StudentShare
Contact Us
Sign In / Sign Up for FREE
Search
Go to advanced search...

Sociology unit4 - Essay Example

Cite this document
Summary
Sociology Question 1: Changes in the Family 2/4 APA Important and significant changes in families have occurred since 1960. They have led some observers to suggest that the family is becoming weaker or less important in American society. Others, however, argue that while the family is undeniably changing those changes are not necessarily weakening the role of the family or undermining its significance…
Download full paper File format: .doc, available for editing
GRAB THE BEST PAPER93.2% of users find it useful
Sociology unit4
Read Text Preview

Extract of sample "Sociology unit4"

Download file to see previous pages

These processes are largely intertwined and result in specific challenges to societies in general and to family life in particular, in both direct and indirect ways.” (Editors' note & Introduction”, 2008) Further it could be suggested that this list is accurate but incomplete as changing gender roles and division of labor both within and outside the family have also evolved. The wealth gap has increased in the United States over the last fifty years. The wealthy have gotten wealthier and the poor have gotten poorer.

This increases the affluence of the wealthy and increases the poverty of the least affluent. Most importantly, however, it increases the differences between the lives of the very wealthy and those of the very poor. This significant wealth gap increases differentiation within American society and between classes leading to resentment and the loss of a sense of shared destiny and cooperation. Second, as a result of the demographic transition families are getting smaller. It was not uncommon at the start of the twentieth century ffor a family to have six or eight children and possibly also have grandparents living with them.

Households were much larger one hundred years ago than they are today. In 2000 the average household size was 2.59 and the average family size was 3.14. Household size refers to persons living under the same roof but not necessarily related. (US Census, 2000, Fact Sheet) That the family size is larger than the household size is evidence of a weakening of the family in terms of families living together. It also speaks to the massive increase in marital breakdown that has become a common feature of modern family life.

According to divorcerate.org, “50% percent of first marriages, 67% of second and 74% of third marriages end in divorce, according to Jennifer Baker of the Forest Institute of Professional Psychology in Springfield, Missouri.” (“Divorce Rate”) John R. Lott Jr., argues that the wider availability of abortion as a birth control option increased casual and pre-marital sex and single-motherhood. He argues that this was the cause of the burgeoining crime rate during the 1980s and 1990s. He arguess that, “more out-of-wedlock births, fewer adoptions than expected, and less pressure on men "to do the right thing"--led to a sharp increase in single-parent families.

” (Lott, 2007) Further he asserts that this led to more children being raised in single-parent families and had no impact on the declining crime rate. “Legalizing abortion increased crime. Those born in the four years after Roe were much more likely to commit murder than those born in the four years prior.” (Lott, 2007) The increasing divorce rate and the increase in single-parent families all point to a weakening of the traditional family. References “Divorce Rate”. Www.divorcerate.org. "Editors' note & Introduction.

" Journal of Comparative Family Studies 39.3 (2008): 1+. Hanisch, Carol. (2006). “New Intro to 'The Personal is Political'. Web. http://web.archive.org/web/20080515014413/http://scholar.alexanderstreet.com/pages/viewpage.action?pageId=2259. Lott, John R., Jr. (August 13, 2007). "Abortion and crime: one has an effect on the other, but it may not be the effect you think." National Review18. US Census, 2000, F

...Download file to see next pages Read More
Cite this document
  • APA
  • MLA
  • CHICAGO
(“Sociology unit4 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words”, n.d.)
Retrieved from https://studentshare.org/environmental-studies/1406073-sociology
(Sociology Unit4 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 Words)
https://studentshare.org/environmental-studies/1406073-sociology.
“Sociology Unit4 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 Words”, n.d. https://studentshare.org/environmental-studies/1406073-sociology.
  • Cited: 0 times

CHECK THESE SAMPLES OF Sociology unit4

Sociology Assignment Paper

Name Professor Course Date sociology Introduction sociology's definition carries weight as the detailed study that majors on understanding the behavior of social beings and human groups' altogether.... hellip; sociology has a characteristic remarkable skill referred to as Sociological Imagination, which most sociologists base on in their attempt of finding out the in- depth understanding on the social behavior of social beings in the society (Giddens et al, 2009)....
3 Pages (750 words) Assignment

Introduction to sociology

But sociologists look at social relationships in a completely different way than other scientists like psychologists, philosophers, historians, economists, biologists, and people in general SOC101: Introduction to sociology What do we understand by the sociological perspective The sociological perspective is an approach in the interpretation process of studying the social world taking a close look at the different ways that individuals behave among themselves in their relationships in society, where their needs, values, beliefs and interests give a specific shape to their everyday lives in a common setting....
2 Pages (500 words) Essay

Sociology Families in a Global Perspective

This paper will compare and contrast the characteristics of family-related principles in two radically different nations: The United States and India.... The U.... .... a more industrialized and developed nation, maintains significantly dissimilar value systems in relationship to family… Through research efforts, a competent conclusion is formulated regarding what issues tend to matter most in terms of cultural or economic beliefs in these two nations. The United States, a substantially developed nation, maintains a With the distribution of wealth in significantly different ratios across the nation, the family unit within the U....
5 Pages (1250 words) Essay

The Impact of Feminism on Sociology

The report "The Impact of Feminism on sociology" presents the main aspects of the influence of feminism on society.... nbsp;It would then be possible to better see sociology as a segment of knowledge.... nbsp;It would be necessary to start with a reference to the philosophy, next considering the field of social science....
4 Pages (1000 words) Report

The Three Competing Theories of Social Construction and as They Relate to the Family

Tracing its origins would be an exercise in futility as it has existed long before recorded history and exists in many forms and manifestations in the animal kingdom as well.... hellip; Obviously, as science has progressed and times have changed, the definition of family has changed with it to include those entities and groups that are not defined As such, families on aggregate set the tone and define social structure within a given culture....
9 Pages (2250 words) Research Paper

Economic and Social Inequality in the United States and the Use of Urban Sociology in the Effectively Tackling of these Challenges

As such, although economic and social inequalities fundamentally have a number of key differences between them Economic and Social Inequality in the United States and the Use of Urban sociology in the Effectively Tackling of these Challenges The general rate of inequality in the United States has been noted to be gradually increasing at an alarming rate.... Urban sociology is therefore a very important course for me as a student of political economy because it will help me in understanding how social structures develop naturally and how they can be assessed and solved....
1 Pages (250 words) Essay

Emile Durkheim as a Sociologist

Durkheim is one of the principal architects of sociology along with other prominent names in the subject, Karl Marx and Max Weber.... He is also regarded as a father of sociology for institutionalizing and the first professor of social science in France.... Durkheim had significant contributions with the establishment of sociology particularly the combination of empirical research with sociological theory....
9 Pages (2250 words) Coursework

The Principles of Positivism

The doctrine of 'Positivism' had been later elaborated in a subsequent work of Auguste Compte, A General View of Positivism, which is credited with defining the empirical goals of sociology (Compte, 1848; Guneriussen, 1996).... ompte's ideas had profoundly inspired the oeuvre of Emile Durkheim, whose works on the methodology of sociology, like The Rules of Sociological Method (1895), are considered a significant example of positivist social science (Guneriussen, 1996)....
5 Pages (1250 words) Research Paper
sponsored ads
We use cookies to create the best experience for you. Keep on browsing if you are OK with that, or find out how to manage cookies.
Contact Us