1. How Society Shapes Families: A U.S. View
Chapter 6
© Routledge/Taylor & Francis 2014
How Society Shapes Families:
A U.S. View

2. Chapter 6 Outline How Are Families Universal?
© Routledge/Taylor & Francis 2014
Chapter 6 Outline
How Are Families Universal?
How Do American Families Differ from Families in Other Western Nations?
Societal Forces that Shape Family Life in the U.S.
Individualism as a Cultural Ideal
Marriage and Family as a Cultural Ideal
How Market Forces Shape Family Life
Family Commitment in Societies with a Weak Social Safety Net
Summary

3. How Are Families Universal?
© Routledge/Taylor & Francis 2014
How Are Families Universal?
Families have been part of every known society.
Families are the first and primary institution to teach connectedness and commitment to others.
Families are not static—they are fluid and changing.
Families and society are interdependent: families shape society and are shaped by the society—the cultural, economic, political, and social contexts—in which they operate.

4. © Routledge/Taylor & Francis 2014
How Do American Families Differ from Families in Other Western Nations?
Americans simultaneously embrace the “twin” cultural ideals of marriage and individualism.
Other countries seem to focus more on one cultural ideal than the other.
The culture of individualism can come into conflict with family allegiances and solidarity.
It may be harder for more individualistic societies or individuals to make a long-standing commitment to marriage and family, especially when other coercive economic and societal forces are at play that separate rather than unite people.

5. Societal Forces that Shape Family Life in the United States
© Routledge/Taylor & Francis 2014
Societal Forces that Shape Family Life in the United States
Cultural Ideals
A pervasive individualism combined with a high valuing of marriage and family
Strong Market Economy
Can drive family formation, shape family functioning, replace family functioning, and infiltrate the way society and members of families think about family life
Weak Social Safety Net
With fewer anti-poverty and family policies, families serve as a fail safe in education, health care, employment, etc.
These forces are intertwined and constantly changing.

6. Individualism as a Cultural Ideal
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Individualism as a Cultural Ideal
The American tendency is to isolate themselves from responsibilities to the larger society in favor of their individual and family needs (Tocqueville, 1945).
The values of independence and self-reliance are prominent in American thinking, political beliefs, religious practices, cultural metaphors, etc.
Contemporary examples of individualistic tendencies:
estate planning industry for divesting personal assets; lack of jury duty participation; organizations such as No Kidding
high rates of income inequality between the rich and poor
decline in civic engagement and social activities that build tolerance and trust between people.

7. Marriage and Family as a Cultural Ideal
© Routledge/Taylor & Francis 2014
Marriage and Family as a Cultural Ideal
The U.S. has some of the highest rates of marriage, divorce, and short-term cohabiting relationships compared to other Western nations.
“Together these factors create a great turbulence in American family life, a family flux, a coming and going of partners on a scale seen nowhere else” (Cherlin, 2009, p. 5).
Increased prevalence of cohabitation, nonmarital childbearing, and multiple-partner fertility:
Instability in partner and family relationships is harmful for the development and well-being of children and adults.
stable family life is important to cultivate moral foundations for balancing obligations to self and others.

8. How Market Forces Shape Family Life
© Routledge/Taylor & Francis 2014
How Market Forces Shape Family Life
Market economy can drive family formation:
Child outcomes are diverging between those born to parents with high vs. low levels of education and resources.
This affects children’s future chances of forming stable unions, pursuing education, and moving up the socioeconomic ladder.
Some attribute these shifts to cultural forces, such as the government assuming too much responsibility for family and community well-being, which interferes with individual responsibility (e.g., Murray, 2012).
Others attribute these shifts to the changing labor market, such as the drop in steady work and decent wages available to those with less education (e.g., Cherlin, 2009).

9. How Market Forces Shape Family Life
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How Market Forces Shape Family Life
Market economy can shape family functioning:
Capitalism as both an economic and a cultural system.
Shifts in culture and family structure have resulted in a reversal of work and family life experiences.
Work life feels more stable and ritualized, whereas family life feels more demanding and less ritualized.
Market economy can replace family functioning:
The greatest shift in American culture may be the outsourcing of family functions to private markets.
Food preparation, clothing, car repair, party planning, etc.
Even very intimate functions: dating, surrogacy, caregiving
Buying family services may be a logical reaction to the time pressures families today face, or a willing choice to work longer and harder to keep up with new consumer wants.

10. How Market Forces Shape Family Life
© Routledge/Taylor & Francis 2014
How Market Forces Shape Family Life
Market economy can infiltrate the way society and family members think about family life:
The economic and social health of a nation depends on the quantity and quality of other people’s children.
Important child rearing functions tend to be undervalued in the marketplace, even though the value of such functions accumulates and has substantial pay off over time.
Using economic metrics such as cost-benefit to evaluate the meaning and quality of family life may not be appropriate.
e.g., thinking about marriage as what you are getting out of it may not be appropriate in a relationship based on a long-term commitment you have promised to uphold.

11. Family Commitment in Societies with a Weak Social Safety Net
© Routledge/Taylor & Francis 2014
Family Commitment in Societies with a Weak Social Safety Net
Strong individualism makes Americans question whether it is morally right to provide government support that might replace individual effort.
This impedes our ability to create a society that cooperates and works together to support families.
This also contributes to less extensive and intensive family policies and to a small social safety net.
Instead, families are called on to be the fail safe:
Compared to countries with a large safety net, U.S. families are expected to pick up the slack in caring for the sick, elderly, and those with disabilities; fostering employee productivity; supporting children’s education; and so forth.

12. © Routledge/Taylor & Francis 2014
Summary
Family policy considers how families shape their members for the good of society and how societies shape the capacity of families to effectively and efficiently perform their functions.
U.S. family life is shaped by two widely-held cultural ideals— individualism and marital/family commitment. The tension between these two ideals contributes to the flux in family life.
Families are an indispensible economic unit that produces human capital by providing dependable workers and fostering the development of caring, committed members of society.
Families drive the economy, but the economy also drives family formation, family functioning, and perceptions of family life.