The Modern Family by Steven Mintz - Article Example

The Modern Family Summary The article “The Modern Family” by Steven Mintz provides information concerning the set up of the contemporary American families and marriages, the issue that surrounds the two factors, comparisons between American families and marriages, and the traditional family; generally it explains how American families and marriages have revolutionized. To further ensure a clear understanding of his subject matter Mintz provides the reasons that probably have led to this type of revolution. He indicates some statistics concerning factors like divorce, adultery among others. He also explains the role of women in the traditional American families and compares it with the role of women in the contemporary American families, and he seems to blame the government laws, feminism, and the social media a lot for some of the unpleasant changes that the contemporary American family and marriages exhibits (Mintz). In addition, Mintz seem to explain sexuality both in the present and the past, and connects it to some of the issues that impact negatively on families nowadays. Finally, through collaborative problem solving approach, he provides some of the possible solutions that can help stabilize American families, and comments that family will in future remain one of the hottest political issues (Mintz). Certainly, from reading Mintz’s article, the evidences provided clearly indicate that his target audience is the general public, both young and old. Moreover, I have selected this particular article because it clearly provides the issues that surround the contemporary American marriages and families. How the Article Reflects Family/Marriage Concepts Steven Mintz’s article reflects a collaborative approach in problem solving. In problem solving, collaborative approach involves the identification of options and problems to deal with and working in a mutual manner to help overcome them. Generally, the author has perfectly identified the problem at hand, however, in the last paragraph he has somehow merged the problem with some possible solutions that both the Conservatives and Liberals provide. Therefore, Mintz has not clearly depicted the collaborative approach. The article has however clearly depicted some of the family and marriage concepts. For instance, in the traditional American family fathers were expected to be the providers, protectors, and leaders in the family, while mothers were expected to be the helpers, team players, and nurtures in the family. However the concept in the contemporary depicts both the father and the mother in the family as equal. One major factor that has resulted to this notion is the fact that in the contemporary families, wives have assumed the role of providing financial support in the family. As a result, most of them feel that it is justifiable for both the husband and wife to be equal in the family. In addition, the notion that that feminists have about marriage is negative and depicts marriage as some form of bondage or slavery (Mintz). Further, the idea about relationships depicts the concepts that people have about marriage and family. Mintz explains how marriage relationships in the contemporary American families do not last. He provides the intensity and adversity of the factor, divorce. Further, Mintz describes the ever increasing numbers of single parents, and further explains that in the current world people would prefer to live together as couple but not married. In addition, he comments that the number of women who commit adultery in the current world is on the increase; thereby he depicts some of the problems that the current marriage institutions undergo (Mintz). Most of these vices in the family and marriage institutions according to the author are blamed on the social media which has portrayed family, sexuality and marriage in a completely different angle from that in the traditional American families. The article also proves the inexistence of the images of parenthood/relationships in the modern American families. For instance, in the currents families, situations arise whereby a child feels that they do not want to be in their family and seeks for help in a court so that they are taken to a foster family. Additionally, there are rising cases of divorce, single parents, and unmarried couple living together. These factors show the inexistence of the relationship image. Everybody seems like they want to be isolated from family or any form of relation with family. Moreover, Mintz asserts that in the current American families, more than two-thirds of all children below the age of five take part in a pre-kindergarten program, nursery school, or a daycare as compared to a fifth during the 1970s (Mintz). This simply indicates that the image of parenthood misses in the contemporary American families; most parents are too obsessed with seeking for finances or prospering in their careers than spending time with and taking care of their kids. Furthermore, Mintz depicts the contemporary American families as having both the father and the mother as breadwinners. Since the cost of living has become so high, even women are forced to go out and seek for employment so as to help men in supporting the family. This is contrary to the traditional American families where the man was the sole provider to the family and the women was the sole caregiver of the family. As a matter of fact, the idea that Mintz depicts about who is responsible of taking care of the family is that both the man and the woman in the family have the obligation of providing care to their children. Impacts of Alleged Concepts on Family/Marriage One major factor that seems to have revolutionized family and marriage much is the concept provided by feminists. The description that Mintz has provided concerning the notions of feminists on family and especially marriage clearly indicate that feminism has had a negative impact on family and marriage. The author, for instance, cites the comments made by the American feminist Ti-Grace Atkinson. She denounced marriage as a form of "slavery" and "legalized rape" (Mintz). This is just but one factor that has offered a bad picture about marriage thereby changing the perspectives that the modern woman has on marriage from bad to worse. However, feminism has managed to ensure equality for both men and women especially the ones in the family sector; duties are shared equally. Another concept that impacts on family and marriage is the fact that the social media in contemporary America depicts sexuality in a way unlike it used to in the past. The openness about sexuality in the social media is blamed for the vices exhibited in the contemporary American families and marriages. In addition, this openness has resulted to a population that has an active sex life and social life outside marriages, thereby leading to an increase in the number of broken marriages and homes. Moreover, the notion that the law has also contributed to the revolution in the family sector is also true. For instance, the law allows for sexuality openness in the social media thereby resulting to a change in the societal morals. Particular Marriage/Family Concepts Reinforced A major concept that has been reinforced provides that both a wife and a husband have the responsibility of offering financial support to the family and sharing the household chores, together with providing care to the children. Mintz provides that one of the aspects that have forced the modern woman to begin seeking for employment is the fact that the cost of living has risen and women also act as family providers (Mintz). Therefore, according to Mintz, this helps justify the action that women are taking in helping men provide financial support to the family. Additionally, the fact that women now assume a greater role in the provision of financial support to the family also justifies their insistence on equality between them and their husbands in the households. In addition, the concept that the social media has played a greater role in changing the structure, function, and role play in the family has also been reinforced by the author. The social media, for instance, depict families that consist of two unmarried couple who live in the same house (Mintz). Moreover, the social media has created too much openness in matters concerning sexuality thereby depleting the morals in the society. Generally, it is true that the social media has had negative impacts on the way people view the importance of family. It has also had negative impact on teenagers especially with regards to contraceptives. As a matter of fact, the author has reinforced this issue so that the world can recognize the negative impacts of the social media and make changes where possible so that families and marriages are strengthened. Mintz has also reinforced the notion that the current American laws concerning marriages, child bearing, families and whatever is portrayed in the media, are to blame for the ever increasing family breakups, divorces, and increase in the number of single parents. This reinforcement is justifiable since; the law has actually allowed the occurrences of certain vices such as abortion, which at times affect families and marriages. Possible Changes on the Article Certainly, Mintz article has some weaknesses, which may need some alterations. For instance, Mintz has failed to provide enough solutions to the problem at hand; he only cites some of the solutions that the Liberals and Conservatives provide (Mintz). He ought to have provided valid solutions with appropriate examples to the negative issues that surround families and marriages; this would assist readers in not only applying the solutions but also formulating their own solutions through derivation of ideas from the solutions provided in the article. Work Cited Mintz, Steven, “The Modern Family.” Digital History. 2nd May. 2014. < http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/historyonline/modernfamily.cfm> Read More