Preview

Changes in the Nuclear Family

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
591 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Changes in the Nuclear Family
Today Changes of the Ideal Nuclear Family Change has become the constant in families all over the world. For years, the “Ideal Nuclear Family” was portrayed as the perfect family. The ideal nuclear family consists of a mother, father, and three to four children all in one home. The perception of this “perfect” family has been depicted through sitcoms such as, the Brady Bunch, The Cosby Show, and many more over time. As of today, The “Ideal Nuclear Family” has changed and has a new look in our society. The nuclear family has changed to single-parent homes. This family can either have a mother or father. Couples are getting divorced more now than ever. Many of these divorced couples have children, and the absence of either parent has changed the ideal family severely. For instance, in “Aunt Ida’s Piece of a Quilt” there was no father figure shown in the story. The story spoke on his Aunt and mother but never a male figure which is one of the main changes in the ideal family. Gay and Lesbian families have also become a part of the world’s family of today. In today’s society you can watch movies and television shows with gay and lesbian families shown as ideal families that live somewhat similar to the ideal nuclear family. This change has become more common today due to gay and lesbian marriages in some states. Gay and lesbian families also adopt children and support them as their ideal family. Lesbian couples have been to clinics and have had procedures such as artificial insemination which is a procedure for not just lesbian women but women who chose not to make a child the traditional way. There are still some families that still exist with both parents in the household. Even though the families may seem to be the ideal family, there are still some economical changes to this family. The ideal family perceives the male as the breadwinner and head of the household. The head of household and breadwinner role has changed now to a more equal or vice versa.


Cited: 1. Gorman-Murray, Andrew. (2007) Australian Geographer. Contesting Domestic Ideals: queering the Australian home. Vol. 38 Issue 2, p195-213. 2. Stanley, Tim. (2012) History Today, The Changing face of the American Family.Vol. 62 Issue 11, p10-15. 6p. 3. Rubin, Carl; Oswald, Ramona Faith. (2009) Fathering: A Journal of Theory, Research, & Practice about Men as Fathers, Upholding and Expanding the Normal Family: Future Fatherhood through the Eyes of Gay Male Emerging Adults. Vol. 7 Issue 3, p269-285. 17p.

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Family consisted of woman and man, who were married to each other, with at least two kids. The author describes, man was always the head of the family and woman was a housewife. Moreover, kids were obedient to breadwinner father, who was going off to work. Not only, kids had to obey man’s rules, but the mother was expected to conform to his regulations as well. In an iconic American family from 1950s, kids were raised by both parents and could leave them after the age of 18. Comparing to the photo from The Donna Reed Show, it is clear to see that picture shows the typical American family. There is a marriage and their offspring. There is a man is presented right in the middle of the picture what reveals that he is a breadwinner. Both parents are sitting on a chair, with a woman on the man’s left hand side. The fact that kids are standing shows the relationship between parents and kids, in other words, presence of respect and obedience towards the father is noticeable in the way that kids are presented as standing. Image of this family seems to be a little stale because there is no such family model present in today’s world anymore. According to the author, kids don’t obey their parents’ rules anymore, marriages are often ended with divorce, and old fashioned heterosexual marriage seems to be replaced by same-sex ones. Moreover, woman is not obedient to her husband anymore and is usually…

    • 465 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    A conventional nuclear family consists of a traditional setting. A husband, wife and one or more children living together under the same roof. As such, the customary breadwinner would be the husband, while the wife is responsible for the housework and the emotional welfare of the children. But in today’s society, a nuclear family is seen as one of many family types in modern day society. There are some sociologists that say the nuclear family is and should remain the norm, while others argue that society these days is simply too diverse to have only one type of family.…

    • 453 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    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…

    • 707 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    A nuclear family is a common type of family that consists of two parent living with their biological children (immediate family), this type of family is considered the norm. An example of a nuclear family is ‘The Simpsons’. Leach calls this the ‘cereal packet’ family which is shown as the perfect family, there’s a lot of respect, care and value for each other. Although this is seen as the norm, society today is heading towards a more diverse variety of family structures.…

    • 2071 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Dh3N 34

    • 1243 Words
    • 5 Pages

    The image people have of a family is still the so called Nuclear family (1) popularised by sociologist such as George Murdoch(2) with parents of both sexes and one or more children with the father usually being the primary finical provider. This is no longer as common as it once was (3) and has lead to the rise of other family archetypes.…

