Abstract

Family is the most important agent of socialization. Parents get credit for well raised children and blamed for ill-mannered ones as well. This indicates that the manner in which parents their children profoundly affects the society as a whole. Grandparents, parents, siblings and the society in general teach children what they need to know about their communities. This includes how to handle objects and how to relate to one another. Such awareness harnesses the fundamental knowledge of how the world works which eventually shapes children’s social interaction behavior.

According to Mark, Donaldson & Campbell (2011), early dependency of a child makes a child to understand how to relate with others as a way of co-existence. In early ages of a child, parents are tasked to take care of their children, who in turn learn to trust their parents. As a child grows, he learns customs and community values. These beliefs can be indoctrinated through verbal or non-verbal cues.  While handling various social actions, events and activities a child learns to handle different social situations, which eventually shape the social life. Razieh (2012) asserts that a family is a place where a child grows and develops both ‘roots’ and ‘wings’ that transforms him/her from being a dependent creature to an independent grown up. Each family has a unique way of living within the nuclear setup and a number of characteristics are passed down the generation, which eventually shapes the general social behavior of a community.

The nature of American families has been changing from time to time. Dramatic Changes to the American Families are majorly attributed to 4 major trends including increased number of children being brought up by single parents, increased number of families living in non-traditional setups, increased proportion of females in labor force and increased proportion of older people compared to children in the American population demographics.  Increase in single parenthood has been majorly attributed by high cases of divorce and bearing children outside marriages. According to Davanzo & Rahman (2013), many millennial adults choose to wait longer before getting married or prefer open relationships over committed married relationships. During such periods, they are likely to sire children and fail to get married altogether. In the current contemporary world, people are committed to live in the modern way and abandon traditional values that are considered to be “out of fashion”. As a result, they end up in the modern-day living arrangements.  Since the end of the World War II, promotion of women’s rights has been gradually growing as a global movement, which has motivated women to strive for both political and employment positions that were initially reserved for men (Calvès, 2009). The ripple effect of these movements has paved way for many women to join the labor force. Increased proportion of older people compared to children population has been stimulated by decline in mortality rate due to improved healthcare systems and reduced fertility rates.

There are notable differences in marriages and family lives that are linked to differences in class, race, gender and personal choices. In many families, parents help girls to act and think “like girls” while boys to think and act “like boys”. These inclinations cause behavioral disparities that eventually make children to learn their genders. An individual with strong gender preferences is likely to have marriage problems. Some are likely to presume “men chores” cannot be done by women and “women chores” are meant for women (Booher-Jennings, 2008). Such gender stems may cause family squabbles that eventually become a notable problems in the families.  Interracial families are likely to bring about cross-cultural variation in socialization which is regarded as a good characteristic that facilitates learning from other societies. Multicultural communities harnesses improved style of living and stimulate competition that eventually leads to economic growth. According to Hilbrecht, Shaw & Andrey (2013), working-class parents tend to have repetitive tasks which are purely based on rules and conformity guidelines.  Wealthy parents tend to work in managerial positions that require creative and problem-solving tendencies. Working parents are likely to teach their children behaviors that are aligned to their current work environments. Consequently, children are raised with a job perception that can take certain types of jobs.

In my opinion, trend towards diverse families has a negative effect to both an individual and the society at large.  Family diversity is moving away from the traditional nuclear family. One of the notable problems that arise from multicultural family is conflict of theories, beliefs and customs that split many families apart. Even though theorists like Murdock (2016) believe that multicultural families brings change that is essential for co-existence between different people from different parts of the world, it is also causing essential traditions to decay. Strong homogenous families give rise to stabilized families that reduce cases of illegitimate children. This eventually reduces stress and good mankind. Desirable social characteristics are carried on to the next generation. Therefore, moving away from close family is likely to harm good functional ideas that are regarded as fit for the community.

If the trend changed towards the traditional families, women rights would be profoundly affected. Before World War II, women were regarded as house wives and those who were privileged to work were secretaries, receptionists or store clerks. This gave male counter parts an upper hand to infringe women’s economic privileges. As a result many women depended on men for social and economic support. In general, women were seen as wives and mothers who were mandated to take care of their homes and children. Their selfless effort to rise above the common masculinity believes were realized in World War II. When millions of men left the service, women stepped up to take up some of the vital roles in the military. The military service realized that many women were proud to serve the country and inspired other civilian women to fight to for social change (WWII Museum, 2018). Consequently, more women started taking up jobs that were initially spared for men and advocated for their rights.

References

Booher-Jennings, J. (2008). Learning to label: Socialisation, gender, and the hidden curriculum of high-stakes testing. British Journal of Sociology of Education, 29, 149–160.

Calvès, A. (2009). Empowerment: The History of a Key Concept in Contemporary Development Discourse. Revue Tiers Monde, 4(4), 735-749. https://doi.org/10.3917/rtm.200.0735.

Davanzo, J., & Rahman, M. O. (2013). American families: trends and correlates. Population index, 59(3), 350–386.

Hilbrecht, M, Shaw, S &  Andrey, J. (2013). Remixing work, family and leisure: Teleworkers’ experiences of everyday life. New Technology, Work and Employment.28(2):130-144.

Mark, M. M., Donaldson, S. I., & Campbell, B. (2011). Social psychology and evaluation: The Guilford Press.

Murdock,E. (2016). Multiculturalism, Identity and Difference. In Experiences of Culture Contact (pp. 1-345). Palgrave Macmillan UK Press, DOI: 10.1057/978-1-137-59679-6,

Razieh,T. (2012). Bandura’s Social Learning Theory & Social Cognitive Learning Theory.

WWII Museum. (2018). Gender on the Home Front. Retrieved May 16, 2021, from The National WWII Museum New Orleans: https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/gender-home-front.