Family as an Important Social Institution - Coursework Example

THE FAMILY IS IN CRISIS by of the of the Introduction ‘The family crisis’ is the highly debated topic in today’s modern societies. Social institutions that have been present over the centuries usually transform slowly, when they reform at all. But, that is not the way things have been happening with family and marriage since the mid-20th century. Over the last 50 years, revolutionary demographic, social, and economic changes have transformed the composition and structure of the Western family. The traditional family structure of mother, father, and the children has replaced by various new arrangements and family types such as, single parent, blended family, older parent, boomerang, and same-sex family, triggering a new broader and erratic concept of a ‘family’ (Cheal 2008, p. 8-16). However, with the transformation of traditional family structure, the rate of divorce, teen-age pregnancy, children out of wedlock, martial conflicts, violence, crimes, drug-addiction, psychological disorders among the young, antisocial behaviour and high costs of welfare and health programmes have dramatically increased in the last few years (Moore 1994, p. 1-4). All these have triggered the widespread perception that something has gone wrong with the modern family. Declining family and social values and growing number of anti-social behaviours have raised the question over the effectiveness of modern family structure. By means of various researches and statistics, the paper will try to prove the existence of family crisis in the advanced societies. The paper will also highlight the concept of family and major evidences to strengthen the evaluation of family crisis in today’s world. The Concept of Family and Family Crisis: Overview In order to evaluate the crisis in the social institutional entity of family, it is necessary to identify the definition of such concept. The term ‘family’ has been controversial due to the application of it in various ambiguous ways over the years. The legal definition of the family was crucial as it would make a significant difference in criteria for sick leave, housing, and health care benefits. The controversy over defining the family is still present in legislatures of various countries, including the United Kingdom and the United States (Popenoe 1993, p. 528-529). According to other much wider definition, the family is defined as a rather small domestic group of kin (or individuals in a kin-like relation) involving at least 1 dependent and 1 adult person. The definition mainly targets an intergeneration entity that consists of (or once consisted) children, but the elderly, infirm adults, handicapped, and other dependent units also qualify. The definition is also applicable to single-parent family, blended family, homosexual couples, fictive kin, surrogate parenting, and non-married couples in live-in relationship in which dependent members are involved (Cheal 2008, p. 4-7). Further, turning from the question of defining family to family’s function, the domestic kin bands are expected to carry out certain duties in order to meet certain needs of society. In almost all religions and cultures, the social norms about the family and marriage insisted on certain functions. For instance, procreation and upbringing of children, the provision of companionship, affection, and care to family members, financial support (the sharing of financial recourses, particularly shelter, food, and clothing), and sexual norms (so that people can be responsible about the consequences of their sexuality) (Popenoe 1993, p. 529-530). Claiming the family crisis in modern societies is to allege that the domestic kin units are failing in executing their duties or meeting the societal demands. In other words, modern families are not as successful as traditional families in meeting the needs of society. Certainly, this generalization is not applicable to all families. The family crisis triggers the situations in which the family members are required to make necessary change either to let things get more worse or to make things better . When family fails to adopt necessary changes the crisis further intensifies, breaking the families and related kin (Cheyingtan 2014). The Family Crisis: A Widespread Debate The family crisis in the developed world is the aftermath of many chains of episodes. There are many possible reasons for the crisis. The decade of 1960s can be considered as a major baseline for drastic changes in family structure as the era saw most of the technological, medical, and social transformations (Moore 1994, p. 4-5). According to many experts, growth of industrialism in the 1960s destroyed the traditional structure of the family in developed countries which is further triggered by the globalization in the 1990s. With the introduction of globalization and industrialism, most of the family members began to settle in other cities away from the family for the job purposes (Cheal 1991 p. 11-30). Children were no longer dependent on families for the financial support as they could earn by themselves due to availability of vast job opportunities. With growing advancements in medical field, birth control and family planning measures were readily adopted in order to lower the economic burden of childcare (Jaegger & Wright 1999 p. 8-10). Also, reformation of legislative system made divorce process easier. Furthermore, legal recognition to homosexuality and adoption of child allowed homosexual couples to adopt children and form family. In today’s fast and advanced life, more emphasize is given to individualism and their abilities. In a way, societies are dramatically reformed and traditional functions of family are no longer important as they used be (Pew Research Center 2010 p. 7-13). Consequently, family members are less motivated to carry out traditional functions