Changes of Families over the Last Years and Their Major Causes - Term Paper Example

Name : xxxxxxxxxxx Institution : xxxxxxxxxxx Title : Changes of families over the last 200 hundred years and their major causes Tutor : xxxxxxxxxxx Course : xxxxxxxxxxx @2010 Introduction Marriage institution and the entire family life have undergone major changes in Australia for over a century ago. The relationship between the members of these families especially the two spouses as the founders has changed leading to emergence of two key processes: cohabitation and marriage breakdown. This highly influences the tendency of bringing up children, although these changes are experience in all the family contexts, they have both positive, and negative impacts in to the people. The study is about the changes that have taken place in Australian family contexts for the last 200 years, what causes these changes and their impacts to the affected. Changes in the family context over 200 years The styles of living have really changed not only in Australia but also in the other parts of the world. The life factors like economic, social and political have mostly changed affecting anything around them. Marriage is no longer guaranteed since introduction of cohabitation or the trail marriage where by a couple stays together for a period of time to gauge how they can get along then they decide on whether to settle into marriage or not. Initially any man and woman living together whether with an intention of getting married or not could be pronounced as a husband and wife and if they separated, they could be seen as divorcees. In the present world, settling into marriage having not lived together is seen as a risk because there is no guarantee of its success. Most of the sociological theorists in the modern societies are arguing that a big percentage of the marriages are ending up in divorce leading. Although the disagreements between the spouses existed from the beginning the, the current marriages have no forces to keep them attached to each other like it was in most of the cultures. In most of the cultures especially with the indigenous Australians like the Aboriginal societies, anyone who divorced his or her partner was considered as an outcast in the society forcing anyone to hold the abilities and inabilities of his or her spouse and live together as a husband and wife (Van Krieken et al, 2010). Stewart & Harrison, (2002) argues that the common marriage separation is leading to single parenting where by children are brought up under the care of a single parent whether a man or a woman. This is changing the living arrangements children because they do not access the necessary parental care. Those brought up by single mothers luck the fatherly guidance hence when they grow up they may not be able to handle their husbands and the boys are likely to be irresponsible husbands. Most of the social context is learnt from interaction with others or the observation of what is happening hence these kids will not have anyone to copy from. Initially the cultural societies of the families could be identified depending on the way they behaved or related with the others. This has however vanished and is no more because people are behaving almost similarly across the world especially in the context of social lives. Everyone is struggling to abandon his or her culture and adapt the modern culture of the education generation in which there is freedom of doing anything that pleases an individual without minding about hurting the others. The children are also coming up with their own ways of doing things due to lack of good guidance and as they also struggle to live to the best. This is why the society today is identifying various behaviors with particular age groups (Hughes, 2005). The issue of cultural intermarriages is becoming common in the society with most of the people intermarrying across the world. Initially such marriages required both spouses to adapt the cultures of a man but the present society has no time for that, there is no time to learn and adapt one of the cultures so the family lives between two cultures. This is leading to disagreements between the spouses because the customs of most of the cultures are completely different and unaccepted by the other. The most affected are children since they are torn between the two cultures hence each comes up with his or her own way of doing things (Lindsay & Dempsey, 2009). The earlier families required the man to go out and gather for his family and the woman stay at home to look after the family. With the changing life, both man and woman are expected to contribute to improve the economic status of their family thus they all seem equal and non want to be at the ground over the other. The children do not experience parental care but are left at the hands of the house helps or children care units, therefore, they are much attached to their nurses than their parents. The children adapt the behaviour of the house helps or the instructors in the day care units and not those of the parents. This is the source of most of the disagreements between the parents and their kids (Hughes, 2005). Egoism is growing stronger with time. Initially there was no different between one generation to the next since the children were expected to inherit the characters of their parents and some inherited even the economic activities, for example if the farmer is a farmer the son was expected to take after him or something close to that. Life has really changed with the introduction of many different careers. The rate of immigration was low and generations lived in the same land as their fore