Decline in the American Family

Decline in the American Family Values

The decline of American family values

There are many studies which assert that there has been a strong and even radical decline in American family values since the 1950's. The following extract clearly outlines this concern.

Throughout most of Western history, until the 20th century, society as a whole strongly supported the family institution. It was the family's duty to instruct children in moral values, but it derived those values from church, from philosophers, from social traditions. Now most of these supports are weakened, or gone.

The American Family: Future Uncertain)

There are also many studies which attempt to find reasons for this situation. For example, the American Family Association (AFA) believes that one of the central factors in the decline of family values is the media and the entertainment industry. This point-of-view claims that the entertainment industry has "....has played a major role in the decline of those values on which our country was founded and which keep a society and its families strong and healthy." (the American Family Association). One aspect of this is, according to the article, the normalization and even endorsement of premarital sex during the last 25 years. This decline in values has led to "... A dramatic increase in teen pregnancies, sexually transmitted diseases such as AIDS and abortion as a means of birth control." (the American Family Association)

The ideal of the American family as a close-knit and caring unit comprising father, mother and children was one of the positive social entities that emerged in the prosperous years after the Second World War. Many studies however suggest that there has been a subsequent and accelerating decline in the American family.

One of the main aspects leading to this decline is that the centrality and importance of marriage in society has also suffered a steady decline since the 1950's. "While still a central institution in American society, marriage plays a less dominant role than it once did." (the Emerging 21st Century American Family) This is supported by statistics which show that the proportion of adults who have never been married rose from 15% to 23% between 1972 and 1998. (the Emerging 21st Century American Family) There has also been a concomitant increase in the divorce rate. These aspects have all contributed to the changing values in the family.

For example, the values associated with different gender roles have changed as a result of the changes in the nature and structure of the family. The value system in the traditional nuclear family was dependent on gender role differentiation and responsibilities. These roles, which created certain values and norms associate with the sexes, were disturbed by social events such as the increasing participation of women in the workforce since 1950. This altered the responsibility structures and values attached to the concept of the mother as the 'homemaker'.

A traditional perspective in which women were occupied in the private sphere of life centering around running a home and raising a family while men engaged in the public sphere of earning a living and participating in civic and political events has rapidly been replaced by a modern perspective in which there is much less gender-role specialization

The Emerging 21st Century American Family)

This meant that the values associated with women in the family have in many instances undergone radial change and this aspect is seen by many commentators as negative in terms of the stability of the family and family values.

Another important area of change relates to sexual norms and values in the family. Studies show that there has a definite growth in more permissive attitudes towards sex and particularly premarital sex. The number of people who see sex between an unmarried man and woman as "wrong" dropped from 36% in 1972 to 24% in 1996. (the Emerging 21st Century American Family)

These statistics indicate a change for the earlier view of sex as only being acceptable between married couples; which questioned the established norm and role of sexuality in the traditional family.

Another central area of change since the 1950's is the value associated with child rearing and the family. The more traditional concept of the family has at its core the ideal and value of providing secure and moral child - rearing practices. This aspect has changed and there has been a move away for this central value. There is an "...ambivalence towards children" in contemporary studies of the family. (the Emerging 21st Century American Family) in other words, it is no longer universally agreed that children and child - rearing are the most essential aspects of the family. Another example in contrast to the 1950's model of the family is that many people now feel that it is not necessary to have a mother who stays and home and there is a grater acceptance of the mother and wife who work away form home.