as other institutions have take over most of these responsibilities and priorities are changed. With the dramatic changes in family structure and components, various issues such as, broken families, disturbed childhood, high rate of violence, crimes, domestic conflicts have rapidly emerged (Cheal 2008, p. 78-148). However, some experts aggressively reject the relation of family crisis with modern family structure and lowered traditional family values. According to them, the family crisis is mere moral crisis that has exaggerated by media and politicians to protect their interests (Moore 1994, p. 6-7). According to feminist group, domestic violence and conflicts were existed in traditional families too. However, due to complexity of legislature process and unavailability of divorce rights forced women to stay in wedlock. As reformation of domestic laws and policies made divorce process easier, it opened door to freedom for many women (Cheal 1991, p. 9-23). Therefore, high rate of divorce in today’s society is all about opportunities and rights which were denied in past rather than flaws in modern family structure. Also, many experts blame political policies and social discrimination for the high rates of divorce among black families. Racial economic discrimination, technological and marketplace changes have had a massive impact on employment opportunities for black community, preventing many of them earn enough to support a family (Perry 2014). Bette Dickson and Susan George have supported the single-parent family structure in their research on poor African-American single-mother families. According to their report, African-American grandparents, especially maternal grandmothers, have regularly provided a great support to single-parent families, especially in childcare. Therefore, it is invalid to blame lack of attention towards children in single-parent families (Angier 2013). Despite such claims of modern family advocates, many sociologists and experts have regularly pointed out the crisis in today’s family system. Also, many statistics and facts regarding divorce, domestic conflicts, psychological and physical abuse of children and women, crimes, teenage pregnancy have highlighted the family crisis in modern societies. Major Evidences of the Family Crisis High rate of Divorce and Failure of Marriage System Compare to the 20th century, the overall rate of divorce in majority of western European countries has reached to all time high of 35%, while in the Scandinavian states, the US and the Uk, it is even higher than 50% (Pew Research Center 2010, p. 110-114). Today, the public attitude towards the marriage has dramatically changed. In 1960, around 73% of American adults were married. The number dropped to 51% in 2008. About 40% of Americans today consider marriage as an obsolete. Marriage rates are highly connected to education and race as 65% of graduates are much more likely to get married than 48% of those who have not completed their college education. Also, blacks (35%) are much less likely to get married than whites (58%). The gap is constantly increasing as black children (55%) are almost 3 times as likely as white children (19%) to live with single parent. Marriage is no longer considered as an obligation for parenthood (Rector 2010). But, ironically, in recent survey of the Pew Research Center, about 70% of individuals stated that raising children in single-parent environment is harmful for the socio-psychological development of children, and about 72% of individuals supported the traditional values about marriage and family (Pew Research Center 2010, p. 7-10). Economic Factor With the introduction of industrialization and globalization, the gender roles and family functions significantly reformed. In order to cope up growing financial stress and increasing costs of basic living standards, women began to work outside the home. In 2008, about 74% of married women were employed compare to mere 30% those in 1960 (Rector 2010). The growing participation of women in workforce has caused a massive impact on family structure as many women began to postpone marriage and have fewer or no children. Today, children and marriage are considered as extra economic burden. For example, middle class and poor families in the US and the UK are often unwilling to bear the full-cost of elderly parents and child care and insist on welfare benefits. Growing welfare dependency in the developed countries has also triggered the family crisis. For instance, the idea of getting pregnant in order to claim the benefits of single parents and enjoy welfare dependency benefits without working is reinforcing in the UK (Moore 1994, p. 12-15). Folbre argued that the increased cost of child bearing due to market integration and modernization process have intensified the economic stresses on society. Also, with the average wedding cost of around £18,000, many people opt instead to save for a housing deposit (BBC 2015). Economic burden has made people more reluctant to form the family. According to the reports of the US Census Bureau, only 45% of Americans were employed in 2010, while over 1.6 million Americans reported bankruptcy in 2010 (Snyder 2011). Women still earn $0.78 to men’s dollar. The study further showed that the single mothers are more likely to experience depression and anxiety than men and are more prone to poverty (Kulungu 2014, p.4-8). Children living in single-parent environment are more likely suffer from poverty than those living in traditional families. The number of children living under poverty line has rose by about 2.5 million in just the last 2 years. Rising poverty is a significantly weakening the socio-economic stability in today’s society (Snyder 2011). National Happiness Index Various economist and sociologist have supported the fact that happiness is essential for the economic growth and well-being of