, nice house in suburbia, and a harmonious home are common traits of the model American Family. The myth of the American family creates a template for other families to follow; however, it only reflects to Caucasian families and creates a disappointment on today’s society.

The one topic that I found the most interesting was Wegscheider-Cruse’s and Blacks family roles. I really enjoyed this section because it got me thinking about which role I best fit and all of the various ways that my family members and I adapted to the substance abuse issues that occurred in our household. After lots of thought, I came to conclusion that I took on the role as the hero/responsible child. I always did really well in school and in the sports that I played. I always felt bad about for my family and what everyone had to go through and sacrifice so I found myself trying to succeed and bring a more positive light into the family. I never wanted to cause any issues with anyone or be difficult because I never wanted to add to all of the stress. Growing up I was by far, more responsible than my older brother. Although the oldest child normally takes on the role of the hero, this role fit me best. I would like to think that I have really good organization skills and have set reasonable goals throughout life that I have been able to achieve. It was very clear to me that I could not rely on my father growing up because of his substance abuse issues. This pushed me to be very independent knowing that my mother already had a lot on her plate.

The Brady Bunch were the ideal families in the 1960's and 1970's, and in the 80's, it was Family Ties. When the 1990's approached us, television shows took on a whole new outlook on American Families. There were shows such as Full House, which was about a single father raising three daughters with the help of his brother-in-law and his best friend. Roseanne was also another show that showed the "dysfunctional" side of families. American Families keep changing, and they will continue to change in our future.

To add to this discussion I feel that kinship is still important in America but it just comes in a different form. Like discussed by the other kinship is a group made out of your blood relatives and also people that were married in, they formed to build social relationship that help them in life. America has a culture where everyone is very individualistic and only cares about their inner circular of family and friends. They form like this and the close friends and family become a little kinship of people. They way that it differ is that kinship wanted to go and interact and gain more alliance. But today it seem that American like to stay in the "kinship" and not really adventure out of it. Why people do want allies in America they trust the

From the roaring 20’s to the dirty 30’s, There has been major changes to the American family. Instead of reading newspapers, people now have radios to listen and tune in at. From watching plays, they now have movie theaters that they can attend with family.The old fashion way of watching sports in the stadium was no longer needed, they now have TV’s that broadcast everything. Sports, Music, and fun distractions were now the way to live in the 1900’s. The life of the typical American family was now characterized by the time spent with the radio, Music stars, and famous baseball sport legends.

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.

During nineteenth century, American society had undergone tremendous change due to the Industrial Revolution and the Civil War, including change of gender role expectations. In the book of the American Family: from Obligation to Freedom, Peterson del Mar (2011) argues that the status of white middle-class women became higher at the end of the nineteenth century compared to the beginning. Indeed, this assertion is supported by the three guides assigned this week. In fact, various components played crucial roles in this situation. Based on the descriptions from Peterson del Mar’s work and evidence from those three provided guides, it is not hard to find that white middle-class women status had increased overtime.

Times have changed; the nuclear family is no longer the American ideal because family needs have changed since the 1950's. This American convention of a mother and father and their two children, were a template of films and early television as a depiction of the American family life. Now seen as archaic and cliché by today’s standards, but the idea is common throughout many of the first world nations in the world. This ideal was a vast departure from the past agrarian and pre industrial families, and was modeled and structured as the ‘American dream’ father working, mother maintaining the household and children molded to be simulacra of the parents. This portrayal was not the standard; many communities throughout America had a different

n the upcoming page’s I will answer the following questions. Why is family the most important agent of socialization? What caused the dramatic changes to the American family? What are the changes? I will discuss the differences in marriage and family, I will discuss how they are linked to class, race, gender, and personal choices. The purpose of this study is to explore the many different family functions and the paths that people are now choosing. I will give my opinion on whether these changes have had a positive or negative affect. I will finally discuss the trend of the modern family, back to pre-World War II family structure, how would that effect the strides that have been made in the progression of women rights.

This paper will discuss the differences between families from the 1960’s and the families of today. There are many differences between the different times. I have focused on the parentage portion of the families. I explained what the ideal family is and how it is different today. I’ve also included ways that will help these families of today become stronger as a family.