Changing Family Essay

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Changing Family

Part I

The salient features of the social problem of the changing family are these: the traditional family unit has changed drastically over the past century in the U.S. At the turn of the 20th century, two parent households were still very much the norm and the dynamic was such that the father went to work to earn the living for the family and the mother managed the domestic sphere, which consisted typically of raising and teaching children. Many large families were ethnic Europeans, some from Ireland, some from Poland, some from Germany, some from Italy—all of whom had come to America to seek new opportunities or to escape hardship in their native land. They came, however, to a land that was dominated politically and economically and eventually socially, by two major groups—White Anglo Saxon Protestants (WASPs) and Jews.

With much of the ethnic Europeans being primarily Catholic, a tension was soon felt in society between those in power and those rising in power. In the early 20th century, ethnic Catholic families were rising in power to challenge the Protestant-Jewish power structure. Had the family dynamic not changed as a result of WWII and the ensuing Feminist Movement, it is quite possible that a new power structure would have been evinced. The assassination of the only Catholic President in U.S. history in 1963 served as a significant representation of what would happen to the family in the second half of the 20th century. By the turn of the 21st century, single-parent households would be the norm with more than half of all marriages ending in divorce. What had happened and what did it mean?

Part II

Sociologists look primarily at social structures and how they impact human society. As such, social, political, cultural and economic factors all play a part in how social structures are formed. The main points of the sociological analysis of the problem of the changing family are that a conflict in cultures ensued between ethnic Catholics, Protestants and Jews in America. These were the three main religions and cultural groups in America in the 20th century, ally vying for social, political and economic relevance. On the Supreme Court, for instance, which reflects the social and political power trends in the country, the primary Justices prior to the 20th century Protestant. In the 20th century, Catholics and Jews both began to be represented more significantly on the Supreme Court. Today, the Court consists of 5 Catholics, 1 Protestant and 3 Jews—a stark contrast to what it was in the 19th century and the first time a Catholic majority has ever existed in the Court. With a diverse power dynamic in play, it can be expected that the overall culture of the U.S. will be less cohesive and unified.
Economic factors are also important to consider: the family was the unit of stability and consistency in the first half of the 20th century, as women were expected to maintain the domestic affairs and children were expected to help out or else go to school.

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Following WWII there was a great flood of credit that prompted the Baby Boom and that also spawned the middle class. The middle class suddenly had money in its pocket and ample amount of leisure time. The entertainment industry really got going on the back of the baby boom, as social revolutions led by Jewish women such as Betty Friedan, Gloria Steinhem, Ayn Rand, Judith Butler and others helped to topple the Catholic Movement that was spreading in force prior to the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s. What essentially was a Jewish-led social revolution helped to change the family dynamic in the 1960s and 1970s, guide more women to independence apart from the traditional family unit concept.

Part III

Sociological analysis sheds light on these facets of the problem of the changing family by providing lenses and frameworks by which the overall social structures and inputs of society in the U.S. can be gauged. Popular discourse and media generally fail to tackle the problem of the changing family but looking at the historical socio-political, cultural and economic contexts in which that change has occurred. The cultural power dynamic is critical to understanding what has occurred and in the large scheme of things it can be seen primarily as a cultural transition from old world ethnic values to new world, modern anti-traditional values largely guided and put in place by revolutionary Jewish influences. Friedan’s The Feminine Mystique helped to paint the women’s cause as an issue of woman vs. man; Steinem’s Ms. Magazine helped to establish the cause of women’s liberation. Roe v. Wade helped to establish the abortion issue as the major wedge that would ultimately politicize reproduction, which is at the very heart of the family unit. Ethnic Catholics, for instance, were forbidden by the Church to engage in the use of contraception or abortion, both of which were advocated by WASPs and Jews in 20th century, primarily as a way of controlling the ethnic population and culling the herd that challenged and threatened their power structure.

This analysis reveals how WASPs and Jews were primarily responsible for establishing the dominant motifs in the 20th century and how traditional values as represented by ethnic Catholics threatened a resurgence of sorts in the first half of the century (Catholic Al Smith nearly won the presidency during Prohibition by running on the wet ticket, after all). With the Second Vatican Council catering to Jewish and WASP….....

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