society. According to the estimation of the economist Andrew Oswald, the happy married family can contribute worth around £71,000 annually to the state economy (BBC 2015). In 2012, the United Nations (UN) published the first World Happiness Report. Over the 2 years of study, it found that the happiness index is higher among the developing states in Asia and Latin America, while it is significantly dropped in developed and industrialised countries. Poor physical and physiological health, declined social and family values, work stress, disturbed or broken families, poor social relationships are some of the major reasons were mentioned for the low happiness index in modern societies (BBC 2015). Impact on Children Many researches and studies have found that declining traditional family structure and growing number of single-parents, disturbed families, and other modern family structures have caused various direct and indirect negative effects on children. According to the study of the University of Toronto, children of divorced parents are 2 to 3 times more likely to seriously consider suicide than their peers with traditional families (Israelsen-Hartley 2011). Further, the research of the Fragile Families revealed that marriage can prove to be an effective measure to reduce child poverty (Rector 2010). Children raised by married couples have comparably better life outcomes than the children in single-parent families. Children in single-parent or disturbed families are more than twice as likely to be arrested in juvenile crimes; twice or more likely to be diagnosed with behavioural and emotional problems; and three times more likely exposed to drugs and alcohol addiction (Mackay 2005, p. 112-116). Also, children living in foster care experience constant grief and show signs of aggression, depression, and behavioural problem (Stukes et al. 2004, p. 76-79). A major research conducted by the University of Melbourne claimed that stigmatization of homosexual and transgender couples still plays a crucial role in child-upbringing and despite the legal recognition of such families, their children are highly exposed to bullying and constant psychological stress (Mckay 2014). Various researchers and experts have constantly highlighted the link between the declining traditional system and growth of modern family structures with high rate of teenage pregnancies, substance abuse, poor mental health, criminal offending, and poor performance in education and career. Conclusion Family is an important social institution. Dramatic changes in its basic structure and components in recent years gave rise to a widespread debate over existence of family crisis in modern societies. Many advocates of contemporary family structure have promptly denied the possibility of family crisis and accused media and politicians for creating moral panic about it. Even though some of their arguments can be considered relevant, the existence of family crisis in today’s society can’t be denied. Various facts, researches, and studies about growing rates of divorce, parenting without wedlock, declining social and family values and its negative effects on children in combination of increasing violence, crimes, substance abuse, poor mental and psychological health, and poverty have shown strong existence of family crisis in modern societies. With right approach and by spreading awareness about the importance of family for economic prosperity and development of happy and healthy society, current issue of family crisis can be tackled. Reference List Angier, N 2013, ‘The Changing American Family’, The New York Times, 25 November, viewed 21 January 2015, . BBC 2015, Is the nuclear family happier one, iWonder, viewed 21 January 2015, . Cheal, D 2008, Families in Todays World: A Comparative Approach, Routledge, the USA and Canada. Cheal, D 1991, Family and the State of Theory, University of Toronto Press, Toronto. Cheyingtan 2014, Build Up Your Family in Times of Crisis, Family Crisis, viewed 21 January 2015, . Israelsen-Hartley, S 2011, ‘As traditional family declines, global concern mounts’, Deseret News, 26 January, viewed 21 January 2015, . Jaegger, G & Wright, C 1999, Changing family values, Routledge, London & New York. Kulungu, M 2014, Working mother, their contribution, & impact on the decline of traditional family, academia.edu, pp. 1-14, viewed 21 January 2015, . Mackay, R 2005, ‘The Impact of Family Structure and Family change on Child Outcomes’, Social Policy Journal Of New Zealand Te Puna Whakaaro, no. 24, pp. 111-133, viewed 21 January 2015, . Mckay, T 2014, A Major Study Reveals What Happens to Children Raised by Same-Sex Couples, Identities.Mic, viewed 21 January 2015, . Moore, H 1994, Is there a crisis in the family?, United Nations Research Institute for Social Development (UNRISD), pp. 1-31, viewed 21 January 2015, . Perry, TL 2014, Family Values, Race, Feminism and Public Policy, Santa Clara University, viewed 21 January 2015, . Pew Research Center 2010, The Decline of Marriage and Rise of New Families, A Social & Demographic Trends Report, pp. 1-114, viewed 21 January 2015, . Popenoe, D 1993, ‘American Family Decline 1960 1990: A Review and Appraisal, Journal of Marriage and the Family’, Journal of Marriage and Family, vol. 55, no. 3, pp.527-542, viewed 21 January 2015, . Rector, R 2010, Marriage: America’s Greatest Weapon against Child Poverty, The Heritage Foundation, viewed 21 January 2015, . Snyder, M 2011, 35 Statistics That Show The Average American Family Has Been Broke Down, Tore Down, Beat Down, Busted And Disgusted By This Economy, End of the American Dream, viewed 21 January 2015, . Stukes, S, Tricia, C, & Bent-Goodley, B 2004, ‘Meeting the Challenges of Contemporary Foster Care’, Journal Issue: Children, Families, and Foster Care, vol. 14, no. 1, pp. 75-93, viewed 21 January 2015, . 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