    • 1243 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    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.…

    • 1102 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Ho Families Are Changing

    • 444 Words
    • 2 Pages

    The present structure of the average family in America is changing, mainly due to the growing number of mothers who now work outside the home. The current mark of dual-earner families stands at 64 percent, making it a solid majority today. This alteration of the "traditional" structure of the family is a catalyst for other changes that may soon occur.…

    • 444 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Myth of Model Family

    • 715 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The image of the model family is breathtaking, a housewife-mother, a breadwinner father, a couple of kids and a pet or two. This is the dream of most Americans but at the same time is a cliché. “The “traditional” family… has existed for little more than two hundred years” (18). This idea has been so widely accepted due to the attention that it has received in the media. Like Gary Soto in “Looking for Work” the perfect family misleads people into thinking what is truth and what is fiction.…

    • 715 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The ideal family from the American perspective has traditionally been known as the nuclear family by sociologists. The nuclear family, consisting of a married couple and their unmarried children, materialized as a romantic ideal as the Industrial Revolution transformed the United States into a country where families didn’t have to depend on many children and extended families for help on a farm or financial stability and families got smaller. Wealthier families could afford to have a home for themselves and their family of procreation (an individual, their mate, and their children) without needing the financial support of additional family members, and this kind of a family became desirable. Additionally, some other characteristics of the ‘ideal American family’ became popular and commonplace in the US and around the world as well.…

    • 1153 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    When it comes to family, there was no way to define such a word. Post-modern society has allowed for the diversification of the family structure, bringing today’s society further away from the idea of the ‘ideal’ family.…

    • 2995 Words
    • 12 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Family Diversity

    • 2460 Words
    • 10 Pages

    Even as family scientists and sociologists dispel our mythology of family with facts, we cling to the Ward-and-June-Cleaver vision of the way we were and ought to be. In truth, we never were as perfectly shaped as we thought. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, just 43 percent of families in 1940 were "traditional" in the sense that they had a working father and a homemaker mother and, of course, well-rounded children. Today, less than 20 percent of American families fit nicely into this shape and two-income marriages are now the norm (Otten). Others are blended and step-parent families, single-parent families, and extended families. Still united by the common threads of shared experience and, in the best of circumstances, shared…

    • 2460 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Many people wonder how families have changed over the last sixty years. Families have definitely become more diverse. Today I am going to cover how a family is an important part of socialization. I am also going to cover what some of the causes of the dramatic changes in families since the 1950’s. I will also describe and explain the differences in marriage and family life that are linked to class, race, gender, and personal choice. I will then try to justify whether or not the trend toward diverse families is positive or negative. Finally I will speculate if trends changed towards traditional pre-World War II families, and how it would affect women’s rights.…

    • 661 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Modern day families come in all shapes and sizes – divorce, remarrying, single parenting, out-of-wedlock and a number of other variables have turned the nuclear family into the exception rather than the norm. Even within the modern nuclear family, homemaker and breadwinner roles have evolved into something that makes it impossible to have one specific definition for family. As a matter of fact, the…

    • 1220 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Modern Family

    • 1185 Words
    • 5 Pages

    The New American Family is quite different from what people used to believe. It is known that things change over time as well as the structure of what perfect is. It was believed that the ideal family was built on a male figure as a bread winner, stay at home mom, and children who went to school as well as respected their parents. The mom and dad parent figure was a very important role and were both present. The father had most of the authority as for the mother just backed him up. As times have change so has the idea of a perfect family. We now see many single mothers raising children by themselves and having all the authority. In the past it was very rare to see a single mother raising a household by herself. We now often see a lot of kids having to deal with the mother figure having all the power and providing for their families. It was not easy being a single mother and taking care of children and having a job especially since mothers did not have jobs. We also see in the show The Suit Life of Zack and Cody that the mother is a single mom and on a everyday daily basis having to struggle with juggling a job, kids, and being the main authority figure.…

    • 1185 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Goldberg, A. E (2010). Gay and lesbian parents and their children: Research on the family life cycle. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association, Vol. 23, p233.…

    • 2563 Words
    • 11 Pages
    Powerful Essays