Evolution of the Family Institution Sociology

THE EVOLUTION OF THE FAMILY

Part One

Annotated Bibliography

Buehler, C., & O’Brien, M. (2011). Mothers’ Part-Time Employment: Associations with Mother and Family Well-Being. Journal of Family Psychology, 25(6), 895-906.

The authors used data collected from the seven waves of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHHD) Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development to draw comparisons among families of mothers in part-time employment, full-time employment, and the non-employed. The families were compared across the areas of mothers’ well-being, work-family interface, parenting, and couple functioning. Mothers’ well-being was measured using overall health and depressive symptoms, work-family interface was measured by the frequency of conflict with one’s spouse, and couple functioning was measured by the extent of perceived intimacy with one’s spouse. The study results showed that non-employed mothers were more at risk of developing depressive symptoms than those employed either part-time or full-time. The proposed paper seeks to explain the growing popularity of nonprofit child care organizations and how this relates to the evolution of the family structure. To do this, the writer will need to demonstrate that a mother is better off enrolling her child into a child care center than stay home to raise the child herself. The findings of this study will go a long way towards providing a rationale for the growth in child care organizations in recent years. The journal of Family Psychology is a reputable publication sponsored by the American Psychological Association, and the article went through a thorough process of review before publication. Further, both writers are scholars in psychology and have written multiple articles and books in the areas of family and human development. Thus, the findings of the article can be regarded as both factual and credible.

Stevenson, B., & Wolfers, J. (2007). Marriage and Divorce: Changes and their Driving Forces. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 21(2), 27-52.

The authors paint a vivid picture of trends in marriage and divorce across demographic groups over the past 150 years. They depict how divorce rates have grown over the past 150 years, as well as the decline in marriage rates, and the changing importance of marriage at different points of the life cycle. The article clearly shows trends in remarriage rates, cohabitation, and out-of-wedlock fertility over the years, and provides possible explanations for these changes. The authors make reference to the woman’s changing role within the family, including her increased participation in the labor market, increased education attainment, and the partial closing of the gender wage gap. The insights presented herein help to paint a clear picture of marriage in the pre-20th century as well as in the modern-day society. This information will be crucial as I seek to demonstrate how the family unit has evolved over the years, from the traditional setting, where the husband worked as the wife stayed at home to care for the children, to the current ideal, where both men and women work outside the home to provide the best for the children. Of particular importance will be the changing role of the woman in society, the factors that have brought about this change, and the impact of the change on the family unit. The journal of economic perspectives is a reliable and credible publication. Both authors are professors of public policy and economics at the University of Michigan, and have extensive experience authoring and co-authoring articles on financial issues of marriage and divorce. As such, the insights presented in the article can be regarded as both factual and credible.

Part Two

The Evolution of the Family Structure and Development of Childcare and Early Learning Organizations

The family is one of the five primary social institutions by which social behavior can be controlled and regulated. Institutions play a vital role of uniting people, providing identity to individuals, and transmitting culture across generations. This text identifies how the evolution of the family structure over time has led to the need for new nonprofit social organizations in the form of childcare and early childhood organizations.

The Family in the Pre-20th Century

The family in the pre-20th century consisted of a husband, wife, biological children, and the extended family (Agree, 2017). Divorce was rare and most married people stayed married until death (Stevenson & Wolfers, 2007). Because of its dominance then, this structure played a crucial role in the creation of cultural roles for women and men within the family unit. The men were the providers and managers in the family. This meant that they were obligated to provide for their wives and children and had ultimate authority over finances in the eyes of both the law and society (Stevenson & Wolfers, 2007). Conversely, the women’s role was to assist the man within the home by raising children and taking care of the home. Under the Coverture condition, married women lacked a legal identity, which meant that they could not own property, enter into contracts, or sue in their own names (Concordia University Online, 2015).

The 19th century brought significant changes to the family structure, particularly with the enactment of the Married Women’s Property Acts from 1839, which gave married women the power to enter into contracts, sue and be sued, own property, and control the disposition of property upon death (Concordia University Online, 2015). Although the woman was still defined by her husband, her role in the family was slowly changing.

