The Problem Of Nuclear Family

There are several possible reasons for the decrease in the number of nuclear families, particularly in the past forty years. This includes rising cohabitation, higher divorce rates, secularisation, rising same sex relationships, more career seekers and the rise in feminism.

Talcott Parsons’ (1956, pg. 309) believed that “the nuclear family is a social system” which consists of a straight married couple and around two to five children, “can be distinguished, and does function as a significant group” (1956, pg.308). Parsons believed that the family benefitted society in ways such as the teachings of gender roles and the overall structure of society: the male going to work and being the breadwinner, while the wife stays at home and cooks and nurtures the children. After the Second World War, the nuclear family was the most common type of family making the structure easily “distinguishable”. However, when we look at the postmodern society, we can see that there are many different types of families nowadays such

The ’50s boasted the archetype for the model family. As document H exemplifies, suburban families, coined the nuclear family, resided in ideal neighborhoods for raising the family, were

In William Bennett (2003), The Broken Hearth, the author tells an in-depth explanation of some of the theories that revolve around the moral collapse of the American family. Bennett (2003) begins with what the American family looks like today as compared to how the traditional family looked before the wars. The difference between these two pictures gives a stark contrast and gives us glimpses of where human relationships of the future are going. Bennett covers many different social aspects that affect our families today as well as our civilization overall. Nuclear families of the past have evolved over the years into cohabitating couples resulting in out of wedlock births, illegitimate children, fatherless children, poverty, crime,

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

The desire to achieve the American Dream was an important ideal in the 1950’s and many families modeled themselves after what they saw on television. Once television sets began to be a staple in an average family’s living room, the family changed. Television shows depicted the “perfect” image of an American family. One with a mother, father, son and daughter, a “nuclear” family. The mother was most often times depicted as a housewife, with the husband a breadwinner, coming home late and having to scold the children, most times ending with a chuckle from a studio audience.

The remnants of the nuclear family from the 1950s is still present at this time and affects women’s lives greatly as they begin to recognize and act on their own desires for

In society, there are many nuclear families that have different ways of raising their children due to social classes that remain present. Nuclear families consist of a pair of adults and their children. Due to the different social classes parents take into account different childrearing methods, cultural logic, and religion affiliation. When raising their children families in a higher

In Stephanie Coontz’s article, The Way We Weren’t: The Myth and Reality of the “Traditional” Family, she states that many Americans revived the nuclear family ideals that had so disturbed commentators during the 1920s. This disruption was people looking upon the same sex for their companionship and friendship. During this era, this was a normal occurrence, now it is shunned and looked at as though it is morally corrupt. This is not a typical family situation. In today’s society, some people would consider this behavior as non-familial and it would not be described as a “traditional” family

Over the past few decades social scientists have been engaged debates about family change and influences in modern society, with one of the main themes being the strength and relevance of the nuclear family. Those who believe that the nuclear family unit is breaking down often site the fact that social structures holding up the nuclear family, such as marriage, are collapsing ‘The chances in some societies are now less that 50-50… that a child will live continuously to adult-hood with both natural parents’ (Popenoe 1999). Those on the opposite side believe that the concept of a nuclear family is a traditional and naturally occurring phenomenon that passes from generation to generation. Evidence exists on both sides of the debate leading to conclusion that while the nuclear family is not as prevailing in modern society as it was in the past but still holds a certain level of relevance.

The nuclear family is the basic unit of a primitive society. In such families, the adult tends to be autonomous, and issues concerning a single family are often solved within that particular family (Potegal & Novaco, 2010). However, when issues involving the entire nuclear family have to be solved, some adults are consulted, and their opinions weighed based on the favorable solution to the family without having to force compliance (Potegal & Novaco, 2010). That is because compliance is expected to happen voluntarily. Often, a leader that appears to be more thoughtful is trusted with matters relating to the extended. Chagnon in his five years stay among the primitive people befriended the most trusted leader among them. According to Chagnon (1968), the most influential leader in the village is regarded as the headman who has particular political responsibilities with other Yanomamo communities but has little influence over those within his community except in the event of a war with an enemy.

Today the idea of the nuclear family being normal has changed. It is now common to see the mixture of two families connected by a second or subsequent marriage, with one or both partners having children from prior relationships, thereby creating half siblings. Prior to the advent of no-fault divorce, most commonly the idea of blended families included a stepmother or stepfather and mother or father, and stepchildren, born to one of the parents in a previous marriage. The previous marriage had been terminated by abandonment or death and the stepparent was seen almost as a replacement parent. With the advent of no-fault divorce and the family dynamics changing, the roles of the parents are modified, no longer is a stepparent a near replacement for an absent or deceased parent, but rather an addition to existing parents not part of a relationship but still on the scene.

A blended family is when two people enter a marriage when they have children from a previous relationship. These families have been termed blended families because the two new spouses and the children are attempting to blend into one family unit. Blended families are commonly known as step families. Some other terms for blended families are reconstituted, restructured, and remarried families. Blended families are starting to become the most common type of family in the United States. It can be hard to determine the exact number of blended families in existence, but data from 2009 showed there are around 5.3 million children living with a step parent. One problem which faces blended families is that they evaluate their success as a family based on nuclear family patterns. Blended families are very different from the nuclear families and when members of a blended family attempt to structure their family in accordance with a nuclear family, they experience culture shock (Strong & Cohen 2014). The differences between the two family types needs to be accepted, and then a blended family can be successful. In this paper, the relationships between family members will be examined including gender differences, the communication between them, and the boundaries they establish. The paper will also go into the educational problems step children tend to have.

A nuclear family consists of a mother, father and children living in one household. Every nuclear family has advantages and disadvantages in them. The advantages are strength and stability, financial stability which equals more opportunity, consistency which means lucrative behavior, health benefits, conflict resolution and better communication skills. In my nuclear family we incorporate these advantages to become a better family and to be brought closer together.

According to the Office of National Statistics, more people are living alone, are being raised by single parents, and an increasing amount of grown up children are still living with their parents than in previous years. The 'nuclear family ' has been described by one expert as a 'museum piece ', emphasising the fact that it is a part of history now. Figures showed that 30 percent of women under 30 had given birth by the age of 25, while 24 percent had married, showing having children is more of a first major milestone to adult life than getting married. These statistics in comparison to 1971 show an extreme difference: three quarters of women were married by 25, and half had given birth. The statistics also showed that the number of adults living alone doubled in generation, from 6 percent to 12 percent due to divorce, death or marrying at a later age. In reference to the above statement, the nature of family has changed significantly in the past 30 years so the government are correct