fathers, according to their customs they could share anything including sharing of the clothes from one generation to another. In the present world people are running for new things in the name of changing for the best. These changes are the causes of most of the marital conflicts because the spouses are not willing to note the changes of their aging counterparts instead they look for other people who look younger (Lindsay & Dempsey, 2009). There are other forces which bring people together for marrying apart from intimate love. Such factors as economic stability are increasing the attraction of most of the couples. Marriages which are enhanced by other factors other than love are not guaranteed to last for long because changes in them lead to disagreements between the spouses and hence divorce. Although there are various changes in the family contexts especially the marriage institution, the recent research shows that the rate of marriages is increasing only that most of them end up in divorce and others are polygamous. The reason as to why there are many single mothers is because of the imbalanced growth of the population hence there are more women than men. There is an increase of never population because of the increased economic activities hence most of the women are able to financially manage their lives without the support of men. Everyone in the society is concern about economic development and neglecting the social aspect thus people have no time for their families and spouses. They do not take time to learn about the likes and dislikes of their partners so as to be able to handle them. This is ending up in families which have no principles to abide the members hence the children are completely different to their parents (Giddens, 2009). Causes of family changes The changes in the present families are caused by the general reforms in the entire world. The ways of doing things have completely changed from the cultural ones to the modern ones which are accepted across the world. The custom marriage where by people respected anything associated with it has changed to something different in which the society allows people to cohabite in the name of looking for the best life partner. In case their personalities do not match they part ways but if they agree they go on and get married. Economic activities of the parents are affecting the way the young ones are brought up. Parents have no time for their children and one another thus the behaviour of these children is influenced by what they watch in Televisions or the observing the behaviour of their nurses. The high rates of divorce is bringing changes in most of the family context as the children are brought up in either a disorganized way or luck some of the necessary social aspects like parental guidance, some of the children have no fathers to take from hence adapt whatever the society provides. Egoism is also causing the changes in the family set up because most of the people are becoming self centered and are not wiling to share anything with their relatives not even the knowledge they have. According to Beck-Gernsheim (2002), the political status is also a contributing factor to the changes in the present families, the constitution accept divorce as part of it resulting the insecurity in most of the marriages and single parenting. Impacts of family changes The changes in the family context have both negative and positive impacts not only on those involved in marriage but also to the children, close relatives and the society as a whole. The children suffer most from any disagreeing marriage, because they suffer from luck of good parental care and confusion. They mostly end up being misled because they adapt the behaviours that they see in the society, Televisions or house helps. Most of the families have improved economically due to the changes and increased career opportunities and the cost sharing of every member. The society is experiencing some negative changes because most of the people are neglecting their original customs ending up into crimes (Lillard, Brien, & Waite, 2005). Conclusion There are many changes in the family context for the last 200 years involving not only the social aspect but also the economic and political. These changes are caused by the reforms in the way of doing things; everyone wants to neglect the cultural activities and adapt the foreign ones which are accepted by the international standards. All family members wants to be involved in economic development thus parents have neglected their responsibilities at home delegated them to others like house helps and operators of day care units. They have both positive and negative impacts on those involved. References Van Krieken, R., Habibis, D., Smith, P., Hutchins, B., Martin, G & Maton, K., 2010, Sociology (4th ed.), Pearson, Frenchs Forest NSW. Pp.116-121, pp.141-149 & pp.154-159. Lindsay, J. & Dempsey, 2009, Families, relationships and intimate life, Oxford University Press, South Melbourne. pp.50-68. Giddens, A., 2009, ‘Families and Intimate Relationships’, Sociology, Polity, Cambridge, pp.327-382. Beck-Gernsheim, E., 2002, ‘When divorce becomes normal’ in Reinventing the family: In search of new lifestyles, (translated by Camiller P), Polity, Cambridge (Chapter 2). Hughes, K., 2005, ‘The adult children of divorce: Pure relationships and family values?’, Journal of Sociology, v41: 69 - 86. Stewart, D. & Harrison, M., 2002, Divorce in Australia. Melbourne: Institute of Family Studies. Lillard, L., Brien, M. & Waite, L., 2005, Premarital cohabitation and subsequent marital dissolution: A matter of self-selection? Demography, (32) 437-457. Read More