The Great Depression and the Post-War Period

The greatest changes in the family structure were felt during the great depression of the 1930s throughout World War II. During the Great Depression, unemployment levels rose and wages fell significantly, forcing families to adjust by adopting a ‘cooperative family economy’, where wives and elder children took up part-time jobs to supplement family income (Concordia University Online, 2015). Although the divorce rate was still low, lower wages and unemployment spurred by the depression forced many Americans to delay having children and marriage. Almost 2 million married couples lived apart by 1940 (Concordia University Online, 2015). More and more women took up jobs in war industries in addition to running households and raising children alone as a result of the prolonged separation and changes brought about by the depression and World War II. Although domestic containment was still a way of life, it is estimated that in the post-war period, only 60 percent of children lived in a male-breadwinner, female-homemaker household (Concordia University Online, 2015).

The rise of the post-industrial economy following World War II expanded even further the woman’s role in society as more and more married women abandoned the ‘domestic containment’ ideal, attended college, and took up either part-time or full-time jobs (Stevenson & Wolfers, 2007). By 1960, approximately 30 percent of middle class married women were working either part-time or full-time away from the home, and a considerable amount of Americans viewed the idea of an ideal family as one in which both the man and woman work and share household and childcare responsibilities (Concordia University Online, 2015). Societal attitudes towards marriage have changed and the same has been repositioned as a capstone rather than a cornerstone. Marriage is no longer a foundational event of early adulthood, but a crowning event of later adulthood that should happen when one finishes college and establishes a career (Stevenson & Wolfers, 2007). More and more couples are opting for cohabitation rather than marriage, with data from the 2000 census indicating that the number of cohabiting couples in America rose from half a million to 4.9 million between 1960 and 2000 (Concordia University Online, 2015).

In line with the evolving role of the woman came a rising divorce rate and declining birth rates. Higher labor force participation and longer educational careers have been associated with women’s lessened dependence on their husbands’ economic earning power, and are believed to have contributed to the rising cases of later family formation and divorce (Stevenson & Wolfers, 2007). The rising cases of divorce could also be attributed to no-fault divorce legislations in the 1960s that permitted couples to end their marriages based on simple irreconcilable differences (Concordia University Online, 2015). California was the first state to pass the legislation in 1969, and all other states had followed suit by 1985 (Concordia University Online, 2015). The result of these trends has been a rise in the number of single-parent families and those formed through remarriage.

All these factors have led to a proliferation of family ties that are possibly weaker, more diffuse, and more ambiguous. With the increase in women’s labor force participation and educational attainment, as well as the rise in cases of divorce and single parent families; working women are increasingly finding it difficult to engage in the traditional child rearing roles (Agree, 2017). Although they still take time off work for child rearing, this is more likely to be measured in months than in years (Agree, 2017).

Changing Family Structure and Child Care Organizations

With the changes in the family dynamics, working women are faced with three options: a) foregoing the opportunities in the labor market and staying at home to take care of the children, b) hiring a nanny to take care of the child at home, or c) enroll the children into a child care or daycare program, where they spend most of the day and learn some crucial skills such as toileting and modeling.

Foregoing work to stay at home may not be plausible, particularly if the woman is the sole breadwinner as in the case of a single family. Further, studies have shown that non-employed mothers are more socially isolated than their employed counterparts and are at a higher risk of developing depression (Buehler & O’Brien, 2011). The study, however, found no significant differences in depressive symptoms between working mothers employed on a part-time basis and those employed full-time (Buehler & O’Brien, 2011). For this reason, the study concluded that mothers were better off securing employment, be it part time or full time. To do this, they need to either leave their children with a nanny or enroll them into a daycare center. A day care center may be more profitable for young children as it provides opportunities for them to interact with their peers, thereby developing their social skills while still acquiring additional skills such as toileting or modeling that they may not have learnt at home.