Family in America - Term Paper Example

Family in America This paper seeks to unravel the context of the American family considering the insights of Hansen’s report. Thereare various perspectives of what a family means in the modern society. However, the current and comprehensive definition of the term “family” must feature discourse as its component. Discourse refers to the aspect of household relationships whose identities and expectations pegs on communication (Braithwaite et al., 2010). Therefore, the definition of a family goes beyond blood, marriage, children, as its primary targets. Thus, Tracy could be included in Patricia’s family though she is not a member through blood kinship. Her participation in taking care of the child is a form of voluntary kin relationship that is yonder blood and legal ties, but entirely depends on discourse. More often, families that have departed from the traditional norms are more dependent on discourse in defining themselves internally and those people outside their families. The modern family is not a matter of blood and legal ties as was frequent in the definition of the traditional family. The perspective that it is a “networks of people who share their lives over long periods of time bound by marriage, blood, or commitment, legal or otherwise, who consider themselves as family and who share a significant history and anticipated futures of functioning in a family relationship (Galvin, Brommel, & Bylund, p.6 ).” This definition recognizes the fact that the meaning of the term family has changed over time and is no longer within the boundaries of blood and legal kinships as before. Even though Tracy is no related to Patricia’s family both in blood or legal terms, based on their long-term friendship coupled with communication, and commitments that she has together with the family could make her a member of that family. Patricia and Robert are not married but within this family definition, they are one family united by the commitment and future expectations around their son. There are different types of voluntary kin relationships, as a substitute for family, as a supplemental family, as a convenience family, and as extended family. Voluntary kin members often fill the gaps in the “real” family by playing family-like roles, that is, as a parent a sibling. They also perform family-like functions such as emotional fulfillment and acceptance. The parents of Robbie are not only getting care and safety from the members of their extended family, but also from members from outside their family (Hansen, 2005). Most family members have prioritized their family members; it is a shared responsibility across a network of adults. However, in the report, we only see a few members of the non-extended family, and the extended family members are dominant in the care network (Hansen, 2005). It is not a prerequisite that you must be family members by blood or law in the US to belong to the family. The report depicts both aspects of social reconstruction, a family whose foundation is beyond blood and legitimacy. People must not leave together for them to be family members. A family exists whether its members live together or far apart. What counts in the modern society is the contribution that a family member makes to the common objectives of the whole family and not the distance between the family members. The ways families operate have changed and every family member may desire to live away from other family members and still cooperate by supporting the family members with the necessary support that a member may require (Braithwaite et al., 2010). For instance, Robert and Patricia do not stay together as husband and wife but still relate to one another as a family. Nonetheless, Robert could still help Patricia even if they did not have a child together, may be basing on the future expectations that they could have such as becoming husband and wife, legally. How then does Hansen’s report allow us to build a concept of family in America? The case in this report is a clear indicator of an extended family- a complex unit with several nuclear families and several generations living together in the same or closer regions. In addition, another family concept that emerges is the relationship between a neighbor in the next door and the extended family in the care network of adults (Hansen, 2005). Therefore, even though the child-care is family-dominated, there is room for family relationships that are not bound genetically or legally to the concerned family. Within this context, it is clear that the definition of the American family is that relationship that goes beyond blood and law, refuting the traditional definition of an extended family. The family concept that we can derive from Hansen’s report is that of reconstruction from discourse of the voluntary kin. Several surveys have shown a rapidly growing acceptance of divorce, permanent singleness, and childlessness (Hansen, 2005). The decline in the provision of affection and companionship among adult family members is harder to measure, although some data mentioned above seem to suggest that such a reduction has taken place. It is hard to deny, however, that, in the sheer number, social ties to nonrelated friends have gained while social ties to family members have dropped. Measures of this are late marriage, increased single living, high divorce, and fewer family households. By almost everyone is reckoning, marriage today is a more fragile institution than ever before precisely because it is based mainly on the provision of affection and companionship. The marriage often dissolves in the absence of these attributes. In fact, most Americans still loudly proclaim family values, and there is no reason to question their sincerity about this. The family ideal is still out there. Apart from the ideal, the value of household is steadily chipping away. The percentage of Americans who believe “the family should stay together for the sake of the children” has declined precipitously, for example, as noted above (Popenoe, 1993). Moreover, fewer Americans believe that it is important to have children, to be married if you do, or even to be married, period. It is, therefore, worth arguing that pro-familial normative pressures have eroded in all areas of the life course. Karen Hansen’s report gives a base to the concept of family as a central social institution and a locus of an individual social activity. It is a unit created by marriage, adoption, blood, or extended families (Hansen, 2005). Societal changes in America however has led to a significant deviation from more of what was in principle considered nuclear family to other types of families including the concept of broader kinship networks. Building family concept is vital to the success this social institution. From Hansen’s we consider the notion of household as the binding relation, structure, and the obligation to the family. Social reproduction is vivacious in discussing the notion of a family. A family provides a framework for the reproduction and production of persons biologically or socially through social networks. His mother Patricia, Robert his biological father, and his maternal grandmother Fran consider Robbie Crane. Patricia believes this as a gift after taking long before bearing a child, which is vital to family progressiveness (Popenoe, 1993). Family responsibly is a concept of family orientation. It involves the need to take responsibility and care for its members. The children should be given their social place in the family to ensure their enculturation and socialization (Coontz, 1992). Caring and raising Robbie became a responsibility of both parents despite not leaving together. Non-family members such Tracy and members of the extended family forming Crane’s network of care also played a crucial role in Robbie’s life. The family provides Robbie with the basics of life such as food, shelter, and emotional support. Network of members shows the importance of kin in provision of care. It involves, caring for children and people of different age groups (Coontz, 1992). The existence of such networks, help a society to build morality in various families with better understanding of the need for social responsibility and obligations. This is a concept that can help understand the nature and needs of the ideal family in the current American family setting and thus help build more stable and responsible families with a locus of networks. In sum, the modern family involves blood and legal relationships as well as the voluntary kin that constitute a family under the social construction of discourse. The report depicts a family relationship that breaks the traditional boundaries of blood and legal relationships. In addition, therefore, it is necessary to have either blood or legal relationship with an individual family to be a member of that family (Braithwaite et al., 2010). The social network of care for the child is a genuine reflection of a family that consists of blood-related and legitimate members and “neighbors” as members of the family. The ties between Patricia’s, Tracy, and Ramsey is that which is discourse dependent, it is their commitment to helping Patricia raise her child, and that is what has made them one family. Notably, a family exists with or without children because one the couples come together as husband and wife, they may fail to bear children, and that does not mean that they are no longer a family, they are of course. Reference Hansen, K.V. (2005). Not-So-Nuclear Families Class, Gender, and Networks of Care. New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press. Print. Popenoe, D. (1993). American Family Decline, 1960-1990: A Review and Appraisal. Journal of Marriage and Family, Vol. 55, No. 3 pp. 527-542 Coontz, S. (1992). Introduction. The way we never were: American families and the nostalgia trap. New York, NY : BasicBooks. Braithwaite et al. (2010). Constructing family: A typology of voluntary kin. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 27, 388-407. Read More