Change in families from the 1960's and today - Essay Example

Response Some of the changes in families that have surfaced since 1960 include decreased marriage rate, increased divorce rate, increased tendency for couples to cohabit before marriage, and increase in the rate of gay marriages. The prime factor responsible for this change is media. Media has brainwashed people to accepting previously taboo and untraditional ways of living e.g. homosexuality, cohabiting without marriage, as normal. Besides, the campaign of women empowerment has meddled with the power distribution between a husband and a wife that existed in the traditional family structure in the past, and has caused imbalance to the extent that marriages cannot sustain.

Families are becoming weaker as well as different in the society. Evidence for families becoming weaker is the growing divorce rate as well as lowering marriage rate; “50% of all American marriages end in divorce” (Jasmin, 2013). Evidence for families becoming different is the evolution of new kinds of families i.e. gay marriages and open marriages in which more than one couple intermarriages. In order to strengthen the family in the American society, we need to endorse religion and its teachings.

Today, many people say they belong to a certain religion, but not many actually believe in or approve of its teachings. Very few people practice religion. Religion is the prime and the fundamental source and origin of ethics and morality in the society. Taking religion out of the equation leaves everything to human discretion, and well-informed and stable decisions cannot be thus made because of difference of cultures and opinions among people. We need to take measures to establish nuclear family system in the society.

References:Jasmin. (2013, Oct. 24). Divorce in America [infographic]. Retrieved from http://dailyinfographic.com/divorce-in-america-infographic.