Iconic American Family At The End Of The Millennium

Certain problems are universal in all human societies: the need to provide for the nurturance of children, the need to provide children with adult role models of the same sex, the need for cooperation between the sexes, and the need to control sexual relations. Because these are all interrelated, it is logical that they should be dealt with in the context of a single institution, the family. Every society in the world created some form of it, and every person is or was a member of some family. It gives them an atmosphere of acceptance, intimacy, support, and trust regardless of the kind of society they were brought up in and the times they happened to live in.

There are many types of families including special biological, psychological, and social linkages. Biologically we are all alike since everyone has a biological mother and father. This kind of conjugal bond with at least one child is called nuclear family. American families typically have what is called a modified extended family structure. When couples marry they are likely to form a household separate from either set of parents. Yet they maintain close ties with their families of orientation (the ones where m

Taking all the factors into consideration, it is easy to understand why Americans are acting this way. It is a reaction to their personal and common experiences. With so many marriages ending in divorce, formal commitment appears to many people as a bad and risky idea. Moreover, many women are in the work force, earning a living on their own and, as a result they do not feel compelled by the economic pressure to settle for a husband. Thus, for better or worse, the iconic American family is no longer there. The society, as the American one, embroiled in rapid change is reinventing the family. People have to adapt to new situations, even regardless of their cultural background. They create new models of different institutions to make their lives “easier.” The results of these changes and their impact on societies are difficult to predict now. One thing is certain: we are witnessing a smooth and ongoing process in which we are the main participants ourselves. Are we heading towards sexual freedom and legalizing same-sex marriages, that can already be observed in Holland, or the opposite? The answer is still to come...

Modern American society of the end of the millennium is gradually changing its customs concerning family models. A regular nuclear family is not the model to look up to any more. There are astonishingly a lot of childless and single parent families. This fact is strictly connected with the economic situation and tendencies in the United States. The American culture is deeply rooted in the Puritan idea of performing hard work. They believed that they had been chosen by God to rest in the canopies of heaven with Him. However, before anything of this kind could happen, they had to distinguish themselves by hard and honest work. If they appeared to be successful, it meant that God was on their side. This attitude became an inseparable element of the society they have grown into. Nowadays the “obsession” with work has come to the point where lots of parents claim that they have no time for their kids, no time to sleep, read, cook, exercise, socialize – in short, no time to live! Their children do have biological parents, but physically they hardly even meet them. In the family where both parents work kids are usually left for themselves. This fact contributes to a number of juvenile delinquency and addiction-related problems. The young have no possibility to confide in their mum or dad, so they turn to other sources for help, not necessarily making the right decisions...On the other hand, the alleged lack of time might be only the result of false perception. According to John Robinson and Geoffrey Godbey, the authors of a surprising new book entitled “Time for Life,” Americans have more leisure time as many of them are retir

Some topics in this essay:
Life” Americans, FAMILY MILLENNIUM, United American, Modern American, War II, Geoffrey Godbey, nuclear family, american family, percent 1990, institution family, iconic american family, legal bonds, model family, mother father, reinventing family, extended family, american families,