Changes in the American Family

As we have learned through Skolnick's book, as well as Rubin's research, the make up of the family is influenced by many factors. The economy, culture, education, ethnicity/race, and tradition all help to create the modern family. The last few decades have heavily influenced the family structure, and while some try to preserve the past, others embrace the future. Through it all, we find you can have both.

The first part of Rubin's book dealt with "the Invisible Americans." One of the most thought provoking statements from the beginning, states: "Indeed, one of the surprising findings of this study is how much in common all these families have, how much agreement they would find among themselves- even about some of the hottest racial issues of the day- if they could put away the stereotypes and hostilities that separate them and listen to each other talk. For if we set aside race, there's far more to unite working-class families than there is to divide them." (15) For me, this set the tone for the book. More than once, someone from this study who was of a different culture or race then me, said something I know I had thought or even said before. I found it interesting because with some of them, I thought I was the only one who would feel that way; that it was a problem specific to one group.

Rubin's research shows that a lot can happen in just one generation. Much has been spoken lately of what Tom Brokaw has declared "The Greatest Generation;" those who fought in WWII. These Americans came back from the war, started families, and worked hard to achieve "The All American Dream." But somewhere they must have missed something because this generation is the generation that produced the "pot smoking, free love hippies" who then produced the adults in Rubin's study. What changed so much with a generation that was the epitome of hard work, discipline, and structure? Stephanie Coontz's article, "What We Really Miss about the 1950's" addresses that. The world between 1920-1950 is not what we think. There was a high murder rate, a substantial divorce rate, and "an older generation of neighbors or relatives who tried to tell them how to run their lives and raise their kids." (Skolnick 33) It's this sense that their children see the world so differently that's so hard for working-class parents. "For it seems to say that now, along with the economic dislocation they suffer, even their children are out of their reach, that they can no longer count on shared values to hold their families together"(47).

As is stated in Rubin's study over and over, "People don't know right from wrong anymore"( 63). This was the repeated theme especially with pregnancy outside of marriage. How it was taken care of changed over those generations; from "we had to get married"(45) to raising the child as a single parent, or choosing an alternative: adoption or abortion. And Coontz's article further validates Rubin's study. Coontz states, "It is the belief that the 1950s provided a more family-friendly economic and social environment, and easier climate in which to keep kids on the straight and narrow, and above all, a greater feeling of hope for a family's long-term future, especially for its young" (32-33). She goes on to discuss just to the perceived hopefulness was different from the realistic perceptions of the future we have now.

Katherine S. Newman's article, "Family Values against the Odds" does the best job at explaining the very phenomenon we are discussing. In Newman's article, Latoya and her half-sisters create a close-knit family and turn to each other for support. They don't get the support they need from their parents, so they look elsewhere. The needed support for childcare, along with social events and church makes them close. Another subject in the article, Carmen is a Latina immigrant who longs for a relationship with her mother who is still in the Dominican Republic. The lack of family structure these two girls desire forces them to look elsewhere. Both girls need to create an environment that others take for granted: a group of people to help raise their children, to count on when things are tough, and provide inspiration to make things better.

One key factor for the people of Rubin's study was education. Most of them lacked any education past high school. Our current public education system leaves a lot to be desired. No matter how a school district gets their money, there is always something lacking, especially in rural and inner city school districts. Even with good teachers who do the best they can with limited resources, if education is not stressed at home, children are not going to feel the necessity to succeed until it is too late. I have a friend who teaches in North Carolina. She has told me about students, who when asked what they are going to do when they get older, matter-of-factly state they are going to go on welfare like their mom. Or they will say they are going to go work at the mill. They don't even see any possibilities beyond what their parents have done.

While girls dream of getting married, to find her prince charming, to wear the beautiful dress, to have someone take care of them. "But this is one of the arenas of living where race, not class, determines the hopes and dreams of a people. Few black women, even those who grew up in stable working and middle-class homes, shared the fantasies about their role in marriage that were so common among whites twenty years ago. The black women I spoke with always knew that, married or not, they'd have to work"(56). But with the changes in economy, and trying to "keep up with the Joneses" this is not so true with women of any race or class. In Newman's article, Latoya can see her way out of poverty with the help of her boyfriend, however she cannot depend on him to do the right thing by his kids. What should be obtainable is not, without the support of a family.

Over all, I think the issue is people are looking to the past to justify what they have done. They are seeking reassurance they are making the right decisions, however, there are no absolutes. And even when they feel there is an absolute to something, society has dictated we need to embrace changes, accept everyone, and do what makes you happy. Unlike those who got married because they had to, there doesn't seem to be many things people are willing to do just because it's the right thing to do or because it's in the best interest of everyone, not just ones self.

Part 2

As we all know, the Great Depression and World War II played a heavy hand