McGraw-Hill © 2002 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., All Rights Reserved Chapter Fifteen l Social Change and Families

McGraw-Hill © 2002 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., All Rights Reserved 15-2 Two Fundamental Changes l Lessened Economic Dependence of Women l The Weakening of Marriage

McGraw-Hill © 2002 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., All Rights Reserved 15-3 l Decline of homemaker role l Return to economic independence The Lessened Economic Dependence of Women

McGraw-Hill © 2002 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., All Rights Reserved 15-4 l 90% of whites and 67% of African American eventually marry l Marriage is still preferred form of union l Cohabitation is common and acceptable to most l Marriage is less economically necessary - viewed more as personal self-fulfillment l Less important than kin ties in African- American community The Weakening of Marriage

McGraw-Hill © 2002 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., All Rights Reserved 15-5 Emergence of Created Kinship l Decline of lifelong marriage as the organizing principle of families has led to an important change in the nature of kinship l Kin is being chosen from pools of eligibles– friends, stepfamilies

McGraw-Hill © 2002 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., All Rights Reserved 15-6 l Defined outside boundaries of marriage l Based on what people do for one another - not family tree l Create a support network of family and friends Choosing One’s Kin

McGraw-Hill © 2002 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., All Rights Reserved 15-7 Choosing One’s Kin l Created kinships can present challenges = need continual attention to maintain l Without the support of social norms, legal obligations or biological self- interest, created kinship ties must be kept active

McGraw-Hill © 2002 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., All Rights Reserved 15-8 Feminization of Kinship l Women do more to keep kinship ties l As marriage becomes less stable and kinship networks remain women’s work, men will find themselves without adequate support from kin l More impact on men later in life, particularly when needing care in old age

McGraw-Hill © 2002 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., All Rights Reserved 15-9 Social Change and the Public Family: The Elderly l Well-being and lifespan improved l Most will know grandchildren

McGraw-Hill © 2002 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., All Rights Reserved l Changes in the well-being of the elderly represents success for social policy and family caregiving l With social support (Social Security) and better health they can live independently from their children A Success Story

McGraw-Hill © 2002 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., All Rights Reserved l Although improvements have been made in well-being of elderly what will the effects of the Baby Boomer generation? The Calm Before the Storm

McGraw-Hill © 2002 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., All Rights Reserved l When they hit elderly - what types of changes might there be? l Unmarried women l Possible rise in Social Security taxes - more elderly than those who support them l Lessened benefits to well-to-do elderly l Having fewer children- less children to share caregiving burden l More women working- less available to give care The Calm Before the Storm

McGraw-Hill © 2002 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., All Rights Reserved Social Change and the Public Family: Children l Many indicators suggest that the well-being of children has declined

McGraw-Hill © 2002 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., All Rights Reserved l The non-poor: children in the shrinking middle, neither poor nor privileged l Effects of divorce, cohabitation, and remarriage l Mothers working outside of the home The Non-poor

McGraw-Hill © 2002 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., All Rights Reserved The Poor l Dramatic increase in children living with one parent l Consequences of low income in a single- parent home l More difficulty monitoring and controlling the behavior of their teenage children, regardless of income

McGraw-Hill © 2002 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., All Rights Reserved What To Do? l More public support for single- parent and alternative forms of family l Do not want to make so attractive as to lessen numbers of two-parent families

McGraw-Hill © 2002 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., All Rights Reserved l Advocates believe that this family form provides a superior setting for raising children l Children need both mothers and fathers l Key policy to promote marriage and reduce the number of children born to unmarried women Encouraging Two-Parent Families

McGraw-Hill © 2002 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., All Rights Reserved l Advocates believe in supporting single-parent families l They will continue to increase in numbers due to broad economic and cultural trends l Assistance to low-income single parents and their children Assisting Single-Parent Families

McGraw-Hill © 2002 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., All Rights Reserved l Women into the workforce l Decline in earning power of men without college degrees l Less attractive as marriage partners l Increasing individualism l Divorce rate doubled l Welfare reform l Earned Income Tax Credit Assisting Single-Parent Families

McGraw-Hill © 2002 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., All Rights Reserved Assisting All Families l Almost all Western nations provide more financial assistance to families than the U.S. l One of the reasons that the US has such a high percentage of children who are poor l National health insurance system would would have been major antipoverty measure for children l Introduced in 1994, but Congress did not enact l 11 million children, not covered by health insurance

McGraw-Hill © 2002 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., All Rights Reserved Assisting All Families l People’s view of children also changed in 20th century l Children seen less as laborers and more as fragile beings in need of care l State and helping professions began to intervene between parent and child l May have reduced the privacy of the family l Compulsory school laws

McGraw-Hill © 2002 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., All Rights Reserved The Deregulation of Intimate Unions l Legal restrictions on marriage weakened considerably l Marriage has become an individual decision l Basic personal right, not a socially approved way of transferring land and property or wealth to descendents l Blurring of legal and social boundaries between married and unmarried persons

McGraw-Hill © 2002 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., All Rights Reserved l Increasingly private and self- fulfillment emphasis on marriage and cohabitation l Less support for neighborhoods, church groups and communities l Standard of living high, so people can focus on personal well-being Excessive Individualism?

McGraw-Hill © 2002 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., All Rights Reserved l Individualism can be judged a problem only if it interferes with important social functions l Parents obligation for tending to the well-being of their children l Changes appear to be detrimental to the well-being of children l Instability of family relationships, living arrangements Excessive Individualism?

McGraw-Hill © 2002 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., All Rights Reserved l Individualism not responsible for all the increase in divorce, single-parent families and problems of children l Economic causes: l Manufacturing business left the country and resulted in deterioration of young people’s labor market prospects l Growth of the service sector of the economy and jobs available to women Excessive Individualism?

McGraw-Hill © 2002 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., All Rights Reserved l Greater stability and security of marriage achieved at the cost of restricting women’s lives more than men’s l Breadwinner-homemaker norm left wives dependent on husbands Sharing the Cost of Stability

McGraw-Hill © 2002 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., All Rights Reserved l New bargain between men and women l Provide them both with a greater sense of security in relationships l More stability in their children’s lives l Is it possible? l Women still have double burden of work and housework l Marriage may be less attractive Sharing the Cost of Stability

McGraw-Hill © 2002 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., All Rights Reserved Sharing the Cost of Stability l Men who wish for a second earner may need to do more work around the house and with the children l Married men are more likely to do this if they value marital stability and living with children every day

McGraw-Hill © 2002 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., All Rights Reserved l Likely to be little decline in divorce rates l Too many alternatives acceptable to marriage if both husband and wife are working Sharing the Cost of Stability

McGraw-Hill © 2002 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., All Rights Reserved Summing Up l The family as an institution was designed for operating in scarcity l Now being asked to perform in times of greater prosperity l Historically, men have dominated the family l Contemporary challenge is for them to share the burdens as well as the power and authority equitably

McGraw-Hill © 2002 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., All Rights Reserved l Historically, the family was designed to raise many children so that some would survive to adulthood l Fewer children today, and sustained periods in a marriage without children l Strengths of the family still include the continuing desires of most adults to experience lasting bonds of intimacy and affection and to have children Summing Up

McGraw-Hill © 2002 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., All Rights Reserved Summing Up l The family as an institution has demonstrated an ability to assume a diversity of forms in different cultures and in different eras